For the first time in over 20 years the Junior America’s Cup has named two teams as Co-Champions of the event with the teams representing Utah and San Diego matching first place scores of 4-over-par at the end of the 54-hole competition.

Heavy wind and cooler temperatures were part of the story during Thursday’s final round with gusts of up to 40 km per hour pounding the Blackhawk golf course in southwest Edmonton over the course of the day. Scores were noticeably higher during the final round then on the first two days as players struggled to adjust to the conditions which were quite different from the first two days of competition.

Co-Champions Battled Until the End

The team from Utah consisting of Tyson Shelly, Brandon Robison, Simon Kwon and Braxton Watts stayed steady even in the tough conditions on Thursday, proving that golf is more like a marathon than a sprint. After opening with team totals of even-par (213) in the first two rounds they entered the third round in a tie for third with Nevada, 10 shots back of Team San Diego who held the 36 hole tournament lead.

Lead by the stellar play of Brandon Robison (Centerville, UT) who fired rounds of 67-70-73 the team mustered a third-round total of 4-over-par (217) which was enough to vault them up the leaderboard as the other teams fell back.

Team San Diego represented by Caden Fioroni, Jackson Moss, Christopher Wardrup and James Appel, were unable to keep up the dominant play that had followed them earlier in the week during Thursday’s conditions. Their third-round team total of 14-over-par (227) marked the first time this week that none of the team members shot under par, however their 10-shot margin heading into the final round proved just enough to maintain hold of the first-place team score.

Third place honors went to the Team from Southern California, with Oregon and Washington State rounding out the top 5. The host team from Alberta struggled on Thursday falling three spots back into 14th place after starting the final round just outside of a top 10 position.

Individual Competition Results

On the individual side of the competition, Washington State’s Ian Siebers (Bellevue, WA) claimed the Sally Pini trophy for low individual at 6-under-par (207) following rounds of 65-67-75. Entering the final round at 10-under-par his final round of 4-over-par was enough to maintain a 3-shot margin of victory of Utah’s Brandon Robison who finished at 3-under-par (210). Oregon’s Mateo Fuenmayor finished in third place, four shots back at 2-under-par (211) after entering the final round in 2nd place.

In all just five players in a field of 72 managed to best par at Blackhawk over the 54-hole competition, in what proved to be a challenging course for the players especially given the changing conditions over the course of three days.

The Junior America’s Cup heads to Nevada in 2020, where players will compete at Genoa Lakes just south of Reno.