Shaky Start by Won Ruins Chance to Win

So much for fairy tales.

At least ones involving Ron Won.

Won, trying to punctuate a stellar junior golf career with his first AJGA victory, playing just a few miles from his Irvine home, came up short in the final round of the Junior Championship Thursday at Coto de Caza.

Won bogeyed two of the first four holes on Coto’s difficult 6,963-yard North course and did not recover in his final-round 75 and finished second.

Jason Hartwick of Sacramento, who trailed Won by two strokes entering the round, played near-flawless golf, shooting a two-under-par 70 to win by three shots with a three-day total of 211 (69-72-70).

“I’m pretty disappointed,” said Won, who entered the final round with a lead only to come in second for the second consecutive tournament. “I wasn’t that nervous, I was numb. I just couldn’t get it going.”

Hartwick, who has finished second in three AJGA tournaments and also finished second in the Western Junior Amateur last week in Michigan, made birdies on Nos. 4, 7 and 9 then made two-putt pars on the last nine holes.

“It’s nice to break through with a win,” said Hartwick, who will be a senior at Jesuit High in Sacramento this fall. “After nine, I was two under for the day and I rethought my game plan. I wanted to give myself chances, but make sure that par was my worst score.”

Won found a fairway bunker on the first hole that led to a bogey and put his tee shot in the water on the par-3 fourth. Hartwick stuck a six-iron to within six feet on the fourth and made the birdie putt for a two-shot swing that tied the leaders at three under par.

“It wasn’t the start I was looking for,” Won said. “But I knew there were some birdie holes out there, but I didn’t hit the ball as well as I had been.”

Won has finished in the top five in five of his last six AJGA events.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance to win for the first time here near where I live,” he said. “But there will be other tournaments later on.”

In the girls’ tournament, Erica Blasberg of Corona played bogey-free for the first 16 holes and shot a final-round 72 for a three-round total of 224 to win by five shots over Anna Lee of Hacienda Heights.

Courtney Goebel of Huntington Beach finished tied for 10th at 247.