Golf: Estero's Kent, Fort Myers' Rodino top Drive, Chip, Putt qualifier in Estero

Noah Kent made up for disappointment and Talia Rodino simply got better.

The young golfers from Estero and Fort Myers, respectively, had the top boys and girls scores on Tuesday to win their respective divisions in the Drive, Chip and Putt local qualifier at Stoneybrook Golf Club in Estero.

Kent, an eighth-grader at Oakridge Middle School in Naples, came up four points short of advancing last year. He left little question this year, compiling a 144 to win the Boys 14-15 division by three points over Kevin Kelly of Cape Coral.

"My dad told me that this year I was going to make it to Augusta (for the finals) and I just put that in my mind," said Kent, 13, who drained a 30-footer during the putting portion. "My putting has really helped. I used to not be good in that."

Rodino, who will be a freshman at Bishop Verot High School in the fall, had made it out of the local qualifier before. So she just focused on doing even better, and she hopes that carries over into the next round. 

Last year, Rodino didn't even have another competitor in her age group. This year, she had four others, but Rodino also improved by 30 points over last year, finishing with 132.

"I needed to get all of my drives in the grid," she said. "That was a big deal for me. Chipping, I wanted to improve on every shot. The first shot I didn't do as well, but then I got into it. Putting, I just wanted to get it in close in the ring. I wanted to putt it on the high side, so it wouldn't go down outside the grid, which is pretty important for me too."

Rodino tries not to think about the fact that anybody else is competing or that someone may be watching her.

"I kind of just act as if I'm practicing and it's another day for me," she said.

The top three in each age group advanced to the subregional qualifier on Aug. 11 at Bonita Bay Club. Golfers had three drives, three chips and three putts, then their point totals were compiled based on the results.

Lee County did well as far as having players advance. 

In addition to Kent and Rodino, Aidan MacInnes of Bonita Springs won the Boys 12-13s, Fort Myers' Jamie Lowry on the Girls 12-13s in a tiebreaker over fellow Fort Myers resident Morgan Franklin, and Jayse Beste of Fort Myers won the 7-9 boys.

Nick Allen of Naples won the Boys 10-11 with 105 points, and Reilly Kirwin of Naples won the Girls 7-9.

Naples' Sam Kodak, who has played in the finals at Augusta National Golf Club twice, won't be a third time. Kodak tied for sixth in the 14-15 with a 114 total. There will be a Kodak in the next round, though. His younger sister Eliza finished third in the 14-15 division to advance again.

More:Golf: Naples' Sam Kodak leads Drive, Chip & Putt local qualifier at Stoneybrook

More:Golf: Naples' Jensi Krampel finishes third at Drive, Chip and Putt Finals at Augusta National

There'll be another local qualifier in the area at Vineyards on Sunday, July 15.

After the subregional and regional rounds, the winners advance to Augusta National Golf Club for the finals the Sunday leading into Masters week. Last year, Naples' Jensi Krampel made it to the finals in the Girls 7-9 division and finished third.

Drive, Chip and Putt local qualifier

at Stoneybrook Golf Club, Estero

Top 3 advance

Boys

7-9

1. Jayse Beste 13 driving-35 chipping-60 putting/108 points; 2. Brody Billows Austin 27-26-45/98; 3. Braden Grable 24-17-50/91; 4. Hunter Humbert 15-35-40/90; 5. Lucas Bosway 23-36-27/86; 6. Gordon Nip 24-11-50/85; 7. Jackson Mills 26-17-35/78; 8. Crew Satkoski 8-12-55/75; 9. Jack Henry 26-4-37/67; 10. Martin Zak 11-13-41/65; 11. Benjamin Caplan 21-21-23/65; 12. James Conroy 8-17-36/61; 13. Jordan Conroy 8-22-27/57; 14. Noah Harmon 10-12-31/53; 15. Rohan Sustad 4-8-31/43; 16. Adam Jenkins 11-3-23/37; 17. Dozier Bartlett 6-12-17/35; 18. Eshaan Adi 0-12-22/34; 19. Finn Murphy 12-8-8/28; 20. Evan MacInnes 5-3-17/25; 21. Landon Frederic 0-12-12/24 

10-11

1. Nick Allen 19-31-55/105; 2. Noah Pruss 16-45-36/97; 3. Charlie Santucci 9-16-35/60; 4. Jacob Steuber 26-4-26/56; 5. Griffin Henry 21-7-26/54; 6. Mac Gravley 18-12-23/53; 7. Dominic Zak 18-3-31/52; 8. Spencer Ives 7-8-35/50; 9. Rhys Skillrud 0-7-40-/47; 10. Ty Williams 0-12-26/38; 11. Scott Loiacano Jr. 8-4-26/38; 12. Colin Sherrill 0-4-32/36; 13. Tripp Lyons 0-5-30/35; 14. Ian Greenwood 13-4-18/35

12-13

1. Aidan MacInnes 34-26-40/100; 2. Keegan McGinn 40-17-41/98; 3. Michael Bevins 35-21-40/96; 4. Owen Nichols 24-31-35/90; 5. J.J. Livingston 22-21-45/88; 6. Julian Alonso 33-17-32/82; 7. Adin McMaster 21-26-31/78; 8. Aidan Tipple 12-19-46/77; 9. Arnav Adi 31-8-36/75; 10. Dax Greenwood 35-7-31/73; 11. Kronos Esckilsen 19-4-45/68; 12. Brayden Spain 12-7-41/60; 13. Noah Schwartz 0-3-31/34

14-15

1. Noah Kent 59-25-60/144; 2. Kevin Kelly 59-27-55/141; 3. Sean Richards 40-40-51/131; 4. Wesley Morgan 20-50-60/130; 5. Max Fonseca 20-40-55/115; 6. Dalton Payne 19-45-50/114; 6. Sam Kodak 39-30-45/114; 8. Krish Sharma 15-41-55/111; 9. Tommy Perezshkan 57-7-40/104; 10. Ronan Camron 32-22-45/99; 11. Austin Carver 14-3-36/53; 12. Jacob Schwartz 11-8-31/50; 13. Niko Paluzzi 4-3-40/47

Girls

7-9

1. Reilly Kirwin 21-35-40/96; 2. Olivia Puskas 14-7-70/91; 3. Kinley Mills 11-4-31/46; 4. Maribel Alonso 4-7-24/35; 5. Nina Santiago 7-4-21/32; 6. Ella McMaster 6-3-18/27; 7. Kayla Day 7-3-17/27

10-11

1. Angela Nip 27-15-50/91; 2. Sadie Johnson 27-35-26/88; 3. Isabelle Ferraro 19-3-36/58; 4. Avery Deal 22-5-27/54; 5. Gwen Carver 15-17-18/50; 6. Ainsley Grohowski 8-3-27/38

12-13

1. Jamie Lowry 29-18-50-97; 2. Morgan Franklin 30-21-46/97; 3. Caroline Kelly 34-8-50/92; 4. Amelia Alonso 21-17-35/73; 5. Gia Serrano 13-3-26/42; 6. Gloria Markey 2-3-18/23

14-15

1. Talia Rodino 37-40-55/132; 2. Jordan Knox 39-16-60/115; 3. Eliza Kodak 24-18-70/112; 4. Katherine Jean Carr 32-27-36/95; 5. Meredith Brown 0-8-40/48.