Mexico Red, Southern California and San Diego Co-Champs at 18-under par at 51st Annual Junior America’s Cup at Red Hawk Golf & Resort
The teams of Mexico Red, Southern California and San Diego were declared Co-Champions after all three teams finished at 18-under par for the three rounds, at the 51st Annual Junior Americas Cup hosted by the Northern Nevada Junior Golf Association, at Red Hawk Golf & Resort, in Sparks Nevada.
Of the three Co-Champions, San Diego fired the best final round at 9-under par. Matthew Broder and Phillip Kench, both shot 4-under par 67’s to lead San Diego, with Zander Grant the 3rd counting score of 70. Individually, Grant finished in a tie for 6th, with rounds of 70-66-70 (206). Justin Gill of San Diego fired rounds of 70-69-81.
The Mexico Red team shot 6-under in the final round and was led for the tournament by the Sally Pini tournament medalist Gerardo Gomez, who was 11-under par for 3 days (67-66-69= 202). Alejandro Fierro fired a 70 (21st) and Francisco Solorza (27th) shot 68, to round out the counting scores in the final round. The 4th player for Mexico Red was Nicholas Dominguez who finished 34th, with rounds of 75-66-76.
Round 1 and 2 leader Southern California shot 2-under par in the round round, with Kai Hirayama and Jeffrey Kwak both shooting 70 (1-under par). Kwak paced Southern California, finishing tied for 6th at 7-under with rounds of 69-67-70 (206). Baron Nguyen finished 9th at 6-under par (69-66-72= 207), while Luke Bailey shot rounds of 74-76-71= 221.
Gerardo Gomez, Mexico Red, took top individual honors at 11-under par (67-66-69= 202), while one stroke back at 10-under par was Parker Paxton, Wyoming, with rounds of 70-64-69 (203) and Trevor Garus, Idaho, who had rounds of 71-65-67 (203)
Like a collegiate event, the Junior America’s Cup features 18 teams of four boys representing their state, province or country. The competition takes place over 3 days with 18-holes played each day for a total of 54-holes played to determine the winning team. Each team counts its best three scores each round with the low scoring team after 54-holes being crowned the 2021 champions and presented with the champions medals & trophy.
The 2023 competition marks the 51st anniversary of the Junior America’s Cup championship and the fourth time it will be held in Wyoming. The previous time the event was hosted in Nevada was 2003 which also at Rio Secca Golf Club, in Henderson, Nevada. The team from Oregon won the championship that year. JAC Alumni from the 2003 Championship include Kevin Chappell (team Northern Cal), Joel Dahmen and Kyle Stanley.
Past Junior America’s Cup participants who have gone on to successful professional careers include Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Fred Couples, Corey Pavin, Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Cantlay, Rickie Fowler, Ryan Moore, Kyle Stanley and Tony Finau.
