Leading off today: Long Island 14-year-old Jim Liu won the U.S. Junior Amateur this afternoon with a 4-and-2 victory over Justin Thomas of Kentucky in the 36-hole final in Ada, Mich.
Thomas birdied Nos. 12 and 13 in the afternoon session, but Liu regained a two-hole advantage at No. 14 with a short par putt.
Liu built a 3-up lead over the first 18 holes at Egypt Valley Country Club after waiting out a 30-minute rain delay. At just more than two weeks short of his 15th birthday, the rising sophomore became the youngest champion in the tournament's 63 years.
Liu defeated rising Pittsford Mendon sophomore Gavin Hall 1-up on Friday in the semifinals. He lives in Smithtown and attends The Knox School, a co-ed boarding school for grades 6-12 and a member of the Association of Independent Schools.
During school breaks, Liu works with Huntington Beach, Calif., instructor John Anselmo, a former pro who became one of Tiger Woods’ earlier coaches.
For the birds: Some football games on Hawaii’s Kauai island are being moved from Friday nights to Saturday afternoons as a measure to Newell’s shearwaters, seabirds that rely on moonlight to travel from their nests out to sea.
The birds are a protected species, and an estimated 30 shearwaters a year have become disoriented and fallen because of the Vidinha Stadium lights, The Associated Press reported. Under federal and state laws, the Kauai Interscholastic Federation can be fined up to $30,000 for each bird that dies.
Games before Sept. 15 are not affected because they fall before the fledgling season.
Ex-Oneonta coach dies: Former Oneonta High football coach Teko Johnson died Wednesday in Atlantic City, N.J., following a heart attack, The Daily Star reported. He was 41.
Johnson's Oneonta teams were 23-23 from 1995-99. He went on to two coaching jobs in Pennsylvania and had spent the last three seasons at a Utah school. His overall mark was 87-55 over 15 years.
