Phenoms Baucom, Joshi add to lengthy junior golf resumes with wins at Mimosa

Grayson Baucom and Ira Joshi have a combined seven years of high school remaining.

But no one in the world of junior golf should have been surprised with the two claiming titles at the 2025 Mimosa Hills Junior Invitational on Aug. 23-24 as they’ve already been building their resumes for quite a while.

The duo simply dominated in the sixth annual playing of the prestigious 36-hole event, which was conducted by the Carolinas Golf Association (CGA) and hosted by Mimosa Hills Golf Club.

Baucom, a rising sophomore who previously attended Hickory Christian Academy and now does online school, sizzled with rounds of 64 and 63 to finish 13-under par and win the boys portion of the tournament by five strokes.

(The 96 boys golfers in the field played Mimosa as a par 70, measuring 6,648 yards.)

Baucom led two South Carolina natives — Bennett Scaletta of Benton and John Wylie Richardson of Florence — by one shot following the first round, which he played in bogey-free fashion while making birdies at Nos. 5, 7, 9, 14, 15, and 17.

Baucom then ended the contest early on day two, sitting at 12-under for the event through just seven holes after making birdie at Nos. 2, 4, 5, and 6 and carding an eagle 3 on the par 5 seventh.

His only slip-up of the tournament came at the converted par 4 12th hole, which he bogeyed, but he made birdies coming in at Nos. 14 and 17 to end his weekend in style.

Baucom’s win was his second of the month after also claiming the CGA’s 21st annual Dogwood State Junior Boys match-play championship in Pilot Mountain as the only member of the class of 2028 to even reach the quarterfinals.

His list of prior accomplishments in the sport also includes winning the Future Masters 10-and-under division, the 2024 U.S. Kids Golf World Championship age 14 division, the 2024 Tarheel Youth Golf Association’s (TYGA) Middle School State championship, the CGA’s 2024 North Carolina Junior Boys’ 14 & Under Championship, and the American Junior Golf Association’s (AJGA) 2025 Visit Goldsboro NC Junior Championship and Scott Robertson Memorial this past spring. He won a pair of AJGA tournaments in 2024 as well.

Baucom, who played varsity golf as a seventh and eighth grader at Hickory Christian and is now a member of the Sandhills Highlanders homeschool team, also tied for second place as an eighth grader at the 2024 North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association’s Boys Division III State Championship. He is ranked 47th nationally in the latest AJGA boys rankings.

John John Santospago of Charlotte shot a final-round 64 to claim second place outright at 8-under par.

Scaletta and Erik Erlenkeuser of Anderson, S.C. — the top two players in the boys field in the CGA’s Carolina Junior Boys Rankings entering the week — were among a quartet to tie for third place at 6-under. That group also included Coleman Lankford of Wakhaw and Banks Steele of Lancaster, S.C.

Richardson (5-under) settled for a tie for seventh place. Also notably, back-to-back Dan Dobson Junior boys champion Hank Johnson of Newland (even par) — an ex-middle school individual state champion at Table Rock — tied for 32nd place, and defending champion Lincoln Newton of Wallburg (4-over) tied for 55th place as nearly two-thirds of the total boys golfers to play both days shot 144 (normal par at Mimosa) or better.

On the girls side, Joshi, a rising freshman at Pinecrest High School in Southern Pines, opened with the only sub-70 girls round of the tournament, led by as many as five strokes midway through the final round, and coasted to the win.

Joshi finished the tournament at 3-under after rounds of 69 and 72, though she climbed to 6-under with five holes remaining before a trio of bogeys to close her day at Nos. 14, 17, and 18 shaved her final winning margin to two shots.

(The 24-player girls field played Mimosa as a par 72 at 6,048 yards.)

Joshi on day one made six birdies (on Nos. 2, 7, 12, 13, 15, and 18) to more than offset three bogeys before she birdied the fifth, eighth, and 12th holes to build her big final-round cushion.

Also, a TYGA 2024 middle school state individual champion, Joshi’s resume already also included winning the Dogwood State Junior Girls in 2024 at nearby Cedar Rock Country Club and winning the CGA’s fourth annual Carolinas Collegiate Showcase at Grandover Resort and Spa in Greensboro in the fall of 2023.

At Mimosa, Joshi broke through for her first win this summer after having finished in the top 10 in seven of her last eight tournaments (including being runner-up once and finishing third in both of her last two events).

The Pinehurst native Joshi entered the weekend as the highest-ranked girls golfer in the field at No. 4 in the latest Carolina Junior Girls Rankings.

Amelia Santiago of Holly Springs was the only other girls golfer to better par for the event, finishing 1-under for sole possession of second place.

Marissa Scaletta of Belton, S.C., and Landry Hamm of Charlotte tied for third place at 4-over par.