Thirteen year old C. J. Easley of Batesville has been in Palm Beach Gardens Florida for The Optimist International Junior Golf Championships that he qualified to play in.
Easley qualified for the 12-13 age group but just turned 13 and competed July 25-30.
The Optimist International Junior Golf Championships is one of the largest and best-known junior golf tournaments in the world. More than 600 golfers participate in it each year. More than 5,000 golfers compete in official Optimist District qualifying tournaments. The best of these golfers, along with international golfers from around the globe, 
advance to the annual Optimist International Junior Golf Championships.
Easley is the only player in his age group to qualify from his district that included Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi.Besides competing with players from the United States Easley will compete against Argentina, Thailand, France, Mexico, Chonburi, South Africa, Puerto Rico, Chili, Ecuador, Colombia, China and Canada.
In the practice round on Friday Easley played with a golfer from Hawaii, Colorado and El Paso Texas.
On Saturday Easley played his first round and was tied for 21st after shooting a 78. He played with a kid from Missouri and Florida.
His mother, Kerry Easley said, “He played really good for about 15 holes and then had three double bogeys.”
On Sunday Easley shot a 74 and was tied for 14th place. He played with a golfer from Iowa and Indiana.
The third round was Monday at 8:30 a.m. and Easley played with Jason Del Fierro of California and Raymond LI of Vancouver Canada. He shot a 79 and tied for 18th place.
His parents were very proud of him.
“It was a good experience for him and they’re were a lot of players here from around the United States and the world,” said Jamie Easley, his father.
Easley lives in Batesville but is the grandson of Gary and Carol Campbell, great grandson of Faye Campbell and the late Henry O. Campbell and Mary Jean Edwards and the late Harold Edwards.