Three Round Recap

Boys 15 – 18
Pinehurst No. 2 is undergoing several renovations leading up to the 2014 U.S. Open that will be played on the legendary Donald Ross course.  The USGA may want to look at some of the scores that were posted during the U.S. Kids Golf Teen World Championship for guidance on increasing the difficulty of the course.  

Branden Collins from Tallahassee, FL won the Teen World Championship by shooting a 70, 75, 66 for a three day total of 211, five strokes under par.  The 66 in the final round knocked Brandon Pierce from Covington, LA and Jose Manuel Romero from Mexico into a tie for second with three day totals of 214.  Romero shot 70, 70, 74. 

In a three way tie for third place finishing 1 under par, was Colin Frizzell of Nocogdoches, TX; Christopher Guglielmo of Cumming, GA and Joseph Gunerman from Brooklyn, MD.  Frizzell and Gunerman opened the championship with a pair of 67’s after the first round.

Twelve other players shot at least one round under par on Pinehurst No. 2 including, Lucas Armstrong from Church Hill, TN; Emmanuel Kountakis of Martinez, GA; Blake Foutty from Canal Fulton, OH; Lee McCoy of Palm Harbor, FL;  Jordan Santiago from Ocoee, FL; Sung Hwan Yoon from the Phillipines; Mason Eckley of Liberty Township, OH; Bobby Few and Cory Spaulding, both from Lugoff, SC; Zachary Caldwell of Dawsonville, GA; Ross Mathews of Markle, IN and Gabriel Lucas Cabarcos from Panama.

With the caliber of talent in the Teen World Championship it remains to be seen how many of these players can get back on Pinehurst No. 2 during the 2014 U.S. Open.

Girls 15 – 18
The oldest girls in the Teen World Championship took a swing at Donald Ross’s professed favorite design, Pine Needles.  Winning the 15 -18 Championship was Hendrika Labsch from Germany who shot a three day total score of 220.  Labsch improved her 2009 Championship campaign by 12 strokes where she finished tied for sixth as a 14 year-old.

The second to fifth place competitors finished 6, 7, 8, and 9 strokes behind Labsch including, Raquel Ek (226) from San Diego, CA; Barbara Borin (227) all the way from Italy; Ana Raga (228) from Venezuela and Samantha Marks (229) of Maitland, FL.

Girls 14
Germany produced another Teen World Champion as Yasemin Sari shot even par over three rounds to caputure the title in the Girls 14 age group.  Yasemin went into the final round with a lead of four strokes and increased her lead by seven strokes by shooting a 70 in the final round.  The second place finisher was Jackson Tatum of Birmingham, AL who shot a three day total of 223.  

Four others tied for third place shooting a tournament total of 224, including,  Kelli Murphy of Elgin, SC; Natalia Azcue from Mexico; Daniella Castaneda from Colombia and Eimi Koga from Honolulu, HI.

Girls 13
The girls in the 13 year-old age group got their first look at Pine Needles which has hosted the 1996, 2005, and 2007 U.S. Women’s Open and in a battle that came down to the final round, Janet Mao of Johns Creek, GA, edged out Valentina Giraldo of Colombia, by one stroke to earn the title Teen World Champion.  

Mao shot back-to-back 75’s in the first two rounds and clinched the win with a 73 in the final round.  Giraldo shot 75, 73, 76 over the three days and was the leader going into the third round.

Third place finisher shooting a 228 was Isabella Rusher.  Fourth place and daughter of LPGA great Suzy Whaley was Kelly Whaley of Farmington, CT, with a three day total of 230.   Tieing Kelly for fourth place  were Amanda Kim of O’Fallon, MO and Ana Maria Rengifo from Colombia.

Boys 14
Hometown hero, Benjamin Griffin of Chapel Hill, NC had to fight off a pack of talented International players to win the Teen World Championship title.  Griffin led the way shooting a steady 72, 70, 71 to win the tournament 3 under par on a tough test at Pinehurst No. 8.

Jordan Wrisdale of the United Kingdom rebounded after shooting a day one score of 78 with back-to-back 68’s but fell one shot shy of the lead.  It was a valiant effort by Wrisdale. 

Long-time friends and golf’s future protégé’s Daniel Jaramillo (216) from Colombia, Rigel Fernandes (217) from India and James Hart Du Preez (218) of South Africa rounded out the top five.

Boys 13
Tyler Moore of Escondido, CA held off Paul San of Malaysia who shot a final round score, and Teen World Championship low of 66 to win the Teen World Championship by one stroke.  Moore made work of Pinehurst No. 6 by shooting 68, 70, 69 over the three days to finish an astounding 9 under par.

San finished with a tournament in second place by shooting an impressive 69, 73, and the aforementioned 66.  Tristen Strydom of South Africa and Colin Morikawa from La Canada Flintridge, CA, finished the championship 6 shots under par tied for third place.

David Mackey of Bogart, GA and Amarin Kraivixien, or “Ray”, from Thailand both shot 2 under par on Pinehurst No. 6 and tied for fifth place.

Also finishing under par for the championship in the Boys 13 division was Shosei Inokawa of Japan who was one stroke under par.

Teen World Cup

Match Results

The 2010 U.S. Kids Golf Teen World Cup match upheld its tradition of intense competitive play as the American team recaptured the cup for the second straight year. 

The win for the Americans was not made easy as the International squad came out of the gates determined to overtake the World Cup from the American team.  At the conclusion of nine holes the American squad had yet to win a match and was facing a humiliating 7 ½ to 2 ½ defeat.

The International routing was led by Valentina Giraldo and Ana Maria Rengifo both of Colombia in Match #2 who were 3UP at the turn.  Playing in the fourth match,  Rigel Fernandes (India) and James Hart Du Preez (South Africa) led their American competitiors 3UP at the turn and in the fifth match, 2010 World Championship winner, Yasemin Sari of Germany and her partner Natalia Azcue of Mexico led 2UP.

As the groups made their way to the daunting back nine of Pinehurst No. 2, United States team captain, John Godwin, and his assistant captain, Greg Powers, rode around to each of their American players and offered some encouragement. 

The inspiration sparked something in the American team as U.S. Kids Golf World Champion Tyler Moore (Escondido, CA) and his partner Collin Morikawa of Flintridge, CA playing in Match #3 came back from being down 2 to square up their match in the final 5 holes.

The biggest comeback by the American team was made in the fourth match against Fernandes and Du Preez.  Tharusyan Pillay of San Jose, CA and Kyle Austin from Mebane, NC battled from being 4 down after nine holes to even up their match with a victory on the legendary 18th hole of Pinehurst No. 2.

The overall match remained tied as the last group approached the 18th green.  Playing for their first World Cup win on the International team was a pair of Mexican talents, Jose Manuel Romero and Roberto Ballesteros.  Defending the World Cup on the American team was Boys 15 – 18 World Champion, Branden Collins of Tallahassee, FL and his partner Brandon Pierce of Covington, LA.  Collins and Pierce had taken a 1 hole lead on the 11th hole and never gave in as the pressure mounted with each passing hole.

The match was clinched on the 18th green as Collins and Pierce maintained the 1 hole advantage through 7 hole stretch on Pinehurst No. 2.