The 2025 Catalina Jr. Golf Tournament took place on Saturday, April 5 and Sunday, April 6, at the Catalina Island Golf Course and once again the event was a huge success. Each year 60 junior golfers from all over California, Nevada and our local junior golf contingent combine to be part of a wonderful experience for players, and their family and friends who also join in on the fun.
This event would not be such a success if it weren’t for the Sewell family. Bill & Jackie, and their son Ryan form an amazing team who promotes and organizes the entire event with the great support of the Catalina Island Golf Course and its wonderful staff of workers, especially those making the course and the greens so beautiful and playable.
After Saturday’s round, players and family enjoyed mini golf at our local miniature golf course, where our local high school golf team put on a nice pitching exhibition. This was pretty impressive since they were on a putting course, not a pitching course. There is no doubt that our local boys represented their town in fine fashion throughout the weekend, receiving many compliments from the spectators for their great attitude and performance in the two-day golf tournament.
Senior Jose Pedroza turned in the best 18 hole score for our local contingent on Sunday with an impressive 3 over par 67. His teammate Senior Aaron Meza turned in a nice score as well with a 69. Seventh grader Kevin Mulgado shot a 74 on Sunday, serving notice that there is a bright future for Avalon Golf. The overall champion of the tournament was Sam Bonzoumet from Riverside, with an impressive even par score of 128 for 36 holes. This is an outstanding score on a very challenging layout with difficult greens because of their slopes and angulations. This year’s tournament attracted some of the best junior golfers of Southern California and is only growing in stature thanks to the hard work of the Sewells.
Our local junior golfers have benefited greatly from the generosity of Catalina Jr. Golf, a non-profit organization formed by the Sewell family with a definite mission in mind. Their purpose is to provide resources to our local junior golfers so that they can enjoy the wonderful game of golf. We are grateful for all the time, energy, and resources that the organization has provided. Their mission is being accomplished and it is making a difference in our kids’ lives. In addition to putting on an excellent junior golf tournament, Bill also sponsors our local junior golfers at tournaments on the mainland and provides them with the necessary equipment so that they can compete equally with the other junior golfers of the world.
Bill’s son Ryan is a former champion of the tournament and the Sewell family’s goal has been to give back to Avalon what it gave to Ryan when he was a junior golfer back in the day. They have accomplished their goal and even surpassed their own expectations. The tournament is well organized and well run from beginning to end.
Throughout the two days there was constant excitement, especially when the scores were posted on a brand new professional leaderboard designed and built by Ed and Chris Arnold. Olivia Hernandez provided a great BBQ with hot dogs and hamburgers on Saturday. A wonderful raffle with great prizes, mostly provided by OGIO, a Callaway company, took place on Sunday at the conclusion of the tournament.
The Catalina Junior Golf Tournament had disappeared for a few years and now the Sewell family with the support of the Catalina Island Golf Course has brought it back and it is thriving better than ever. Thanks to all who contributed their time, their energy, or their resources to make this event such a huge success and we’ll see next year around the same time.
