Springfield Sports Briefs (July 22-29)
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Springfield Sports Briefs (July 22-29)

<b>Bowers Remembered at Tournament</b>

Springfield Golf and Country Club hosted its annual junior golf tournament, the Bobby Bowers Memorial, July 6-9. Two hundred players competed in three boys’ age divisions and one girls’ group. The event, first staged in 1975, draws some of the Washington area’s top young players.

Centerville’s Tim Ritter won the 16-17 boys’ division, beating Sean Bosdosh of Clarksburg, Md., 7 and 5.

“I love this golf course,” said Ritter, a rising senior at Westfield High School. “The greens are great.”

Bosdosh, whose father Steve is on Golf Magazine’s list of the top 100 golf instructors in the country, shot the low score in the qualifying round, a 2-under 69. Ritter was second with a 72.

Jordan Sweet of Bowie, Md., won the 14-15 boys’ title by defeating Griffin Clark of Chester, Va., 1-up. In the 10-13 boys’ age group, Ryan Douglas of Leesburg beat Edric Wung of McLean, 4 and 2.

Alexandra White from Haymarket won the girls’ division by beating Elyse Smidinger of Crofton, Md., 3 and 2.

Tournament entrants played a qualifying round on the first day, and then the field was cut for match play. Ritter, for example, played four matches in two days before meeting Bosdosh in the finals. The format, similar to national amateur events, makes for four tough days of golf, and many players used caddies. Parents are prohibited from caddying.

Springfield named the tournament in honor of the club’s first head professional, Bobby Bowers. Prior to his untimely death in 1974, Bowers was well known throughout the Washington area for his support of junior golf.

Former contestants in the Bowers have gone on to play professional golf, including John Daly. He played twice: 1979 at 13 and under and in 1980 in the 14-15 age bracket.