Busy Weekend Rewards Many Qualifier Spots
North Carolina Series at CC of Whispering Pines
The North Carolina Series headed to Whispering Pines on Saturday to play the penultimate event of the season. Players were looking to play well and put themselves in position to win the North Carolina Series Storie Order of Merit race. At the end of the day, three players stood alone atop their respective divisions and earned their spot in the 2022 PKBGT Regional Tournament of Champions.
Prep Series
Kitson O’Neal (Pinehurst, NC 2023) defeated Kelsey Sciacca (Charlotte, NC 2026) in a playoff to claim the Prep division title. O’Neal’s round was highlighted by a birdie on the par-3 12th hole helping lead her to a round of 79 (+7).
Futures Series
Jewel Gilchrist López (Sanford, NC 2025) came up clutch on the back-nine making a birdie and 5 pars to shoot an 80 (+8) and win her division by a stroke. This was López’s first time winning a PKB event! Her win moved her up nine spots in the Futures North Carolina Series Storie Order of Merit race and into the top-10.
Discovery Series
Kayla Jackson (Charlotte, NC 2031) got off to a hot start at Whispering Pines. She birdied two of her first seven holes and would wind up shooting a 36(E). Her level-par round would be enough to claim a three shot victory and the trophy. This was Jackson’s first PKB victory and her third top-3 finish in three starts! 
Delaware Valley Series at Butter Valley GC
Prep Series
Haley Ekert (Landsdale, PA 2023) opened her round with a 39 on the front-nine and would finish her round scoring an 80(+8). This would be enough to claim a three shot victory. This was Ekert’s third PKB win and her first of the season!
Futures Series
Savannah Laverty (Moorestown, NJ 2027) took home the championship trophy at the Delaware Valley Series at Butter Valley. Her round of 79(+7) included 11 pars and a birdie. This was her SIXTH PKB win of the season and eighth total! She is currently ranked first in the Futures Delaware Valley Storie Order of Merit ranking.
Discovery Series
Bryn Krosse (York, PA 2030) scored an even-par 36 for her nine hole score! Her round consisted of one birdie, one bogey, and seven pars. This was Krosse’s fourth win of the season and has finished in the top-2 in all of her Delaware Valley Series starts this season!
Georgia Series Open at The Chimney’s GC
Prep Series
Hannah Barrett (Richmond Hill, GA 2023) opened with a 79 (+7) on Saturday and followed it up with a tournament low 73 (+1) on Sunday. Her Sunday round of 11 pars and 3 birdies would be enough to complete a 4-shot comeback and win by two for her first PKB win!
Futures Series
Allison Maher (Suwanee, GA 2027) opened her tournament with back-to-back birdies and would make another three over her two rounds. She would post rounds of 75 (+3) and 78 (+5) and win by two strokes. This was also Maher’s first PKB win!
Discovery Series
Aiko Benford (Lithonia, GA 2027) birdied twice on Sunday and shot a 38 (+2) to force a playoff with Vivian Lott (Fayetteville, GA 2029)! Benford would end up winning the playoff and claiming the Georgia Series Open trophy! Lott’s Tournament was highlighted by TWO eagles on the second hole.
Georgia Series Storie Order of Merit
With the final Georgia Series event wrapped up, that means the Georgia Series Storie Order of Merit was decided as well! The season-long points race awards spots in the PKBGT Regional Invitational as well as the 2023 Linville Cup. The top-six Prep and top-24 Futures finishers earned spots in the PKBGT Regional Invitational! While each division’s Georgia Series Storie Order of Merit winner earns an automatic invitation to play in the 2023 Linville Cup!
Prep Series
Hannah Barrett (Richmond Hill, GA 2023) won the Georgia Series Open at The Chimney’s GC and subsequently the Prep Division Storie Order of Merit! Congratulations Hannah!
Click Here to View the Final Rankings
Futures Series Hailey Jung’s (Johns Creek, GA 2029) season was highlighted by back-to-back wins at Bobby Jones GC and Sugar Creek GC ultimately leading her to a runaway Storie Order of Merit title!
Click Here to View the Final Rankings
Discovery Series There was a rare two-way tie for the Georgia Discovery Storie Order of Merit between Vivian Lott (Fayetteville, GA) and Aiko Benford (Lithonia, GA). Benford beat Lott in a playoff this weekend to draw the race even. The tiebreaker of scoring average gave the win to Lott. Congratulations to both girls on incredible seasons!
Click Here to View the Final Rankings
PKBGT/NB3 Girls Mississippi Qualifier at Dancing Rabbit Golf Club
Girls 16-18
Caroline Pardue (Murfreesboro, TN 2024) took first with a two-day score of 73, 76 = 149 (+5) at the NB3 Girls Mississippi Qualifier at Dancing Rabbit Golf Club. Over the thirty-six holes, she made three birdies and twenty-seven pars! Taking the second qualifying spot in this division is Islay Benoit (Pensacola, FL 2024). She finished with a two-day score of 74, 76 = 150 (+6).
Girls 14-15
Bella Dovhey (Oviedo, FL) took home the qualifying spot with a two-day score of 73, 71 = 144 (E) at the NB3 Girls Mississippi Qualifier at Dancing Rabbit Golf Club. Dovhey made 17 pars in a row in her first round and 15 pars in her second round. She made as many birdies as she did bogeys over the two days!
Girls 12-13
Vincenza Papa (Foster, RI 2026) took home the only qualifying spot in this division with a score of 69, 80 = 149(+5) at the NB3 Girls Mississippi Qualifier at Dancing Rabbit Golf Club. Papa made four birdies in her opening round to post a three-under 69, matching the tournament low round.
Girls 10-11
Shiho Im (Dunwoody, GA 2028) took the qualifying spot at the NB3 Girls Mississippi Qualifier at Dancing Rabbit Golf Club in her age division. She won with a two-day tournament score of 69, 73 = 142 (-2). Im closed her first round with three birdies in her final five holes to shoot 3-under! She played her final nine holes on Sunday in 2-under to ultimately claim the qualifying spot by two.
Alumni in the Spotlight
The collegiate season has tee’d off in the last couple of weeks. Over 500 PKBGT alumni currently play at the collegiate level at more than 220 schools! We want to wish all of our alumni good luck this upcoming season and school year! Four alumni, Amanda Sambach (Virginia), Anna Morgan (Furman), Rachel Kuehn (Wake Forest), and Emilia Migliaccio(Wake Forest), made the preseason watchlist for the ANNIKA Award! The ANNIKA Award is given annually to the most outstanding women’s college golfer. Sydney Hackett (Western Kentucky) competed in her first collegiate event and won! She scored a Western Kentucky school record with a -10! Sydney is no stranger to winning, she’s won multiple PKB events including the 2022 PKBGT Open Championship and the 2019 PKBGT Masters! Natalie Welsh (Radford) broke a school record as well. The PKB alum shot the lowest round ever by a Radford Women’s Golfer, a 68(-4) that included an eagle and four birdies. Jillian Hollis won on the EPSON Tour at the Circling Raven Championship. Hollis won the 2013 PKBGT Open Championship back in her PKB days!
Upcoming Events
This weekend there are three regional series events. The North Carolina Series wraps up with the North Carolina Series Open at Colonial Country Club on Saturday and Sunday. The South Carolina Series Finale will be played at Golden Hills Country Club on Saturday. This will be the final chance for players in the North Carolina and South Carolina series to qualify for the 2022 Regional Tournament of Champions and earn Storie Order of Merit points. The Middle Atlantic Series plays their penultimate tournament at Shenandoah Valley Golf Club on Sunday. Good luck to all the competitors!
About the PKBGT
Founded in 2007 by the Triad Youth Golf Foundation, a non-profit 501(c)(3) charitable organization, as a local girls’ golf tour in the Triad region of North Carolina, the tour began as a simple concept: create more effective competitive playing opportunities for girls. By utilizing innovative yardage-based divisions instead of the traditional age-based format, the tour focused on developing tournament experience at the player’s pace. The 2022 season will feature over 138 tournaments in 12+ states and with over 1,000 members, the PKBGT is the largest girl’s only tour in the country. Learn more about the PKBGT at http://www.pkbgt.org/.
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