BELLEFONTE — Ashland’s Jeffrey Meade provided the bookend to his fantastic start with an emotional victory Friday in the Natural Resource Partners Bluegrass Junior.

After firing a career-best round of 66 on Wednesday to grab the early lead, he refused to give it up the rest of the way.

Meade made two huge birdie putts in the final round and held off late-charging Chandler Morgan of Lexington at Bellefonte Country Club.

Playing in his hometown and on his home course, Meade shot 69 to finish 3-under par in the American Junior Golf Association event.

“It means everything,” Meade said. “I've dreamt about it since I started playing out here (age 13). I've seen all the big names out here playing and it's one of the biggest tournaments in the country. Being able to win it my last time aroundis really special to me. I'm going to remember it for the rest of my life.”

The Transylvania University signee is the first Ashland-area player to win in the tournament’s 29 years at Bellefonte. Nick Duffield, a BCC member from Chesapeake, Ohio, was the 2011 champion.

Meade shot a 1-under 34 on the back nine, grinding out several nice pars, before getting word that another golfer was 2-under and just one shot off the lead.    

Meade responded on No. 17, rolling in an uphill, 35-foot birdie putt from the fringe.

“It came at a great time,” he said. “I can’t thank the Lord enough.”

The golfer making the charge was Morgan, a golf buddy of Meade. They played in the same threesome the first two rounds of the tournament. Beginning on No. 8, Morgan caught fire and played a stretch of seven holes at 6-under, including an eagle on No. 11.

Morgan also had good looks at birdie putts on 16 and 17, but couldn’t get them into the hole. He closed with four consecutive pars for a 66 and finished one shot behind Meade.

“I got hot,” said Morgan, who was coming off wins in the Golfweek Junior Tour’s Midwest region championships and a junior city tournament in Lexington. “Overall this week, I was streaky, sometimes good and sometimes bad.”

Meade’s adrenaline-boosting birdie on 17 proved to be most timely. He got in trouble to the right off the 18th tee and had to punch the ball into the fairway. But a nice iron shot to the green set up a two-putt for the bogey he needed to seal the biggest win of his life.

“I’ve never been in that situation in a tournament like this,” Meade said of the pressure-packed ending. “It meant everything to pull it off, especially with a red number (below par) today.”       

During the awards ceremony, with Father’s Day just ahead, Meade’s voice cracked as he credited his father, Jeff, for “the hard work he’s done with me to get me to this point.”

Asked later about his father’s influence, Jeffrey added “He and I have been through a lot of ups and downs with my golf game ... him working and me being stubborn. We kept talking. He means everything to me.”

Meade had plenty of support Friday from club members as well as family. His sister, Jordan, a member of Ashland Blazer’s regional championship softball team, served as the standard bearer for Friday’s lead group.

“She asked if she could do that,” he said. “I thought it was pretty cool. By the end of the round, there were a good 50 to 60 people following my group. That’s a pretty big crowd.”

Meade started the day with a three-shot lead, but watched it shrink to one over Cole Berman after Meade’s back-to-back bogeys on Nos. 6 and 7.

However, Meade bounced right back by sinking a long birdie putt from the right side of the No. 8 green.

“It gave him momentum,” said Berman, who was playing with Meade and Sam Buse of Cincinnati in the lead group. “After that one, he didn’t look back.”

Berman, a 16-year-old from Rosemont, Pa., shot 71 in the final round and finished fourth at 212, one shot behind Fred Allen Meyer of Nicholasville.

Haylee Harford of Leavittsburg, Ohio, posted a 73 in the final round to win the Girls Division at 224. Sarah Hasselman of Honolulu was one shot behind.

“I finished in the top 10 last year, but it feels good to come back and do much better in a great tournament,” she said. “I've been practicing hard for this, so to win it is a great opportunity and experience.”

Harford said her short game has improved significantly.

“Today I was able to get up and down better,” she said.

The tournament’s annual Cameron Weis Sportsmanship Award went to Lucas Jones of Louisville.   

ROCKY STANLEY can be reached at rstanley@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2671,