Despite a couple of stumbles, Colton Swartz of Fleming Island made it a runaway at the Mayacoo Lakes Country Club in West Palm Beach to win the Florida State Golf Association 16-18 Junior Boys Championship on Saturday.
Swartz overcame two opening bogeys and a double bogey at No. 10 but still finished with a 70 to prevail by six shots over Parker Sievers of Lakewood Ranch and Lorenzo Rodriguez of Miami at 8-under-par 206.
Swartz began the day with a three-shot lead. After making bogey at Nos. 1 and 2, he birdied Nos. 4, 5 and 9 to extend his lead. He rebounded from his double at the 10th to birdie Nos. 12, 15 and 16 to cruise home.
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Swartz, who will enroll at Florida Southern next month, became the first First Coast resident to win a Florida Junior Boys title since Jacob Kline of St. Augustine in 2013. Swartz is the seventh 16-18 champion from the First Coast in state history.
Danny Erickson of Ponte Vedra Beach, an incoming University of North Florida freshman, tied for 20th at 6-over and Dylan Frein, who will be a junior at Fleming Island this fall, tied for 25th at 7-over.
In the 13-15 division, Lucas Gimenez of Jacksonville bogeyed the 18th hole to fall into a playoff with Arth Sinha of Oveido at even-par 214, then lost to Sinha on the second hole of sudden death. Gimenez had matched the low round of the tournament in that division with a 67 at PGA National on Friday.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Colton Swartz rebounds from shaky start to win 16-18 Florida Junior Boys