LAKEWOOD RANCH, Fla. – The Florida Junior Tour will head to Lakewood National this weekend, October 7-8 to compete in the season-ending Tour Championship. The championship will include 54 holes of stroke play over two days, which means the competitors will play 36 holes on Saturday and the final 18 holes on Sunday. The field consists of 2022-2023 FJT season winners and FJT points lists leaders, so the field is strong and the competition will be fierce.
Here are five things to know before the championship begins.
Defending the Crown
There are two defending champions in the field back again this year. Katelyn Huber captured the victory at the 11th FJT Tour Championship by two strokes over the field. Since her victory at the end of 2022, she has had a remarkable 2023 season. Huber won back-to-back Florida Junior Tour events in March, including a win at the FJT Sandridge *Exempt Only* event where she captured the victory by 11 strokes over the field posting rounds of 67-66. She holds a few Florida Junior Tour records from the tournament at Sandridge including: Lowest 18 Hole Score (66), Lowest 36 Hole Total (133) and Lowest Final Round (66). Huber also advanced to the Round of 16 at the 94th Women’s Amateur Championship and competed in the U.S. Girls Junior Championship.
Clark Mason is also in the field competing this weekend at Lakewood National. Mason captured the victory for the Boys (13-15) Division in 2022 by two strokes over the field. He has added several more accolades onto his resume since his win last year. Mason captured a Florida Junior Tour win in April posting back-to-back scores of 70. He also secured a top-10 finish at the Boys’ Junior Championship, competed in the Junior Florida Cup Matches on the North Team, and captured two top-15 finishes at Florida Junior Tour majors.
Boys’ and Girls’ Junior Champions Competing
Arth Sinha and Yingshi (Lydia) Lin both captured victories at state championships over the summer. The duo will hope to add another win on to the year this weekend at the Tour Championship. Sinha captured the victory of the Boys (13-15) Division at the 69th Boys’ Junior in July. He battled through the final round against Lucas Gimenez and eventually won in a playoff. Sinha captured a second place finish and two top-10 finishes at Florida Junior Tour events in the fall.
Lin grabbed the victory at the 64th Girls’ Junior Championship. She also captured a win at a Florida Junior Tour event this fall and hopes to add one more win this weekend to her 2023 season.
Team Florida Makes Appearance
There are four Team Florida members competing this weekend: Kayla Bryant, Katelyn Huber, Parker Severs and Tristan Wieland. The four players have a combined six Florida Junior Tour wins and fifteen top-10 finishes at Florida Junior Tour events in the 2023 season. Each player is hoping to find themselves in contention this weekend with a trophy to raise at the completion of the championship.
It’s a Points Race
The points list is tight at the top for the Boys (16-18) Division and a win at this championship could make all the difference. In the Boys (16-18) Division, Parker Severs sits in second place only 630 points behind Colton Swartz. A finish in the top-9 could propel Severs ahead of Swartz and into the top spot.
Lakewood National as Host
Lakewood National will host the FJT Tour Championship for the second consecutive year. The championship will move to the Commander Course after the Piper Course hosted last year. The course is a par-72 and will play approximately 7,000 yards for the Boys (16-18) Division, 6,700 yards for the Boys (13-15) Division and approximately 6,000 yards for both Girls Divisions. Its wide and long fairways and large undulating greens will provide quite the test for the top Junior players in the state of Florida.
