Gabriel Lench, Tyler Strafaci and Maho Hayakawa, captured their division titles at the Junior Match Play Championship. The Waldorf Astoria Golf Club hosted the Boys’ 16-18 division while Harmony Golf Preserve hosted the Boys’ 13-15 and the Girls' 13-18. The event was held July 24-27.
Gabriel Lench, of Lake Mary, won the Boys 16-18 age division Championship after beating Philip Loeb, of Ponte Vedra Beach, 2 and 1. Lench posted rounds of 72-75 in the seeding rounds, to earn the 6th seed. In the round of 32, Lench defeated Wanjoo Lee, of Trinidad & Tobago, 1 up, and then went on to beat Davis Roche, of Jacksonville, 1 up, to earn a spot in the Quarterfinals. Lench would then defeat Dominick Vennari, of Stuart, 2 and 1, and Gaston Bertinotti, of Argentina, 1 up, to reach the finals. In the finals Lench took the lead on the first hole with a birdie and never looked back. The match ended on the 17th hole after both players halved the hole with bogeys. Loeb made a great run to the finals after surviving a sudden death playoff to earn the 32nd seed.
Second seed, Tyler Strafaci, of Davie, won the Boys 13-15 age division Championship after defeating Zack Justice, of Orlando, 5 and 4. Strafaci got off to a hot start in the final match and never looked back. Tyler was 4 up after six holes, carding birdies on 2, 3, 5, and 6. After winning holes 8 and 9, Strafaci would take a commanding 6 up lead into the final nine holes of the match. Justice made a slight rally by winning holes 10 and 11 to get the deficit back to 4 down, but Strafaci was too much, making an eagle on the 14th hole to close out the match. In route to the finals Strafaci defeated, Clayton Osterhout, of Jacksonville, 3 and 1, Chase Cutshall, of West Melbourne, 1 up, and Greyson Porter, of Clearwater, 1 up.
Maho Hayakawa, of Lake Mary, won the Girls 13-18 age division Championship after defeating Athena Yang, of Winter Haven, in 19 holes. In the final match, Hayakawa would trail 2 down after 12 holes, but after a chip in birdie on 13, the momentum shifted. Hayakawa would win 15 and 16 to take a 1 up lead into the 18th hole. After an uncharacteristic 3 putt from Hayakawa, Yang would capitalize to force extra holes. On the 19th hole Hawyakawa would make a routine par to win the title. After rounds of 70-69, Hayakawa earned the number 1 seed for the match play portion of the event. In route to the finals Hayakawa defeated Marisa Messana, of Plantation, 2 up, and then defeated the 2013 Girls’ Junior Champion, Taylor Lyle, of Orlando, 1 up to earn her spot in the finals.
This marked the first year that the Junior Match Play Championship featured 36-holes of stroke play before the match play portion of the event. The Boys' 16-18 division was trimmed down to the low 32 players, the Boys' 13-15 division featured the low 16 scores and the Girls' 13-18 division was trimmed down to the low 8 players.
