Junior Golf Tour of Northern California Crowns Winners During Spring Series I Championship at The Reserve at Spanos Park & Stockton Golf & Country Club.
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (March 18, 2024) – The Junior Tour of Northern California (JTNC) crowned champions at the Spring Series I Championship at The Reserve at Spanos Park and Stockton Golf and Country Club.
Asterisk Talley and Ayden Fynaut both won their respective flights during the first JTNC tournament on the 2024 Calendar. Talley continues to chase the all-time JTNC Girls win record (held at 29 wins) while Fynaut triumphed in victory with a playoff win versus Eden Kim.
In the Girls’ Championship, Talley claimed her 27th winners medal on the Junior Tour as she finished 3-under par after carding a 68 at par-71 Stockton Golf & CC, and an even par 72 at The Reserve at Spanos during Sunday's final round. Asterisk's consistent play over the two day event lead to a tournament high eight birdies as she won the competition by three shots, ousting a familiar face in Lily Peng for the 1st place medal. With Asterisk adding to her all-time win total, she currently sits two wins behind the all-time Girls JTNC wins leader Kiara Romero who holds the record at 29! Some might say that 2024 will be the year of the "Little Star" golfer as she makes a quest to make the record her own.
Lily Peng finished with a runners-up medal after rounds of 69-74 and finishing at even par for the weekend. Peng also carded a tournament high eight birdies, beating the next closest competitor by seven shots. This is Peng's ninth top-three finish for the 2023-2024 season, keeping her at 2nd place in the JTNC Girls Player of the Year standings. Cathy Zhang claimed third place after rounds of 76-74 for a 150, surpassing the next best player by six shots and making it four top-five finishes for the San Ramon talent in 2023-2024. Missing out on a medal spot was Caroline Gao who finished 13-over par, making it her second top-five finish of the season with this 4th place performance. Caroline shot rounds of 80-76 for a 156, moving her into the top-20 on the Player of the Year standings. Fifth place resulted in a tie at 158 between Paavni Bell and Sophia Lee, both players would end the tournament at 15-over par.
Ayden Fynaut hoisted his first winners medal of the 2023-2024 season with a playoff win versus Eden Kim, the pair were tied at even-par after 36-holes of golf. Fynaut was ultimately victorious in the sudden death playoff as he was able to minimize the distractions and calm his nerves to win the Boys Championship flight. Fynaut combined rounds of 2-under par and 2-over par while carding six birdies on his way to victory. This win takes Ayden to the top of the JTNC Boys Payer of the Year standings, leapfrogging Trenton Stuart for 1st in the rankings. Ayden was finally rewarded with good fortunes this time around, as he has had four top-three finishes this season with no first place medal to show for all his hard work.
Second place went to Eden Kim at even-par, Eden carded rounds of 70-73 for a 143 after an impressive 8 birdies over the two-day event. Kim earns his first medal spot of the season and is looking to further enhance his status on the Junior Tour with future performances just like this one. Third place ended up in a three way tie at 2-over par between Hendrix Jay-Torrez, Landon Abalateo, and Myles Pena. Hendrix Jay-Torrez was selected as the 3rd place medalist via a card-off where he shot the lowest second round score of the trio, turning in a score of 71 versus Abalateo and Pena's final round 72. The card-off was not shy of entertainment as Myles Pena drained a 25-foot putt on the 18th green to force the three way card-off. View the video below to watch Myles Pena's putt on the 18th green at Stockton Golf & CC.
6th place also resulted in a tie between Chase Yukawa and Mark Zhou, with both competitors level on the leaderboard at 3-over par 146.
In the Boys’ First Flight Championship, Tyler Chow ended with a phenomenal final round 69 to come in at 4-over 147. Chow carded three birdies during play of the 16th, 17th, and 18th holes at The Reserve at Spanos Park which lead to his first victory of the 2023-2024 season! Tyler's previous best finish resulted in eighth place during the Fall Series VI Championship at Coyote Creek earlier this season. Tyler Chow defeated his next closest competitor, Jacob Garibaldi, by three shots as Garibaldi would finish at 150 total for the weekend. Garibaldi carded two rounds that included five birdies with scores of 73-77, coming in a 7-over par and ultimately leading to a 2nd place medal. Third place went to Kevin He of San Ramon, Kevin had identical rounds of 76-76 over the two-day tournament while also making Spring Series I his third top-three finish of the season.
Fourth Place went to Derek Lee after rounds of 77-80 for 157, this is Lee's first top-five finish of the 2023-2024 season.
In the Girls’ First Flight Championship, Victoria Hang won 1st place with at 166 with rounds of 84-82, carding two birdies during the tournament. This is Victoria's first win on the Junior Tour as she looked to better her previous best third place finish at the Fall Series I Championship held at Cypress Lakes, this marks two top-five finishes for Hang this season. Second place went to Alyssa Quilao who missed out on the top spot by one shot as she had scorecards of 90-77. Third Place ended in a card-off between Vivien Li and Lauren Kim with Li being victorious in this scenario as she had the lower round of the two as her score of 80 was enough to see out Kim's 85 during play of round two.
Next up on the Junior Tour schedule is Spring Series II at Riverside GC in Fresno on March 23rd and 24th.