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Jacksonville Beach, FLA. – Jack Cook and Ana Boone outlasted their competitors after six rounds of golf to earn a well-deserved victory on Thursday at Jacksonville Beach Golf Club.
The Junior Match Play Championship begins with two rounds of stroke play. The field is then cut to the top sixteen players each in the Boys (13-15) Division and the Girls (13-18) Division. Jack Cook secured the number three seed beginning the Round of 16 and Ana Boone secured the number two seed heading into her first match.
Boys (13-15) Division
Jack Cook fired scores of 70-72 in stroke play to secure the number three seed behind Igancio Hurtado and Christian Koehn. Cook faced Thomas Milajecki in the Round of 16. Milajecki competed in a playoff to capture the fourteenth seed but ultimately lost his match Cook. Cook won 5 & 4 to advance to the Quarterfinals where he faced Gabriel Hull. Hull had quite the impressive first match as he defeated Cooper Franklin 8 & 7 shooting a 28 through the first nine holes.
Cook and Hull faced off in the Quarterfinals and the match remained close but Cook closed it out on 18 and finished 2 up on Hull to advance to the Semifinals. In addition, Spencer Ives defeated Ambrose Kinnare to face Cook in the Semifinal match held on Wednesday afternoon. Ives started the match hot as he was two up on Cook through five holes. However, Cook made a comeback and outlasted Ives to end the match 5 & 3.
In addition, Nolan DeForest arrived at Jacksonville Beach Golf Club on the first day of stroke play as an onsite alternate. A late withdraw opened up a spot for DeForest and he teed it up and posted scores of 70-76 to capture the number four seed only three strokes behind Cook and advance to the Round of 16. Deforest defeated each of his competitors to find himself in the Finals match against Jack Cook on Thursday.
As the number three and the number four seed faced off, the match started out a little one-sided. DeForest led three up through four holes. Cook won his first hole with a birdie on the fifth and then continued to birdie the next two holes to bring the match to all square heading into the eighth hole. DeForest then won the ninth hole to gain his lead back to one up on Cook making the turn to the back nine. The match remained close and DeForest extended his lead to two up with two holes to play. Cook birdied the seventeenth hole to keep the match alive and then proceeded to win the eighteenth hole with a par to extend the match to the nineteenth hole. The two competitors remained neck and neck after twenty-one holes. However, on the twenty-second hole, a par 3, Cook hit a great iron shot to roughly fifteen feet. DeForest’s shot landed a little short of the green and he failed to make an up and down for par. Cook tapped in for par and the victory on the twenty-second hole.
Girls (13-18) Division
Ana Boone posted scores of 71-74 during stroke play to secure the number two seed behind Yaxuan Zheng. Boone faced Lynne Zhang in the Round of 16 and ultimately defeated her 4 & 3. Hannah Booth faced Shanya Arasu in the Round of 16 in a close match until the end. Tied heading into the eighteenth hole, Booth closed it out and finished one up to advance to the Quarterfinals and face Boone.
Another close match between Booth and Boone which lasted all the way until the eighteenth hole. The eighteenth hole at Jacksonville Beach Golf Club is a par five with water lining the left side of the hole and trees lining the right side. A good drive will tempt the player to reach the green in two. However, the green is not completely an island, but water lines the left side and curls around back and ends half way up the right side of the green. It is a risky shot that can be rewarding and was the deciding factor on many of the matches that made it to the last hole. A win on the last hole sent Boone to the Semifinals to face Abigail Smith.
Boone and Smith faced off in the Seminfinals on Wednesday afternoon. Boone started out with the lead and while Smith made an effort to comeback throughout the round, Boone ultimately defeated her 4 & 2.
In addition, Sahana Chokshi posted rounds of 78-76 to capture the last seed and advance to match play. Chokshi faced the number one seed, Yaxuan Zheng in the Round of 16 and defeated her 5 & 3. Her win put her through to the Quarterfinals to face Brianna Castaldi. Chokshi took an early lead and while the two remained close, Castaldi fell to Chokshi on the seventeenth hole. Chokshi took the 2 & 1 victory and advanced to the Semifinals against Nancy Cox.
Chokshi and Cox fought all the way to the end. The match flipped back and forth between the two competitors, each holding a lead for only a hole or two. The competitors headed into the seventeenth hole with Chokshi one up on Cox, but Cox won the hole in a clutch moment to keep the match alive and head into the eighteenth hole all square. Cox fell victim to the water on her approach and missed a par putt to fall to Chokshi after putting up quite the fights. This victory sent Chokshi to the Finals match on Thursday against Ana Boone.
Boone took an early lead and was four through four holes. Chokshi did her best to narrow the lead, but Boone would not let up as she made a thirty foot birdie putt on the eighth hole and then proceeded to get up and down for par from a plugged lie in the bunker on the ninth hole. The two made the turn with Boone six up on Chokshi.
Boone headed into the thirteenth hole six up, but Chokshi won the hole to keep the match alive. A tie on the fourteenth hole ended it for the two competitors and Boone took the victory 5 & 4 over Chokshi.
