Thursday, August 12, 2010
The North Team claimed the 5th Junior Florida Cup at Golden Ocala Golf & Equestrian Club in Ocala earning 17½ points to the South Team’s 14½ points on August 11-12. This marks the North Team’s fourth consecutive victory as the 1st Junior Florida Cup ended in a tie.
After the first day of the Junior Florida Cup, the North Team trailed by only one point after securing 7½ points to the South’s 8½ points. The North Team grabbed 2½ points in the morning round of four-ball compared to the South’s 5½ points. Playing for the North, Heather Proctor and partner Alexandra Milan defeated Epiphany Prophet and Alexandra Papell 3 & 2. Wade Chen and Evan Byrd defeated Ryan Celano and Connor Lynch 4 & 3 in the morning round. Playing for the South, Nick Celestino and Andrew Wong defeated Joey Petronio and the 2010 Boys Junior Champion Hank Lebioda 2 & 1, and Alexandria Ramirez and partner Kristin Swindell defeated Madison Opfer and Kristine Odaiyar 3 & 2. The South team halved one match and won five four-ball matches, for a morning total of 5 ½ points. In the afternoon round of mixed foursomes, the North Team cut into the South’s lead earning five points to the South’s three points. The North’s Ashley Holder paired with Ryan Stovash earned a point winning their match 4 and 3. Holder recently won the 2010 Girls Junior Match Play Championship. On the South Team, Jeffrey Meltzer, Liam Snyder and Daniel Jaramillo won both their morning and afternoon matches.
On the final day of singles matches, the North Team came out strong winning 10 matches to come from behind and defeat the South Team who won six matches. Heather Proctor went 3-0 winning her singles match 5 and 3 over Alexandra Papell. Alexandra Milan also went 3-0 for the North team and Ashley Holder went 2-0-1. Owen Curry, Alessandra Kutz, Matt Cote, Taylor Hancock, Dirk Kuehler and Madison Opfer all earned points to contribute to the North’s victory. South Team members, Jeffrey Meltzer and Liam Snyder were the only two players on the South Team to go 3-0.
The Junior Florida Cup matches 16 players from the North against 16 players from the South in a Ryder Cup format. Each team consists of 10 boys and 6 girls selected mostly from the Florida Junior Tour (FJT) points list. The first morning, each boy and girl is paired with a partner to compete in a four-ball match. In the afternoon round, the boys and girls are paired together to play mixed-foursomes matches. The final day each player competes in a singles match against a player from the opposing team. Points are awarded to each match similarly to the Ryder Cup to determine the winning team. Last year, the North team claimed the 4th Junior Florida Cup earning 24 ½ points to the South team’s 15 ½ points.
Playing for the North is Evan Byrd, Wade Chen, Matt Cote, Owen Curry, Taylor Hancock, Ashley Holder, Dirk Kuehler, Alessandra Kutz, Hank Lebioda, Alexandra Milan, Kristine Odaiyar, Madison Opfer, Joey Petronio, Heather Proctor, Ryan Stovash and Kentaro Toyota
The South features Stephanie Carlozzi, Ryan Celano, Nick Celestino, Tyler Gentilella, Daniel Jaramillo, Rocky Khara, Connor Lynch, Jeffrey Meltzer, Alexandra Papell, Epiphany Prophet, Alexandria Ramirez, Emma Smyser, Liam Snyder, Kristin Swindell, Michael Visacki and Andrew Wong.
