Junior Tour of Northern California Crowns Winners During Fall Series V Tournament at Bay View Golf Club.
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (September 27, 2023) – The Junior Tour of Northern California (JTNC) crowned champions during the Fall Series V Tournament at Bay View Golf Club in Milpitas.
Lequan Wang and Lily Peng both shot well under-par on their way to dominating wins in their respective Championship Flights, with Wang finishing at 8-under par and Peng at 7-under par to secure their first wins of the 2023-2024 season. In the First Flight division, David Wu and Melody Chen also secured their first win of the 2023-2024 season with Wu taking the Boys First Flight and Chen taking the Girls First Flight.
In the Boys Championship Flight, Lequan Wang got off to a solid start during play of round one where he carded a 70 that included five birdies. Wang took this momentum into day two where he would put together a dominating performance that led to his first win of the season, carding another five birdies and one eagle on the par-5 2nd hole. Wang shot 6-under par in the final round and finished at 8-under par overall for the tournament, capturing his first winners medal since Holiday Series III at Hunter Ranch in 2022. Lequan’s next closest competitor was seven shots behind him, further evidence of just how one sided the race was for first place was with Wang’s near perfect performance. Wang now sits tied at ninth place for the 2023-2024 Boys Player of the Year rankings.
The runner-up was awarded to Trenton Stuart who carded rounds of 72-71, coming in at 143 after carding nine birdies over the weekend and earning a second top-five finish this season. Stuart now sits at sixth place in the Boys Player of the Year rankings, looking to better his tenth-place finish from the 2022-2023 Player of the Year rankings. Ishdeep Sodhi took third place after rounds of 73-72, needing a card-off versus Manlio Moreno who also finished at 145 for the weekend. Sodhi birdied the final hole of the competition which ultimately gave him the edge over Moreno for the final medal spot. Fourth place was awarded to Manlio Moreno at 1-over par, shooting rounds of 72-73.
In the Girls Championship Flight Lily Peng finished at 7-under par with rounds of 72-65, Peng dominated the field as she won the tournament by nine shots with only three bogeys over the 36-hole event. Peng’s highlight of the tournament was her bogey-free second round as she lit up the leaderboard with a 7-under 65 that included five-birdies and one eagle. This is Peng’s first win of the 2023-2024 season as she was due for a winner’s medal eventually, earing 2nd place in her three most recent JTNC tournaments. This now takes Peng to the top of the Girls Player of the Year rankings as she sits in first with a total of 875 points.
Second place was awarded to Victoria Cui after she carded rounds 72-74 for 146. Cui capped off her weekend with five birdies and a one shot lead over her next closest competitor, this takes Cui to seventh in the Girls Player of the Year rankings for the 2023-2024 season. Third place went to Diya Kumar who shot 77-70 over the two days and ultimately missed out on second place by one shot, Kumar had a stelar second round as she went 5-under through the opening seven holes on day two as this gave her a significant push up the leaderboard after a slow start on day one. Fourth place was awarded to Caroline Gao, carding rounds of 70-79 to finish at 149.
In the Boys First Flight, David Wu had rounds of even-par or better with scores of 71-72 to come in at 143 and earn a first-place medal. Wu would convincingly win by five strokes as he finished the tournament 1-under par. This is Wu’s first win on the Junior Tour for the 2023-2024 season, carding an astounding ten birdies over the two-day tournament. Wu’s highlight of the weekend came when he put together five birdies over a six-hole stretch during round two, this stretch of golf was the deciding factor in a commanding win for the junior. Second place went to Khai deSpretter who shot rounds of 75-73 for 148, carding six birdies over 36-holes earning himself a medal for the first time this season. Theron Amey would take third place and also earn his first medal of the new season as he carded rounds of 75-77 for a 152, Amey made six birdies during the weekend which all the difference as he beat out fourth-place finisher Oscar Seem. Seem finished at 9-over par with rounds of 76-77, finishing at 153.
In the Girls First Flight, Melody Chen won her first tournament of the 2023-2024 season after she carded rounds of 79-78 over the weekend. Chen’s highlights were the three birdies she made over the two rounds as she cruised to a comfortable four-shot victory over runner-up Caroline Cui, with a total score of 157. Second place was awarded to Caroline Cui as she finished at 17-over par 161 for the weekend for a total of 161. Third place in the Girls First Flight was given to Vivien Li after she had rounds of 83-83 finishing at 166, finishing two shots ahead of her next closest competitor Victoria Hang. This is Li’s fourth top-five finish of the 2023-2024 season.
Next up on the Junior Tour of Northern California’s schedule is the Fall Series VI tournament, taking place at Coyote Creek Golf Club on its Valley Course September 23-24.
Media Contacts:
Kurtis Bettencourt
Northern California Golf Association