SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – The Arizona golf record books were rewritten in July thanks to a teenager.

He shot in the 50s, taking home a summer classic trophy and creating a new record doing it. 

Arizona teen AJ Ramos has lost track of how many golf competitions he’s entered, but, something special happened in July at the Junior Golf Association of Arizona’s Sam Schanafelt Summer Classic.

He shot a record-breaking 59 at Starfire Golf Club in Scottsdale.

“Everything culminated into one round,” Ramos said. “Everything just went perfectly. All the hard work just paid off and everything went perfectly in that one round where I shot a 59.”

He’s just 14 years old and has only been golfing for six years. For most of that time, his dad was his coach.

He won the Sam Schanafelt Summer Classic – his fourth win of the year for the budding star.

“It’s definitely a step in the right direction, and it shows me that my hard work is paying off,” Ramos said.

He says he’ll continue to work hard and be disciplined.

The golfer, who, at just 14, has already seen it all, and knew he had a chance at history on the back 9.

“Going on to 14, the previous hole, I just birdied to get to 8 under. I was like, ‘Oh, 59 could really happen here. I could shoot a 59.’ So, going into the last hole, I was 11 under so I just needed a par to shoot the 59 and I ened up making a 4 footer,” Ramos said. “I was very nervous over if I was able to make it and as soon as I saw it going in, I was overwhelmed with joy.”

Add his name to record books.

He has some advice to add to your game, too.

“You are going to hit bad shots but I think the main thing is, you have to learn from it. Go on to the next shot and do your best at that next shot,” he said.

For some added perspective, only 14 times in PGA Tour history has a golfer shot a 59.

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Arizona Democrat Ruben Gallego is promoting Republican backing for his Senate campaign as the congressman works to assemble a winning coalition in the swing state.

A list being released Sunday of Republican supporters of his campaign includes moderate Republicans and some former Republicans who held elected office or other roles in business or politics. Several are former aides to the late Sen. John McCain, the famed Arizona Republican and onetime prisoner of war who was known for occasionally bucking his party.

Gallego’s Republican opponent, Kari Lake, has criticized McCain in the past and once suggested he was a “loser.”

Democrats have made inroads in Arizona after decades of GOP dominance. While Republicans have more registered voters in the state, Sen. Mark Kelly, Gov. Katie Hobbs and other Democrats have cobbled together narrow victories by holding their party together, dominating among independents and getting support from an outsize share of Republicans who dislike the direction of the GOP under Donald Trump.

Lake is a former television news anchor and one of Trump’s most prominent supporters. Like Trump, she has promoted false and debunked theories of election fraud.

She says Gallego is a liberal Democrat who is out of step with Arizona’s moderate voters. Lake says the congressman votes in lockstep with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, supported legislation that worsened inflation and wants to eliminate the Senate filibuster to enact a liberal agenda.

Gallego, who served as a Marine in Iraq, is emphasizing his military service and financially humble upbringing as he looks to expand his stature beyond the safely Democratic district in Phoenix that he has represented since 2015. He says he is not afraid to push Biden when he disagrees with the administration’s policies, particularly around the U.S.-Mexico border. Gallego views the filibuster, which requires 60 Senate votes to pass most legislation, as a barrier to efforts to protect voting rights, abortion rights and other priorities.

Among those Republicans endorsing Gallego is Mesa Mayor John Giles, who has been a vocal supporter of Democrats running against Trump and his allies, including Biden and Kelly.

“I cannot in good conscience stand on the sidelines while extremists like Kari Lake, who have hijacked our party for the sake of personal gain, undermine the very fabric of what makes America exceptional,” Giles said in a statement released by Gallego’s campaign.

Gallego is emphasizing his military service as a Marine who faced difficult combat in Iraq, a biography with the potential to appeal across party lines.

“Like my former boss, Ruben has spent decades serving his country and state,” said Paul Hickman, a former state director for McCain who described himself as a lifelong Republican, in a statement released by Gallego’s campaign.

Lake’s GOP primary rival, Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, earned about 40% of the vote Tuesday despite being outspent 5-to-1 by Lake, giving hope to Democrats that her Republican support remains soft.

When she accepted victory in the primary, Lake made a point of reaching out to those who voted against her, a stark contrast to her 2022 run for governor when she went after McCain and other Republicans who ran afoul of the right.

“This is an all hands on deck moment,” she said. “It’s going to take people from all walks of life.”

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — Maricopa County says it’s counted about 99 percent of the roughly 740,000 ballots cast in Tuesday’s primary election, with 2,100 ballots left to tabulate and verify as of Saturday night.

In an election, every vote can matter. In the Congressional District 3 Democratic primary, which includes most of west Phoenix, only 67 votes separate Yassamin Ansari and Raquel Terán, with nearly 44,000 ballots counted.

“In Arizona right now, both in the primary and in the general election everything is very close. The parties and the campaigns are organized to try and get out every vote they can. And the reason they’re doing that is because those margins are so tight and because they recognize that every vote counts,” said Arizona Clean Elections Commission Executive Director Tom Collins.

In Arizona, a recount is automatically triggered when the top two candidates in a race are within .5% of each other. At Maricopa County, election officials are prepared if any officially go to a recount.

“We have several that are close in Maricopa County. We’re keeping an eye on those and making sure that we are able to do the full recount should it become necessary,” said Jennifer Liewer with the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office.

If a recount happens, Collins says the tabulation equipment is tested, and the ballots are again run through the machines.

“There’s always going to be lawyers involved, but the actual procedures at the county level are very straightforward and rely on the very same processes that were used to count the ballots in the first place,” he explained.

In the meantime, Collins says candidates in close races are still trying to get every last vote for them verified and counted.

“They’ve been out working, reaching out to voters to cure the ballots if they had a signature missing or a signature mismatch, those kinds of things, so that’s what the campaigns have been doing,” he said.

The deadline to issue Letters of Nomination and Certificates of Election and deliver canvasses to the Secretary of State is Aug. 12.

Both candidates sent out statements on Saturday.

“From the very beginning of this campaign, our diverse, progressive team has defied the odds in our fight for a better future. After the last round of vote tabulation, we have maintained our lead in this race. “

“That is a true testament to a dedicated team and the incredible volunteers that knocked over 165,000 doors and made tens of thousands of calls to voters across the district. We took our positive message of progressive results directly to voters and I could not be more proud.”

“We are still hard at work ensuring that every vote is counted. Thank you to the thousands of voters who made their voices heard in this election. Together, we will continue to deliver progressive results. Our work has just begun. ”

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