By Keith Ledbetter

For the FCT

Red Bay junior Isaiah Jackson competed last week at the US Junior Amateur Golf Championship in Woodlands, Texas.

Jackson was just one of 58 golfers from six states that competed for only three invitations to the 67th US Junior Amateur Championships.

He tied for 2nd place this year, sending him to the championship that was played at The Club at Carlton Woods.

Jackson shot a 73 and an 84 for a two-day qualifying total of 157, missing the cut to get to the match play.

“It was a great experience,” Jackson said.

“There were so many college coaches there. I think I got the attention of some of them, especially after I had that six putt on Monday.”

After getting through a tough hole, he managed to pull it together on the back five and shot three under to get to one over that day.

Jackson said he was playing good for a while on day one to put himself in a good position for the second day, but it didn’t turn out the way he wanted it to.

“I had a lot of fun,” Jackson added.

“It was a beautiful place, the course was in great shape. It was just amazing.”

In the three weeks leading up to the Junior AM, Isaiah participated in two Junior events.

June 30-July 1, Jackson played in the Southeastern Junior Golf Tour (SJGT) event at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail Capitol Hill Senator Course in Prattville. Isaiah was one of 34 golfers in the 16-19 year old division from Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi. He shot a 72 and a 67 for a 139, which gave him a first place finish and made him the Medalist for the match.

After the first day, Jackson was four shots off the leader, who shot a 68, but he came back and won by three strokes after the leader shot a 74 and he shot a 67.

July 8-9, Jackson played in the Mississippi Junior Golf Association (MJGA) tournament “The Pros of Tomorrow” at Tupelo Country Club.

Isaiah shot a 78 the first day and was in 15^th place overall. He shot a 70 the second day and finished with a 148, tying for 2nd place overall out of 66 golfers and tied for 1st in his age division. The 70 on the second day was the only score over the two days below par.

Jackson will be playing in the Mississippi Junior Amateur this week in Meridian, Miss.

With school beginning August 8, he will be turning his attention soon to playing varsity basketball for Red Bay Coach Matt Noah.

“I feel like we’re going to have a good year,” said Jackson about the Tiger basketball season.

“We’ve had a good summer and everyone is playing a lot better than last year.

“We can’t wait for the season to start.”