VALDOSTA — Sometimes it’s not how you finish but how you start. For Thomasville native and Brookwood standout Jack Boltja, two sensational rounds to start the Georgia Junior Championship earlier this week was enough to catapult him to the title Wednesday.

Boltja shot a third-round 78, finished 7 under and held on for a two-shot victory at Kinderlou Forest Golf Club in Valdosta. He held on for the victory after shooting a first-round 65 and second-round 66.

“This is one of my favorite tournaments, and every year I look forward to this one,” Boltja said. “When I was growing up, one of the goals was to eventually be a champion. It just feels really good that it finally happened.”

Boltja held an eight-shot lead heading into Wednesday’s final round. But even a 69 by Statham’s Luke Koenig and 68 by Valdosta’s Parker Highsmith was only good enough to finish tied for second, losing to Boltja by two strokes.

“It’s hard because you don’t want to worry about anyone else’s score. You’re still just playing the course and playing yourself,” Boltja said. “It’s hard to do that, because it’s hard not to think about the scores. Today, I played better than my score showed. The putter, I didn’t make any putts. It made it look a little worse than it was I thought. It worked out in the end.”

Boltja will continue his work on the golf course this fall when he attends Georgia Southern University. His hoping this championship will be a confidence booster moving forward in his time with the Eagles.

“It’s good because qualifying in the fall is going to be tough,” he said. “We have a good team. I know I need to keep improving. Yeah, it’s definitely a big confidence booster.”