WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. - As Memorial Day Weekend marks the unofficial beginning of summer, it also served as the stage for the second major of the Florida Junior Tour season. This weekend, competitors ages 13 to 15 tested their skills on the par-70 Saddlebrook Course at Saddlebrook Resort. The juniors competing in the three-day, 54-hole tournament were met with beautiful conditions throughout the weekend, with it being rare to see a cloud in the sky. However, the tight fairways and small greens presented by Saddlebrook proved to be a formidable challenge for the field, resulting in a lot of bogeys made around the course. Ultimately, after three rounds of play, Gabriel Hull pulled off a final-round comeback while Angela (Yiting) Wang went wire-to-wire as both players secured victories.
Boys (13-15)
After 18 holes had been completed, just one player in the entire field could lay claim to an under-par round. Giuseppe Puebla, who began the first round on the 10th hole, was able to create early separation thanks to four birdies throughout the afternoon, highlighted by back-to-back birdies on the first and second holes. When Saturday came to a close, the Royal Palm Beach native was in the driver’s seat with a three-shot lead at 2-under par. In second place was Lawson Ford, of West Palm Beach, who got off to a slow start on Saturday by recording two bogeys and no birdies through his first seven holes. As he made the turn, the Class of 2027 member birdied three holes out of four to get under par, but would ultimately give two of those shots back with bogeys on the fifth and sixth holes to finish the day at 1-over par. Jyden Sonnabend, Gabriel Hull, and Aubrey Fellows were all tied for third at 2-over par and four shots back of the leader.
On Sunday, Puebla continued to play well and was able to hold on to a 36-hole lead. Despite not making a single birdie in the second round, the round-one leader recorded just two bogeys on his way to a score of 2-over par, 72, and a cumulative score of even-par for the first two rounds. With four top-10 finishes already this year, Puebla was familiar with the pressure he would face on Monday as he looked to close out the tournament for his first victory in two years. This performance was good enough for a two-shot lead over Maddox Ketelaar, of Wesley Chapel, who rose up the leaderboard on Sunday thanks to a round-low score of 1-under par, 69. Ketelaar, who bogeyed three holes on the back nine on Saturday, flipped the script in the second round by completing that side of the course bogey-free at 1-under par. Hull, of South Daytona, would head into Monday in third place, and three shots back, at three-over par.
In the final round, as Ketelaar struggled to stay out of trouble, the Boys’ Division turned into a three-golfer tournament between Puebla, Hull, and Ford, who was five shots back of Puebla to begin Monday. Ford showed he would not go away easy by birdieing the first two holes and completing the front nine at 2-under par. Hull also had a strong front nine, making the turn at 2-under par for the round. Puebla, who played the front nine at 2-over par, was unable to find his birdieing ability from Saturday, allowing Hull to take over the lead for the first time. With nine holes to go, Hull carried a one-shot lead over Puebla and a two-shot lead over Ford. Then, with just two holes to play, Hull had maintained a two-shot lead over Puebla. After a birdie on the 17th hole, Puebla was able to pull back to just one shot back. But a strong finish from Hull allowed him to secure the one-shot victory, his first ever FJT win.
Girls (13-15)
The Saddlebrook Course at Saddlebrook Resort proved to be a challenging test for the girls teeing it up during the Memorial Day Weekend major. Through 18 holes, no players were under-par, but the closest was Angela (Yiting) Wang. The Windermere native had three birdies, including two on her final two holes of the round, to separate herself from the field, taking advantage of the poor play of the rest of the competitors and building a four-shot lead. Ana Boone, of ChampionsGate, held second place by herself after shooting a score of 5-over par, 75. Jolie Pastorick, of Sarasota, and Lilliana Ford, of Debary, were in a tie for third with scores of 7-over par 77.
Then, on Sunday, the field as a whole would continue to struggle as no players would record a score under-par for the second consecutive day. Once again, only one player would come one shot away from shooting even-par for the day. This time, it was the Sarasota native, Pastorick, who had four birdies to bring herself within three shots of Wang heading into Monday. The round-one leader struggled on her first nine of the second round as she would make the turn at 5-over par on the day without a birdie. But then, as she turned over to the front nine, Wang was able to regain the control she experienced on Saturday and played the remainder of the round bogey-free and 1-under par. Boone would repeat her performance from Saturday to sit in third place, five shots back of the leader.
On Monday, although scores across the field improved greatly from the first two rounds, Wang maintained a stranglehold on the lead. With a round of 1-over par, 71, that was highlighted by four birdies, including two on three of her final holes, Wang secured a wire-to-wire victory by a remarkable eight shots, her third victory of the year. Three players would end up in a tie for second. Pastorick, Hannah Hall, who completed a 2-over par round on Sunday, and Ryan Donaldson would all finish the tournament at 14-over par. Outside of Wang securing her victory, Donaldson had the most memorable day of all as she completed her round at 5-under par, 65. With a 65, Donaldson now holds the record for the lowest final-round score in FJT history in the 13-to-15-year old Girls’ Division, and ties for the lowest 18-hole score in the division as well.
