SARASOTA, Fla. – The Junior Florida Cup will stay in the North for another year, as the North captured its second-straight victory. North Florida dominated during the two-day championship, raising the cup with a 23-9 victory on Tuesday at Sara Bay Country Club.
It was the North’s 11th Junior Florida Cup victory and second-straight after winning in 2019 at Deerwood Country Club (2020 event cancelled due to COVID-19). The 14-point margin of victory is the largest in Junior Florida Cup history.
Four-Ball Matches
The championship began on Monday morning with eight four-ball matches. The North came out strong, earning seven points in the morning, while the South took one.
Lev Grinberg and Connor Holcroft captured a decisive 5-and-4 win for the North, winning three of five holes on the back nine to secure the victory. Elan Zhang and Katelyn Huber also grabbed a big win for the North in the morning, taking two of the first three holes and never looking back, winning 4 and 3.
Logan Hunter and James Bradley added another point for the North, taking down Victor Herrera and Andres Barraza, 4 and 3. Aaron Whitley and Layla Pedrique captured the lone point for the South in the morning, winning 3 and 2.
Foursomes Matches
Monday afternoon’s foursome matches saw some close victories for the North team. North’s Reggie Zhu and Zhang won 1 up with Zhu rolling in a 10-foot par putt on the ninth to secure the victory. After jumping out to a 2-up lead on the front nine, Hunter and Zeng won the 18th hole to take the 2-up win for the North.
After making the turn tied, Bradley and Analiese Raath won three-straight holes to take a 3-up lead, securing the 2-and-1 win with a par on the 17th hole.
On the South side, Pedrique and Nicolas Bencomo won the final four holes to earn a point for the South team. Brothers, Beni Long and Alex Long added the other point for the South, winning 2 and 1.
After grabbing 5.5 points in the afternoon, the North headed into Tuesday’s final round with a 12.5-3.5 lead over the South, needing only 3.5 points to retain the Junior Florida Cup.
Singles Matches
After a two-and-a-half-hour delay to begin the morning, the 16 singles matches went out in a shotgun start. The North team captured some dominating wins on Tuesday, with Holcroft earning the first point of the day for the North after defeating Barraza, 7 and 6.
Hunter picked up a 6-and-5 win against Jonah Winter, winning the final three holes of the match. Sabree Lefebvre won 7 and 5 over Angelica Holman. Lefebvre jumped out to a strong lead, winning five of the first six holes and securing the win with a birdie.
Campbell Kennedy clinched the win for the North, defeating Wyatt Plattner, 4 and 3. After a back-and-forth match between Zhang and Pedrique, Pedrique came away with the 1-up win for the South. The Palm Beach Gardens native was the lone South team member to finish the week undefeated, 3-0.
Five members of the North team finished the week undefeated: Raath, Hunter, Kennedy, Zeng and Zhu.
The North team picked up 10.5 points in the singles to take home the victory, while the South ended with 5.5.
