“It was really, really strange.”
In the middle of a three-and-a-half-hour car ride from Graniteville, South Carolina, to his home in Pinehurst, North Carolina, Jackson Van Paris had plenty of time to process what had just happened.
His two-shot victory Saturday at the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley was the biggest triumph of the 16-year-old’s young career, but it was also the most bizarre.
As most of competitive golf stood still amid a coronavirus pandemic, the prestigious junior tournament pushed forward.
Van Paris played just nine holes Saturday, Sage Valley’s front side, carding four birdies in his final six holes to shoot 5-under 67 and race past his competition, the majority of whom were completing play on the back nine on a spectator-less course.