Ly & Lee Notch First FJT Victories in Fort Myers
FORT MYERS, Fla. – The Florida Junior Tour headed to Fort Myers for a first-time event at Shell Point Golf Club. Tucked between Sanibel Island and Fort Myers Beach, Shell Point provided lush fairways and a challenging layout.
Boys (13-15)
Saturday's first round provided some tough scoring conditions as the heat index rose and winds started gusting up to 20 mph. Jacob Menard, however would see this as no reason to not go low on the day. Starting his round on the back nine, Menard would make birdies on holes 11 and 18 to turn at 2-under par. The 2027 grad would add four more birdies to get to 6-under on the day. Menard's lone blemish on the day would come with a bogey on the par 4, 8th hole. His 5-under par, 66 would be enough for a three shot lead heading into Sunday.
The Sarasota native would look to notch his second FJT victory of the year after earning the title a month ago at the FJT Redland Open (13-15). Trailing Menard was Bento Assis after an opening round of 2-under par, 69. Assis would play consistent golf, making three birdies and one bogey.
Starting the final round four shots out of the lead, Liam Ly would need a stellar round to finish on top. The Delray Beach native would get out of the gates quickly with birdies on his first two holes. Turning at 2-under par, Ly would bogey three out of his next five holes to fall into a tie at the top with Nolan DeForest and Andrew Stein at even par. Ly would get to the 18th green with a good look for birdie and hole it with confidence. With DeForest making par on 18 and Stein makinga bogey, Ly would earn his first FJT victory by one shot with scores of 70-71. The 2027 grad was the only player in the field to finish the event under par with his 1-under par total. Nolan DeForest would jump one place on the leaderboard to finish runner up with scores of 70-72, even par. Rounding out the top 3 was Andrew Stein with scores of 70-73 finishing the event at 1-over par.
Girls (13-15)
The Girls (13-15) division would be tightly contested after day 1 with Abigail Lee taking the lead at 1-over par, 72. Lee would make the turn at 1-under par, after making birdies on holes 1 and 7. The Pembroke Pines native would card three bogies on the back 9 along with one more birdie on the 17th hole. Lee would be looking to earn her first FJT victory with a win in Fort Myers. After finishing runner-up two weeks ago at the FJT Indian Spring Open (13-15), Reilly Kirwin would be looking to better that finish and earn some crystal at Shell Point. The 2028 grad's first round of 2-over par, 73 would put her in a position to do so come Sunday. The Naples native's first round would be a bit of a rollercoaster, making 5 birdies, 3 bogies and 2 double bogies.
Lee would pick up on Sunday right where she left off. Starting on Hole #10, Lee would go out in 1-under par to stretch her lead to three shots with nine holes to play. Making one birdie and one bogey on her final nine holes, Lee would post scores of 72-70 to finish at even par. This would be enough to win by two shots over Fernanda Carrion, who posted the low final round in the girls' division with a 2-under par, 69. Coming in third place was Nicole Sardinha with scores of 75-78.
