The North Team prevailed to claim the 9th Junior Florida Cup at Sara Bay Country Club in Sarasota, earning 19 points to the South Team’s 13 points on July 28-29.
After the first day of the Junior Florida Cup, the North Team held a solid three point lead securing 9 1/2 points to the South’s 6 1/2. After the morning four-ball matches, the North was actually one point behind the South team earning only 3 1/2 points to the South’s 4 ½ points. South team wins came from the teams of: Spencer Alexander/Jeffrey Cunningham, Alberto Martinez/Danny Walker, Victoria Cangero/Kendall Griffin, and Philip Knowles/Landon Weber. In the afternoon round of mixed foursomes, the North Team expanded took the lead earning 6 points to the North’s 2. The teams of Greyson Porter/Courtney Zeng, Colin Kresl/Manuel Girona, Henry Westmoreland/Morgan Baxendale, William Wrigley/Ashley Zagers, and Andrew Arft/Katie Holt earned points for the North Team in close matches.
On the final day of singles matches, the North Team continued their hot streak earning 9 1/2 points for a team total of 19 points to win the cup. The North team earned victories from: Greyson Porter, Brandon Mancheno, Jacob Huizinga, Lauren Waidner, William Wrigley, Ashley Zagers, Katie Holt, Chase Cutshall, and Terese Romeo. Manuel Girona also earned a half point on Tuesday.
The North team was represented by: Andrew Arft, Morgan Baxendale, Chase Cutshall, Robert Eisch, Manuel Girona, Katie Holt, Jacob Huizinga, Colin Kresl, Brandon Mancheno, Greyson Porter, Terese Romeo, Lauren Waidner, Henry Westmoreland, William Wrigley, Ashley Zagers, and Courtney Zeng.
The South featured: Spencer Alexander, Victoria Cangero, Jeffrey Cunningham, Ariana Garcia, Kendall Griffin, Jake Holt, Andrew Kozan, Ethan Marcus, Alberto Martinez, Phillip Knowles, Nicole Polivchak, Spencer Schultz, Sydney Shrader, Brittany Shin, Danny Walker, and Landon Weber.
The Junior Florida Cup matches 16 players from the North against 16 players from the South in a Ryder Cup format. Each team consists of 10 boys and 6 girls selected mostly from the Florida Junior Tour (FJT) points list. The first morning, each boy and girl is paired with a partner to compete in a four-ball match. In the afternoon round, the boys and girls are paired together to play mixed-foursomes matches. The final day each player competes in a singles match against a player from the opposing team. Points are awarded to each match similarly to the Ryder Cup to determine the winning team. Last year, the South team claimed the 8th Junior Florida Cup for the first time earning 20 1/2 points to the North team’s 11 1/2points.
