Around the Green

Madireddi Fires 1-under to Lead James A. Ragan Memorial

CORPUS CHRISTI – Rohit Madireddi shot 1-under 70 in the first round of the James A. Ragan Memorial at Corpus Christi Country Club on Sunday and leads the Boys 15-18 Division. Keaton Vo leads the Boys 14 & Under Division, while Zoe Slaughter leads the Girls 12-18 Division.

James Ragan was a former Legends Junior Tour Player that was diagnosed with a rare type of bone cancer when he was 13 years old. Ragan founded the Triumph Over Kids Cancer Foundation, which has raised more than $2 million for cancer research. He played in more than 20 LJT events before walking on the Rice University golf team.

This is the fourth year the Legends Junior Tour has conducted the James A. Ragan Memorial and the second year it has been held at Corpus Christi Country Club. The first two years, Palmilla Beach in Port Aransas hosted the event.

Flower Mound’s Madireddi fired the only round under par on Sunday, with winds gusting more than 30 miles per hour from the Gulf of Mexico. Madireddi started his round on the par-4 10^th hole and played his first nine holes at 1-under. A bogey on the par-4 second dropped him back to even-par on the day, but a birdie on the 442-yard sixth got him back under par for the day.

Dallas’ Trip Carter sits one shot back of Madireddi at even-par 71. Carter went out in 2-over, starting on No. 10, and then made back-to-back birdies on Nos. 4 and 5 to shoot 2-under 33 coming in and getting back to even-par.

Victoria’s Alex Hernandez is tied with Richmond’s Stephen Campbell for third at 1-over, while Dallas’ Mateo Trevino sits alone in fifth place at 2-over 73.

Austin’s Thomas Bockholt III and Fair Oaks Ranch’s Zach Heffernan are tied for sixth at 3-over. Brayden Ingebrigtsen, Connor Adams, Preston Holmes and Niko Nebout are all tied for eighth at 4-over-par.

Austin’s Vo, who finished second at the Winter Classic in January, sits atop the Boys 14 & Under leaderboard. Vo struggled early in the first round, making a double-bogey on No. 2 and bogeys on Nos. 12 and 15, but birdies on the par-4 16^th and the par-4 18^th get him back to 2-over 73 overall.

Aaron Pounds of The Woodlands and Jacob King of Boerne trail Vo by two strokes heading into Monday’s Final Round. Both players shot 4-over 75 in the first round. Jack Usner of The Woodlands sits in fourth place at 5-over, while New Braunfels’ Jackson Bade and Austin’s Daniel Macias are tied for fifth at 7-over.

Houston’s Slaughter, who finished third in this event last year, shot 1-over 72 in the first round and leads by two strokes over Lubbock’s Haley Vargas. Slaughter made three birdies on Sunday, including back-to-back birdies on Nos. 10-11. Slaughter is coming off a fourth-place finish in the Winter Classic at Dallas Athletic Club and looking for his first win since the 2017 Lanny Wadkins Junior Championship last August.

Three players are tied for third in the Girls 12-18 Division. Frisco’s Gabbi Bentancourt, Pflugervilles’ Madison Silva and Plano’s Melena Barrientos all shot 5-over 76 in the first round.

Yuliang Bao, Jensen Jalufka, Meagan Winans, Ryann Honea and Symran Shah are all tied for sixth at 6-over heading into Monday’s Final Round.

Corpus Christi Country Club opened in 1909 and features 18 holes close to the Gulf of Mexico. The course stretches to 6,585 yard for the Boys 15-18, 6,107 for the Boys 14 & Under and 5,798 yards for the Girls 12-18. The layout for the tournament is a par-71.

The Final Round of the James A. Ragan Memorial will begin at 8:00 am on Monday, with tee times going off the Nos. 1 and 10 tees again. To view all the scores from Monday’s First Round action, click here. To learn more about the James A. Ragan Memorial, click here.