PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – For the first time in 20 years, Marsh Landing Country Club played host to the Florida Junior Tour. Marsh Landing proved to be a difficult test over two days, with only one under par score coming by the boys’ champion. Heavy winds and tough greens were no match for Logan Leistner and Angela Wang as they recorded victories.
Boys (16-18)
Marsh Landing Country Club proved to be a difficult test for the players in Round One. However, Jonathan Brubaker would get the scoring started with a hole-in-one on the 12th hole. Brubaker would use that eagle and 3 more birdies to shoot 2-over 74 and sit in a tie for fourth. Ryan Nicholson would have the round of the day, birdieing three of his last four holes on the way to an even-par 72. One shot behind him would sit Max Colby Bendixen and Ryan Houck as the pair combined for 10 birdies and matching 73’s.
Henry Robards would be the early mover on Sunday morning as he birdied his opening hole. With a six more pars to start his day he would watch as Ryan Nicholson would bogey two of his first three holes and relinquish the lead to Robards. A birdie on the 7th hole for Nicholson while Robards finished his opening nine with bogey-double bogey would have Nicholson back on top as the final groups made the turn.
As the lead groups struggled on the back nine, Logan Leistner was quietly making his way up the leaderboard. Back-to-back birdiers on 13 & 14 got Leistner to 1-under on the day and one shot back of Nicholson from four groups in front. A birdie on the 17th and a par to finish would give Leistner a 2-under 70 on the day and the clubhouse lead while Nicholson had 3 holes to play tied at 3-over total for the weekend. Nicholson would bogey the 16th hole and finish with two pars to give Logan Leistner the victory. Leistner’s 2-under 70 in the final round was the only under-par round of the tournament to finish at 3-over for the weekend. Ryan Nicholson’s 4-over total was good enough for solo second place while Max Colby Bendixen secured third place at 149 for the weekend.
Girls (16-18)
After 18 holes, past Florida Junior Tour Champions would lead the way in the Girls Division. Angela Yiting Wang and Braydn Smith each would post 5-over 77 to lead through 18 holes. Ponte Vedra resident, Nancy Cox would sit two shots back after Round One and looking to take home another Florida Junior Tour Victory herself.
With a steady opening nine that included eight pars, Violet Robbins would put herself into the conversation. The Connecticut native moved up the leaderboard three spots into a tie for the lead with overnight co-leaders Wang and Smith. As the group made their way through the final nine holes, Smith and Robbins would play the next four holes two over par while Angela Yiting Wang made three pars and a bogey to take a one shot lead with five holes to play. The pressure was no match for Wang, as she played the last five in even par to take a four shot victory over Robbins and Smith at a two-day total of nine over-par. Violet Robbins and Braydn Smith shared second place at 13 over-par.
