Around the Green

Meissner's 13-Under Total Caps off Dominant Weekend at Bluebonnet Championship

BROWNWOOD, Texas – They say records are meant to be broken. Well San Antonio’s McClure Meissner did that and then some Sunday afternoon at the 15^th Bluebonnet Championship. His tap-in eagle on the 18^th hole Sunday capped off his dominant weekend at Brownwood Country Club. Meissner finished the tournament at 13-under-par 131 after a final round 7-under-par 65.

Vishnu Sadagopan captured the Boys 14 & Under division crown after his 3-under-par 69 final round. First round leader Sara Camarena won her first Legends Junior Tour event on Sunday with a 4-under-par 140 tournament total.

Known for yielding low numbers, Brownwood Country Club is a player favorite on the Legends Junior Tour schedule, 36 players shot even par or better for the tournament. The course, a par-72, played 6,266 yards for all boys and 5,733 yards for all girls.

2014 saw a new record holder at the Bluebonnet Champioship when Ryan Grider shot rounds of 65-70 to get to 9-under 135 for the first time in the tournament’s history. After Meissner’s 6-under 66 Saturday, the record was within reach.

He got to 9-under after a birdie on the par-5 10^th hole. He didn’t have another birdie the rest of the way, but two eagles on the other two par-5s got him to 13-under-par. That record is impressive, but a bogey-free 36-hole tournament might be even more impressive. On the par-3 17^th hole, Meissner looked like he might card his first bogey of the day after he left his tee shot short of the green. He was able to get up and down to keep his card clean. His tap-in eagle on the 36^th hole was just icing on the cake.

Andy Lopez of Dallas finished in second place, five shots behind Meissner. He started the day one shot back and in the final group, but back-to-back bogeys on holes 13 and 14 derailed his chances. Pierceson Coody, Michael Anthony Rome and Christian Fanfelle all finished the tournament at 7-under 137 and finished in a tie for third place. Parker Coody and Landon Earnst finished in a tie for sixth place.  

The Bluebonnet Championship was started by Brownwood businessman Bart Johnson in 2001. The tournament has an impressive list of past champions that includes four-time PGA Tour winner Patrick Reed, Brett Spencer, Cody Gribble, Cory Whitsett and Stratton Nolen. After not being held in 2006, the Legends Junior Tour took over control of the tournament in 2007 and it has consistently produced one of the largest, and strongest, fields of the year.

In the Boys 14 & Under division, Sadagopan won his second straight LJT tournament Sunday. He also won the Jimmy Demaret Junior Classic in March. He had a bogey-free final round and birdied two of his final three holes Sunday. Those two birdies proved to be the difference, winning by two shots over Brian Boles of Lubbock.

Boles finished in second place and first-round leader Cole Sherwood finished in third place, five shots behind Sadagopan. Austin’s Jack Wehman and J. Holland Humphries finished in a tie for fourth place with a 5-over 149 tournament total.

In the Girls 12-18 division, Camarena led wire-to-wire at Brownwood Country Club. She upped her birdie total from the first round from five to six but had 5 bogeys to go along with it. She was able to hang on to her one shot lead that she had after the first round.

Camarena won by one shot over Sadie Englemann, who carded rounds of 71-70 for a 3-under tournament total. Austin’s Kaylee Vesely, in second place after the first round, followed up her 2-under 70 with an even-par 72 in the final round to finish in third place, two shots back of Camarena.

The top-5 finishers in the Boys 15-18 Division earned exemptions into the Byron Nelson Junior Championship at Lakewood Country Club in June. The top-5 finishers in the Girls 12-18 Division earned exemptions into the Texas Girls’ Invitational at Bentwater Yacht & Country Club in September.

For more information on the Bluebonnet Championship or the Legends Junior Tour, please visit www.TXGA.org. For final results from the Championship, please click here.