VERO BEACH, Fla. – After hosting the Junior Team Championship two weeks ago, Sandridge Golf Club hosted the first (13-15) FJT of the 2024 fall season. At the end of the weekend, Nathan Drummond and Sofia Macapagal would stand alone as Champions.
Boys (13-15)
In the first (13-15) event of the fall Florida Junior Tour season, two players got off and running at Sandridge Golf Club. The duo of Ethan Gossman and Jaspreet Kondal went out and separated themselves early. Through 13 holes, both players were 3-under and three shots clear of the rest of the pack. Ethan was coming off three straight birdies on Holes #11-13 and Jaspreet was yet to drop a shot in his opening round.
Gossman would go on to bogey the 14th hole but steady himself with all pars on his way in for a 2-under 70 in the opening round. The finishing stretch would get the better of Kondal as he would bogey three of the last four holes and have to settle for even-par 72.
On Sunday, an FJT Champion from earlier in the season, Nathan Drummond would put himself into the mix. Things were shaping up to a be a three man race as Drummond went out in 3-under propelling him into a share of the lead with Gossman and Kondal. Kondal’s 1-under opening nine would gain him two shots on the leader, Gossman, who turned in 1-over. Drummond, in the penultimate group, would look to put the pressure on Gossman and Kondal playing behind him.
Drummond’s birdie on 12 would be quickly followed by a birdie from Kondal on 11. The two would lift and separate as Gossman would make bogey on 11. Over the next couple holes Kondal would continue his steady play with pars while Drummond would add a birdie on 14. A dropped shot on 16 for Kondal would leave him two shots behind with two holes to play.
With his final round five-under 67, Nathan Drummond captures his second Florida Junior Tour victory. Jaspreet Kondal finished alone in second place after finishing the weekend under par with rounds of 72-71. Rounding out the podium, Clint Lewis carded a 3-under 69 to vault himself into third place for the weekend.
Girls (13-15)
The story of the opening round would belong to Sofia Macapagal, whose 4-under 68 would be the best score amongst the entire field on Saturday, boys or girls. The Orlando native started off #1 and would card birdies on the 5th and 8th holes to go out in 2-under 34. On the back nine, Macapagal took advantage of both par 5’s by making birdie on both of them to repeat the 2-under 34 she shot on the front.
Despite an opening bogey on Sunday, Sofia Macapagal steadied the ship with birdies on Holes 13 and 16 to go out in 1-over 37. Sofia’s closest competitor in the early stages of Sunday would be Mikayla Arold. With birdies on 17 and 18, Arold would vault herself into second place as the final groups made the turn towards their final nine holes.
Arold would add a pair of birdies on her back nine as she attempted to close the gap to Macapagal. Two bogeys for Macapagal would shrink her lead, but still remained six shots clear of second place with three holes remaining.
Macapagal would finish three shots clear of Arold and capture her first Florida Junior Tour victory. Arold’s even-par 72 would push her up the leaderboard into solo second. Nicole Wu and Dannika Hines would finish in a tie for third.
