Video: Top Plays Overall of 2018-19The best and most amazing from high school sports the last nine months.
New Mexico's
Aidan Thomas shot a seven-under 65 on Thursday to lead two players after the first round of the inaugural 2019 High School Golf National Invitational in Lake Buena Vista, Fla..
Thomas, a recent graduate from
St. Pius X (Albuquerque) who will play and attend New Mexico State, birdied the first two holes and five of the first eight en route to a front-nine 31 at the Palm Course of the Walt Disney World Resort.
James Imani (Massachusetts) and Connor Gaunt (Arkansas) sit two back, and Pennsylvania's Jimmy Meyers carded a 68.
Twelve boys broke par in the opening day of the two-day, 36-hole, non-NFHS-sanctioned event that features 300 of the top youth golfers invited based on state championship results, according to promoters.
Karla Bartemeyer, from the Class of 2020 at
Oceanside Collegiate Academy (Mt. Pleasant, S.C.), carded a 3-under 69, to lead North Carolina's Riley Hamilton and Utah's Carissa Graft, by one stroke in the girls side of the tournament.
Bartemeyer had six birdies on her round, including three on the front nine with no bogeys. California's Kamille Dimayuga and Florida's Madison Tenore also broke par, with one-under 71s.
In the boys team competition, Pennsylvania (PIT), led by Meyers, leads with a 290, one shot better than Pennsylvania (UNI) and Virginia (DEE).
In girls team play, Bartemeyer's sizzling round leads South Carolina (OCA) to a 297 score, one shot better than California (TRO).
The National Invitational is organized by the National High School Golf Association (NHSGA), a division of Nextgengolf, which was recently acquired by the PGA of America.
NHSGA manager Chris Noble predicts the event "will become the pinnacle of high school golf and valuable to college coaches seeking hidden talent they may not see on the junior golf circuit."
