Leibl rallies for city junior crown

The 20th edition of the Charlottesville Junior Golf Championship featured a collection of young golfers on a mission to conquer the course at Meadowcreek and take home the coveted championship ring that many of the sport’s local legends have worn. On Thursday, it was Covenant’s Chris Leibl that was presented with this year’s silver piece, as the Greene Hills member rallied on the back nine for a come-from-behind victory over a couple of close friends.

Leibl played alongside a pair of his Eagles teammates, Ben Ryalls and Ben Weaver. Ryalls finished a stroke behind Leibl, good for a runner-up trophy in the 16-17 age group and a tie with 15-year-old Tony Liu for second overall. Weaver finished third.

Leibl wanted to capitalize on his second-place finish a year ago behind Patrick Leisure, and the rising senior admitted that after seeing improvement in each of his previous four Junior Championships, it was a sweet way to get the monkey off his back.

“This time I got it done,” said Leibl, who recorded a one-over 71. “I woke up this morning and I really wanted to win this one, and so to finally get it done, it was a big relief.”

Albemarle’s Liu was the leader at the turn with a 37 and brought his ‘A’ game from start to finish, ending his stellar round with a 72. Liu’s score was the one to beat, and he stuck around to find out if his effort could outlast the talented older competition, which teed off shortly thereafter.

“I was a little nervous on the first tee, but I got the jitters out,” said Liu, who made par on his first three holes of the day. “It strengthens your mentality. I feel a certain amount of pressure playing in these kind of tournaments. It adds more experience to my golf game.”

Leibl struggled early with bogeys on the opening two holes and another on No. 8, but sat just two strokes back of Liu after nine holes. Ryalls and Weaver also started off with cold feet, and each posted a 40 halfway through.

“I pulled my tee shot on [No.] 1 and had to pitch out and made bogey, and then put [the ball] behind a tree on [No.] 2, pitched out and made double [bogey],” Leibl said of his plus-three beginning.

After a par at No. 3, Leibl recovered with two straight birdies on the fourth and fifth holes.

“I made the turn at three-over, and I knew I had to get it back around even,” said Leibl. “So on the back nine, I was just shooting at all the flags, and a couple of putts dropped and I got a little lucky.”

Liu bogeyed the 13th and 14th holes, respectively, but recorded pars on three of the next four holes with a birdie on No. 16 to secure his spot atop the leaderboard.

“I didn’t like the way I played 13 and 14,” admitted Liu. “I just tried to play through it and have a good end to my round.”

Both Leibl and Ryalls put together amazing late performances to get back into contention, as each went two-under on the final nine holes. Leibl was determined to play at his best, and he followed through with a birdie on No. 12 and another on No. 15 that featured a beautiful 40-foot approach shot that he stuck within a foot of the pin.

Just when Leibl had put himself in great position to win or force a playoff, Ryalls made his teammate and friend sweat with back-to-back birdies on the 16th and 17th.

“Ben played great today. After he made those birdies, I’m standing at the 18th hole worried that he’s going to knock this in and beat me,” Leibl said.

Ryalls added: “Chris and I are buddies, so it’s always a friendly rivalry, whether it’s a skins game, or something on the weekend or practice. When you have that type of competition with your own teammate, we push each other to shoot low. Even when we play together during the season, we’re not only playing the other guys, but each other.”

Leibl plans to compete in a few USGA junior amateur qualifying tournaments, as well as state qualifiers and local tournaments, throughout the summer before joining up with Ryalls, Weaver and the rest of the Covenant golf team for the fall season.

Even after coming up short, Liu feels confident that he can experience similar success over the next few years, both at Albemarle and on the local links. Liu will have two more chances to win the Junior title, and knows that he has plenty of potential.

“It feels great because I realize I’m not all that old,” Liu chuckled. “I’ve got some more room to improve, even with the round that I had today, there were some places where I could do better.”

Liu outlasted Michael Comer and Evan Childress to win the 14-15 age group, while Hunter Weis won the 12-13 group with a 75. Weis’ older brother, Landon, was slated to play in the 14-15 group, but qualified as one of the final 16 golfers in the VSGA Junior Match Play event in Roanoke, falling short in a sudden-death playoff on Thursday. Fitz Woodrow claimed first place in the under-12 division with a nine-hole score of 38.