Sterling and Vernier Earn First Wins in Estero
ESTERO, Fla. - Old Corkscrew was the host for this year's FJT (16-18) Memorial Day Major. A tricky Jack Nicklaus designed golf course, Old Corkscrew showed its teeth throughout the three rounds.
Boys (16-18)
Sunny skies and warm temperatures greeted players as 64 players in the boys division teed it up for Saturday's first round. Things would quickly change as Florida's unpredicatable weather would win the day. A two and half hour lightning delay would mean that Round one's play would not be completed on day 1. With play being completed on Sunday morning, Cooper Franklin would jump out to the lead after firing a 2-under par, 70 through the first 18 holes. A Ponte Vedra Beach native, Franklin would jump out of the blocks quickly with a birdie-eagle start. The 2026 grad would go on to make two bogies and one additional biridie en route to his 2-under par total. Josh Orgen would co-lead the field with birdies on day 1 after accumulating five in total on the day, with four consecutive on holes 10 thru 13. The 2026 grad would finish his round at 1-under par, one shot back of Franklin.
Sunday's second round would bring some more consistent weather and some low scores. The Boys Junior Match Play Champion from 2024, Oscar Crowe, would look to make a move after going out in 2-under par to get back to even par for the event through 27 holes. The Boca Raton native would go on to make three more birdies on the back nine along with two bogies to fire 3-under par, 69. Moving up 8 spots on the leaderboard, Crowe would grab the lead heading into the final round at 1-under par. With nine players within four shots of the lead, Crowe would need to continue his stellar play to stay atop the leaderboard. Sitting only one shot back of the lead, the trio of Hugo Stenstrom, Cooper Franklin and Drew Sterling would have their eyes on the top prize on Monday morning. Stenstrom fired rounds of 72-72, and lead the field with nine birdies after the first two rounds.
With a congested leaderboard at the top with 18 holes to play, it would take a standout performance to take home the title at Old Corkscrew. Starting his day one shot back of the lead, Drew Sterling would begin his round with a bogey on the first hole to fall back to 1-over par. The 2026 grad would bounce back with birdies on the 4th and 6th holes to shoot 1-under par on the front nine and get back in contention. Crowe on the other hand would start his round hot, making birides on 3 and 4 to get to 4-under par for the event. An untimely quadruple bogey 7 on the par 3, 7th hole would throw Crowe back into the pack as the race for the win was heating up. Several contenders would throw their names into contention as Nicholas Pisarski, Darren Zhou, Christina Koehn and others all had a taste of the lead during the final nine holes. Koehn would put together the round of the tournament in the final round with a bogey-free 5-under par, 67. The WInter Park native would make birdies on holes 9, 12, 14, 17, 18 to be the clubhouse leader at 1-under par. After making eight pars on the back nine, Drew Sterling would need a birdie on the 18th hole to avoid a playoff. The Palm Beach Gardens native would stick his approach shot to 12 feet on the difficult par 4 and proceed to drain the putt to clinch the title in dramatic fashion. Sterling's three day total of 72-72-70--214 would put him at 2-under par for the event. Christian Koehn would finish as runner-up at 1-under par with Gabriel Hull and Gatlin Albright finishing in a tie for third at even par.
Girls (16-18)
The Girls (16-18) division would bring some tight competition. Abby Vernier would play consistently throughout round one, making two birdies and three bogies to combine for a 1-over par, 73. The Pensacola native would hold only a 1-shot lead heading into day 2 as Iris Lee would put together a 38-36--74 to finish at 2-over par. The leaderboard would stay pretty consistent in round two, as the tricky Jack Nicklaus designed course continued to show its teeth. Vernier would build her lead to two shots at the end of day's play after putting together a 2nd round 75 to sit at 4-over par for the event with one round to play. Iris Lee would would maintain her 2nd place standing at 6-over par with Julie Waldo one shot further back at 7-over par after rounds of 76-75.
The final round would bring sunny skies and warm weather as the leaders battled to take the top spot. Vernier would continue her stellar play shooting even par on her first nine holes after making two birdies and two bogies. The 2026 grad would not falter on day 3, making two more birdies and one bogey on her final nine holes to fire a final round of 1-under par, 71. Putting together rounds of 73-75-71--219 for the event, Vernier would earn her first FJT victory at 3-over par and five shots clear of her closest competitior. Iris Lee would remain in second place shooting rounds of 74-76-74--224. Rounding out the top three would be Angela Yiting Wang and Julie Waldo at 15-over par.
