WJGA championships: Tonkin toughs out victory

Shawn Tonkin dedicated the tournament to his uncle, who began chemotherapy treatment for cancer this week. (JAMES BRANAMAN / THE SEATTLE TIMES)

EVERETT — As his four-stroke lead slipped away, Shawn Tonkin needed to remind himself that golf was still fun.

Tonkin, calmed by the words of his uncle, Bob Tonkin, repeated over and over in his mind, "Golf's just a game."

Shawn Tonkin, a Mercer Island resident, ultimately survived a final-round, back-nine surge from Woodinville's Jarin Todd. Tonkin turned back Todd on the first playoff hole yesterday afternoon to capture the boys 16-17 age division of the Washington Junior Golf Association state championships at Everett Golf & Country Club.

The 16-year-old Tonkin came through with the most emotional victory of his junior career, dedicating the tournament to his 51-year-old uncle Bob Tonkin, who began chemotherapy treatment for cancer this week.

"Bob was always the one when it was just me and him, he'd give me advice," Shawn Tonkin said. "He's the person I look up to in my family for golf. This tournament was dedicated to him. I said that before the tournament started.

"Bob's a great person. By playing with him, he gave me the perspective that golf's just a game."

The young Tonkin tapped in a 2-foot par putt on the first playoff hole — hole No. 1 at Everett — after Todd slid a 6-foot comebacker for par right of the hole. Todd, 17, hit a nice shot from the sand trap to the right of the green. Tonkin hit a bump-and-run pitch from the left of the green.

"I hit really, really good chip," Tonkin said.

Both Tonkin, a junior-to-be at Mercer Island High School, and Todd finished with 54-hole totals of 2-under-par 214. Tonkin shot a 2-under 70 on the final day at Everett, and Todd registered the lowest score of the tournament with a closing 4-under 68.

Todd and Tonkin went stroke for stroke over the final four holes of regulation and in the playoff over the 6,230-yard, par-72 course.

"I've been through that before, so it was easier for me probably," said Todd, a senior-to-be at Woodinville High School who captured WJGA state titles at ages 13 and 15. "The more experience, the better you play under pressure. The ball just didn't spin out of the bunker (in the playoff)."

Tonkin now puts his name on an elite list of state-championship winners that includes some of the state's greats like Fred Couples (1977), Rick Fehr (1979) and Brock Mackenzie (1999).

Notes

• Renton's Jenna Moore took top honors in the girls 16-17 division by eight strokes with a 234 total. Moore, a junior-to-be at Academy Northwest in Seattle, fired rounds of 77-79 before finishing with a 78 over the tight, tree-lined Everett Golf & Country Club layout.

"I felt like my accuracy off the tee gave me an advantage on this course," said the 16-year-old Moore, who plays out of her hometown course, Maplewood. "I hit driver on every hole except the par-3s."

• In the boys 14-15 division, Sammamish's Alex Wotherspoon closed out a three-stroke victory with a 2-under 70 in the final round for a 219 total for 54 holes. Wotherspoon plays out of Plateau Country Club.

• Kent's Christine Cho, who plays out of Sumner Meadows, coasted to a 15-shot win in the girls 14-15 age group with a 236 total.

Cho finished with a final-round 84 to stay well in front of runner-up Jane Koh of West Seattle.

• In the boys 12-13 division, Andrew Yun of University Place polished off a two-stroke triumph with a final round 71 and 218 total.

• Michelle Ahn, who plays out of North Shore, took first in the girls 12-13 age bracket with a 241 total, finishing with an 82.

• In the 8-11 girls division, Jennifer Lee of Meadow Park Golf Course in Tacoma shot a final-round 87 for a four-shot victory and a 158 total for 36 holes.

• Carl Johnson of Bainbridge capped an 11-shot win in the 8-11 boys division with a final-round 75 after shooting 35 and 37 on previous days.

Johnson finished with a 147 total for 36 holes.