The field included players from 23 states, along with Canada, Russia, and China.

“Anytime you can bring in the world’s best juniors, it’s pretty solid, especially here in the Mahoning Valley,” said Brian Tolnar, Director of Golf at Mill Creek Metro Parks. “Your last three U.S. Open champions have won right here on the AGJA, the one that won this past week, Brooks Koepka. He won it in 2005 and won 14 events on the AGJA total.”

This is one of 14 similar tournaments around the country, and the Youngstown area fits the event’s needs.

“It’s a terrific venue. It’s highly ranked, 26th golf course municipal in the United States. It’s overall a great experience for our players, we have great feedback from them, and obviously, it’s mutual between the two of us,” said Ryan Flanigan, Midwest Regional Director of the AGJA.

This year’s field includes two local golfers, including Cardinal Mooney’s Jayne Bernard and Brookfield’s Connor Stevens.

“It means a lot, knowing that kids from the area really want to golf. They don’t think it’s cool,” said Stevens. “Hopefully some younger kids see what our golf team did last year, and they’ll come out and play.”

This is the second year the Metro Parks has hosted this event, and it’s brought in more than $500,000 economically.

“It means to Metro an opportunity to showcase what we got here at Metro Park’s golf course. It means more for the community than it does the golf course,” said Aaron Young, Executive Director of the Metro Parks. “Because the economic impact to the region last year was over $250,000, expect to see the same thing this year. It’s an impact for everyone and an opportunity to showcase the Valley.”

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As former PGA pro and East Palestine resident Jerry McGee perused the list of Sunday’s U.S. Open final results, there was one fact about each player that became pretty obvious to him.

“I went down the entire U.S. Open list and couldn’t find a player that didn’t go through the AJGA [American Junior Golf Association],” McGee said during Monday’s practice round at Mill Creek Golf Course. “The same holds true for those on the women’s tour.”

The AJGA is hosting the Mill Creek Foundation Junior All-Star tournament this week at Mill Creek’s South Course with McGee serving as honorary guest host.

It’s the second straight year that the tournament for 12-15 year-olds has been at Mill Creek with boys and girls winners advancing to the Junior All-Star Invitational this fall at Reynolds Lake Oconee in Greensboro, Ga.

“This is by far the most fantastic group for junior golf,” said McGee of East Palestine. “The tournaments that they have, it’s simply the PGA Junior Tour.

“I had never been to an AJGA event until last year, but walked away most impressed with the level of play and how the kids handled themselves both on and off the course,” McGee said. “My clubs are obsolete compared to the ones that they are using.”

Two local entries, Jayne Bernard, a freshman at Cardinal Mooney High School and Conner Stevens, a sophomore at Brookfield High School, were among the 96 boys and girls taking advantage of the practice round. Twenty-three states and three foreign countries (Canada, China and Russia) are represented.

Bernard enters AJGA play on the heels of winning Friday’s Greatest Golfer qualifying event at Tam O’Shanter Golf Course in Hermitage, Pa.

She says that if there’s an advantage, albeit an ever so slight one, it’s that Mill Creek is her home course.

“The goal is to get better and just have fun,” Bernard said. “It’s a very talented field and while I’m a bit nervous, the fact that this is my home course should help.

“I feel like I know the greens better and have a little more knowledge overall about the course,” she said. “This is one of the most competitive fields that I will ever play in so I want to do my very best.”

Stevens said participating in the Greatest Golfer the past three years and taking part in some other highly competitive tournaments has prepared him for this year’s AJGA.

“I know about 10 of the golfers in this year’s event and all are excellent players,” Stevens said. “The goal is always to win, but the field is quite competitive.”

Max Moldovan is the defending boys champion and at 15 years of age, was an alternate for this year’s U.S. Open.

The Green High School student said he’s looking forward to defending his title.

“If I play like I did last year, then I feel like I’ll have a pretty good chance of defending my title,” Moldovan said. “I love the course because there are a lot of scoring opportunities.”

Ryan Flanagan, AJGA regional director, credits Brian Tolnar, Mill Creek’s PGA Director of Golf, as the driving force behind bringing AJGA to the Mahoning Valley.

“Brian was previously involved with AJGA when he was at Blue Heron Hills Golf Club in New York,” Flanagan said. “He really wanted us to come to Youngstown and I can see why because Mill Creek Park is a fantastic setting.

He was the vision behind this three years ago and between Brian, his staff and the many volunteers, it has been a great association.”

Tolnar, a Hubbard native, said that his goal when hired in 2015 was to make a major difference in the local community.

“Hosting a national event that makes a substantial financial impact to the Mahoning Valley, and makes the Mill Creek MetroParks accessible to families all over the world, is something that we’re really proud of,” Tolnar said. “The financial support of the Mill Creek Foundation, Mahoning County Convention & Visitors Bureau, Mahoning Valley Hospital Foundation and the 200+ volunteers have helped us bring over a half million dollars to the area over the past two years.

“It’s something we can’t thank them enough for with our goal heading forward to bring many more events like this to the Mahoning Valley.”

Mike Senchak serves as president and CEO of the Mahoning Valley Hospital Foundation.

“At the foundation we are always looking for health initiatives and what better initiative than the AJGA and the youth that are playing in this tournament,” Senchak said. It’s a great event, not only for our youth but the entire community so kudos to Brian Tolnar and his staff for the outstanding job that they have done.”

Andy Detesco serves as Mill Creek Foundation chairman.

“As we showcase Mill Creek Park to those from other states, it’s a true recognition of the high level of golf that is played in the Mahoning Valley,” Detesco said.

One out-of-state player is 12 year-old Bailey Shoemaker of Cooperstown, N.Y., who is playing in her third AJGA event.

“I actually played a round yesterday, but got called in on the 16th hole when it started to rain,” she said. “The course is similar to the Beth Page Black Golf Course in New York City, so I feel like that will help me out.”

Opening-round play begins today on the South Course from 7 a.m. to 12:10 p.m. with a cookout and social slated from noon until 5 p.m.

Second round action is set for Wednesday (7 a.m. to 12:10 p.m.) with the final round slated for Thursday, also from 7 a.m. to 12:10 p.m. An awards presentation will follow.

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Children at the monthly Sprout Club program met on May 18 at Fellows Riverside Gardens to learn about dandelions.

Lynn Zocolo, horticulture educator, teaches the children each month about a different part of the environment. This month the children got hands-on with dandelions and the different parts.

The program started out with a coloring sheet for children to color until everyone came and the lesson could begin. Zocolo taught the children about the different parts of a dandelion and then passed those parts out for the children to look at and feel.

The children had the opportunity to examine the stem, the leaves, the flower and the seeds.

Zocolo also informed the children that parts of the dandelions are safe to eat, but only after asking an adult.

Many people associate blowing the dandelion seeds with making a wish, so the children made their own wish necklaces.

They were given ribbon, a container on the ribber, dandelion seeds and an acorn top as the lid.

There was a tag on the necklace that said “Some see a weed, I see a wish.” The children were supposed to make a wish as they put the seeds into the container.

After making the necklaces, the children tried blowing bubbles with the hollow stem. There was an experiment to see if bubbles or water mixed with soap created the best bubbles. In the end, the soap mixture produced the most and biggest bubbles.

Sprout Club educations children in a hands-on way that gives them the opportunity to have fun while doing it.

Anyone interested in signing up for Sprout Club can visit www.millcreekmetroparks.org for more information.

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