GOLF: Pavloff caps off SIGA JGT Championship season with big weekend
After placing second the past two seasons in the boys 16-18 division, Du Quoin golfer Kolton Pavloff wrapped up the summer 2015 points championship for the Southern Illinois Golf Association's Junior Golf Tour on Sunday, finishing second at the Players Championship sponsored by Vogler Mazda at Rend Lake Golf Course.
It was the third event in as many days for Pavloff, who was second at Friday's Benton Junior Gold Cup and a day later won the 27-hole Bill Koeneman Memorial Players Cup at Hickory Ridge in Carbondale. He finished in a tie for first at Rend Lake on Sunday after shooting a 73, but lost the win on the third playoff hole to event winner Tyler Wall.
He didn't know it at the time, but Pavloff could have put Sunday's win in the bag with a three-foot putt on the 18th green.
"I feel like I putted well today," said Pavloff. "The greens were really slow, couldn't get anything to the hole. My reads were pretty good, just got to get it there. That three footer on No. 18 is going to eat at me a little bit. You're going to push a putt every now and then, it just happened at the wrong time for me."
Despite finishing second at the JGT Player's Championship, Pavloff still ended the summer comfortably ahead of everyone in the season points standings, earning him the title of Player of the Year for boys 16-18. He was the boys 14-15 champion three years ago.
"It's nice to get back in the winner's circle," he said. "I wasn't necessarily aiming to win the points this year, I was just looking to play here and there, but I ended up playing well enough to bring it home. I'm definitely happy with my summer, I don't think I finished worse than sixth in any SIGA event."
Pavloff shot 74 at Benton on Friday, earning him a tie for second place just one shot back from leader Robbie Moore despite breaking a wedge.
"Friday at Benton I really felt like I could have played a lot better," said Pavloff. "When you lose a wedge on the range when the head flies off, it's stressful. It was one of my most useful wedges. It definitely cost me a shot here or there, but overall I felt like I dealt with that well."
Saturday's tournament at Hickory Ridge Golf Center was a 27-hole format. Pavloff was even-par at 72 after 18 holes, giving him a 4-stroke lead heading into the final 9 holes when golfers were re-paired. He finished the day at 3-over par (111) to win by a pair of strokes.
"(Saturday) was a really good day. I was still trying to fight those feelings of breaking a club even though I had it back in the bag," Pavloff said. ""Four strokes is very difficult to make up unless the leader messes up and comes back to the other players. So in the final nine holes I kind of changed my approach and tried to stay in play and avoid the big number. I did a good job of keeping the ball in good spots and not getting into trouble. I really wanted to make nine pars and make the other players shoot a crazy low number to beat me. I didn't quite meet my goal but luckily it was enough to get the win."
Pavloff was pleased to cap off his points championship with a solid three-events-in-three-days weekend. He credited a new green-reading system he's been using for helping to improve his putting.
"Two seconds and a first, I can't really complain," he said. "I played well. My putting has gotten tremendously better since I went to this new green-reading system. My reads have been near perfect. It's just feeling the slope with your feet, learning the grade, then from there figuring out your spot. It's a little more work before the round to figure out how fast the greens are, that is going to effect the break, but I definitely like the new system and plan to stick with it for a while."
Pavloff, who attended Christian Fellowship School in Du Quoin, will now prepare for the upcoming collegiate fall golf season as a member of the Missouri Baptist Spartans. MO-Bap is located in St. Louis, MO.