Marsico wins AJGA Las Vegas Junior tourney

Max Marsico's string of rotten luck is over.

The 17-year-old Las Vegan was sidelined the past 14 months by a broken vertebra and a broken foot.

Despite that, he narrowly missed advancing in a local qualifier for the U.S. Open, falling in a playoff.

That was all forgotten Thursday when Marsico captured the AJGA Las Vegas Junior tournament at Angel Park Golf Club. Marsico carded a 2-under-par 69 to finish the 54-hole tournament at 5 under, good for a one-stroke win over Mario Clemens of Beverly Hills, Calif.

"It's just a dream come true," Marsico said. "It's such an honor to have a tournament of this caliber in Las Vegas, and to win it kind of gives me chills."

Marsico spent part of last summer wearing a back brace as he recovered from the fractured vertebra that he sustained while playing golf. He broke a bone in his foot in late November, keeping him out of action until February.

A senior at The Meadows, Marsico hadn't played in a major junior tournament since then.

He tied for second in a Junior World Golf tournament qualifier, but fell short in the Open qualifier. However, he showed no signs of rust this week. Marsico opened the tournament Tuesday with a 68 and shot par 71 Wednesday.

"I think I can beat any player in the world," Marsico said. "You have to believe in yourself. If I came out here and thought I wasn't as good as half of these kids ... what's the point of coming out if you don't think you can win?"

Marsico entered Thursday's round tied with Clemens for second place, one stroke behind Ryan Tetrault. He trailed Tetrault and Clemens by one stroke after nine holes.

He birdied Nos. 13 and 14 to take the lead and opened up a three-stroke margin when he made a 25-foot birdie putt on the 16th hole.

Marsico shot par on each of the final two holes. Clemens birdied both holes, but it wasn't enough.

"I didn't know that I had a lead because I didn't know how anybody was doing in front of me," Marsico said. "I couldn't just relax and finish bogey-bogey. I know Mario is a good enough player that he could birdie, or someone in front of me could have put up a 65.

"This is a great shot in the arm."

A.J. McInerney, who will be a freshman at Coronado in August, finished third, three strokes behind Marsico.

"I played pretty good today," said McInerney, who shot 69 Thursday. "I had a good chance for birdie on 16 and then bogeyed 17. If I birdie those holes, I'm in a playoff."

Lindsey Weaver of Scottsdale, Ariz., won the girls tournament, finishing at 7-under 206, eight strokes better than Jenny Shin of Torrance, Calif.