PALM HARBOR, Fla. - Arenui Faana and Mingbo Jiang prevailed to secure their first Florida Junior Tour wins of the year at Innisbrook Golf Club. Both Faana and Jiang earned wins in wire-to-wire fashion on Easter Sunday.
Boys 13-15
The leaderboard was tight after round one on the Island Course at Innisbrook Golf Club. Mingbo Jiang, of Orlando, and Zi Ang (Josiah) Wang, of Windermere, finished tied for the lead at 1-over 73. Sitting one shot back were class of 2025 members, Conlin Bradshaw and Ronav Benak. With four birdies on the day, Mingbo would be striving for his first victory of the year and second FJT win overall.
Wang moved into first place by three shots after the first hole of Sunday’s final round. Jiang fell to a double-bogey on the first hole, while Wang came out of the gate with a birdie. Despite a tough start, Jiang bounced back with birdies on the second, third and fifth, to take the lead at the turn by two strokes. Ocala native, Xavier Sahajpal, climbed up the leaderboard with steady golf and an even-par front nine.
Finishing with an impressive nine-straight pars, Wang secured victory with a final-round of 73 and 2-over 146 finish. Sahajpal erased a four-stroke deficit to finish three strokes back in second place, posting a final-round 73, three strokes better than round one. Benak remained tied for third place with Tristan Rhodenizer, of West Palm Beach, at 6-over 150.
Girls 13-15
Arenui Faana, of Lake Mary, posted the only under-par round of the tournament on Saturday. Three birdies on the front nine and one birdie on the par-5 15th hole gave Faana the early lead at 1-under 71. Three-strokes back, tied for second, finished Ann-Sophie Bourgault and Elisabeth Boersheim.
The second round got off to a tough start for Faana, but she remained in the lead by one-stroke over Canada native, Bourgault. All pars and one bogey on Bourgault’s front-nine kept her in contention heading into the final nine holes.
Faana finished the round with another birdie on the par-5 15th hole to finish with a 77 and first place win at 4-over 148. Bourgault remained steady and tied Faana’s final nine-hole score of 38 to claim second place, one-stroke back. Faana was overdue for a win after her first FJT victory in 2019. A highlight from the round came from Emma Lee and her first hole-in-one on the 17th hole!
