Sweet Victory for Nemoto and Choe at Santa Lucia
PORT SAINT LUCIE, Fla. – The Florida Junior Tour headed to Port Saint Lucie where Santa Lucia River Club played host to 69 junior golfers at the FJT Santa Lucia Open (16-18) *Fall* event. The course played tough over the two days, with chilly morning conditions and winds gusting up to 20 mph.
Boys (16-18)
Saturday's first round would see Yuma Nemoto finding himself atop the leaderboard yet again. After picking up three victories in as many events in the 13-15 division in 2023, Nemoto would look to notch his first victory in the older division at Santa Lucia River Club. The 2028 grad would overcome a slow start in round one, including a double-bogey on his second hole of the day. Finding himself at 3-over par thru four holes, Nemoto would battle back to play the remainder of the round 2-under par in some tough conditions to post a 1-over par, 73. Closely following Nemoto at 2-over par was Brett Traver after his first round, 74. Traver's round started the opposite from Nemoto, quickly finding himself in the lead at 2-under par through four holes. The Lakewood Ranch native would give those shots back after bogies on holes 16 and 17 and a double bogey on the par 4, fourth hole. Rounding out the top three was Gabriel Prisciandaro after posting a three over par, 75 in round one.
The final round saw better scoring conditions as the wind stayed calm throughout the day. Brett Traver would quickly jump into a tie for the lead with Nemoto after a birdie on the opening hole. A bogey on the third and a triple-bogey on the 7th hole would however throw Traver out of contention. Gabriel Prisciandaro would also make his mark, playing steady golf on the first nine holes, going out in even par. The Sanford native would turn at 3-over par for the tournament and sit in second place. Nemoto however, would make birdies on 5 and 9, with one bogey on the 6th hole to turn at 1-under par and even par for the tournament. The Bradenton native would carry a comfortable lead throughout most of the back nine and would stand on the 17th hole with 6 shots to spare over Prisciandaro. The large lead would come in handy, as Nemoto would run into trouble on his final two holes, making a double-bogey on 17 and a bogey on 18 to finish at 2-over par on the day and 3-over par total for the event. Prisciandaro would fire rounds of 75-75 to finish at 6-over par total, three shots back of Nemoto and in second place. Notching third place was Brett Traver at 7-over par.
Girls (16-18)
The Girls (16-18) division would be bunched at the top at the conclusion of play on day 1. Mara King would take the lead heading into Sunday after signing for a 4-over par, 76. The 2025 grad and Penn State signee would make three birdies on the day to take the lead by one shot over the duo of Angela Chu Po Nip and Nina Choe at 5-over par.
Playing in her first FJT, Nina Choe would look to chase down King in the second round. The New York native would play steady golf to start, making 8 pars and a birdie to turn at 1-under par on the day and 4-over par for the tournament. King and Chu Po Nip would both make the turn at 5-over par for the tournament, puting them one shot back of Choe with nine holes to play. The 2026 grad would not relinquish her lead for the rest of the round, making one bogey and a closing birdie to shoot 1-under par, 71 in the final round and post 4-over par total for the event. Mara King would finish as runner-up, four shots back of Choe at 8-over par while Angela Chu Po Nip finished third at 9-over par.
