Junior Golf Tour of Northern California Crowns Winners at Spring Series II Championship at Riverside Golf Course.
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (March 28, 2024) – The Junior Tour of Northern California (JTNC) crowned champions at the Spring Series II Championship at Riverside Golf Course.
Anita Lumpongpoung and Ayden Fynaut both win their respective divisions during play of the Spring Series II Championship at Riverside Golf Course in Fresno.
In the Girls’ Championship, Anita Lumpongpoung put her herself in the spotlight with an impressive win, making this her first win of the 2023-2024 season. Facing quite difficult weather conditions as players battled intermittent rain and gusty winds, Anita would go on to card identical rounds of 77 including 2 birdies on her final 18-holes of play. Lumpongpoung's first round got off to a brisk start as she made par on 10 of her first 11 holes, propelling her up the leaderboard and in position to make a run for top spot. The remainder of the round would not go according to plan as Lumpongpoung carded four more bogeys and no birdies, trying to make up ground on her fellow competitors before the conclusion of round one. Lumpongpoung's exhibited high levels of mental strength throughout her second round as she fought back against both the weather and the odds of her position on the leaderboard. Holes #4 through #14 proved to be the most crucial part of Anita's championship weekend as she went even-par, carding two birdies and two bogeys while still remaining in the hunt for 1st place. Lumpongpoung ultimately triumphed in victory as she defeated runner-up Lily Peng by one shot. Victory here at Riverside Golf Course promotes Lumpongpoung to 8th overall on the Girls' JTNC Player of the Year standings, surpassing her previous best finish of 4th place during play of Fall Series IX at Poppy Ridge in 2023.
Lily Peng earned an honorable runners-up medal after rounds of 76-79, making 6 birdies throughout the weekend. Peng's superb play over the first 27 holes had her in contention for the lead, however it was her final 7 holes that held her back from winning for the third time this season as she made few too many bogeys. Third Place was awarded to Cindy Yuan, shooting rounds of 75-81 to finish at 12-over par 156. Spring Series II is Cindy's first medal of the season as her previous best performance came at the Holiday Series I tournament, where she placed 6th.
In the Boys Championship flight, Ayden Fynaut makes it back-to-back wins on the Junior Tour with impressive rounds of 65-71, winning by three shots. Fynaut had a near perfect round on Saturday as he racked up an eagle, six birdies, and just one bogey ending the day five shots ahead of his next closest competitor Ben Friedman. Fyanut's most impressive stretch of holes resulted in a 5-under 32 on the back nine during play of round one. Ayden carried momentum heading into round two, going 2-under and bogey free until the 13th hole as he looked to grow the gap between himself and 2nd place. Fynaut polished off his winners medal with a total of 10 birdies and one eagle, the latter being achieved on the par-5 16th hole. Ayden's game is currently trending in a positive direction, looking to build on his recent successes heading into the busy part of the 2024 JTNC calendar. Ayden is now 1st on the 2023-2024 JTNC Boys Player of the Year rankings, 315 points ahead of 2nd ranked Trenton Stuart.
Second place went to Ben Freidman with rounds of 70-69, finishing with a final tally of 5-under par 139 for the tournament. Ben carded 10 birdies throughout the 36-holes, with the highlight of his weekend being a sub-70 round on day two of the competition. Friedman is ranked 4th on the 2023-2024 JTNC Boys Player of the Year Standings with 680 points. Third place ended in a five-way tie between Finn McCall, Chris Bettencourt, Jesse Hand, Brayden Forte, and Trenton Stuart as all players were level at 3-over 147. A card-off was needed to separate the quintet of players, where Finn McCall eventually came out on top with the lowest second-round score of 70 and earning his first medal of the season!
In the Boys’ First Flight Championship, Karsten Hansen wins his first tournament of the 2023-2024 season finishing off the weekend with a resilient 76 on his scorecard after the final round. The win did not come easy as a three-way card-off was needed to determine an outright winner of this flight. Karsten Hansen, Dev Malik, and Jacob Reed were all level at 12-over par after 36 holes, Karsten had the best finishing back-nine score out of the bunch after carding a 38 to claim victory, Karsten ended with two birdies throughout the event and 21 pars, a feat any young aspiring junior would be proud of!
Runner-up went to Dev Malik who carded rounds of 80-76, coming up just shy of Hansen in the card-off but playing well enough to see out Jacob Reed in another card-off. Third place subsequently went to Jacob Reed, earning a second medal for the 2023-2024 JTNC season. Fourth place was claimed by Peyton woods at 14-over par, Woods finished with rounds of 76-82 for 158.
In the Girls' First Flight Championship, Saylor McCall earned her first win of the 2023-2024 JTNC with a one shot lead over Nylani Stevenson, her birdied on the 10th hole of round one proving to be the deciding factor. Saylor carded rounds of 83-82 for 165 and saved best golf for the end as she made par on 5 of the final 9 holes of competition. Second place went to Nylani Stevenson who put up a respectable fight in pursuit of 1st place, Nylani turned in scorecards of 85-81 for 166. Anna Le Nguyen took 3rd place with rounds of 90-88 to round up the Girls' First Flight for the Spring Series II Championship.