The Florida Junior Tour made its way to Duran Golf Club this past weekend in Melbourne, Florida. Saturday’s weather forecast did not look promising, with expected severe thunderstorms in the morning and scattered storms in the afternoon. The golf course was playing very difficult with strategically placed water hazards on nearly every hole and very challenging green complexes. On top of these conditons, player’s endured 30 mile per hour winds throughout the day on Saturday.
In the Boys’ Division, Ryo Harada of Howey-in-the-Hills proved to be the most tolerant of the windy conditions. His opening round of 2-under par, 70, included four birdies and two bogeys and was enough to put him on top of the leaderboard after Round 1. Close behind Ryo was Melbourne’s own Calvin Sierota. Calvin birdied an impressive five holes in his opening round and sat just one stroke behind Ryo at the end of the day. Andrew Farraye of Saint Augustine rounded out the Top-3 with an even par round of 72.
In the Girls’ Division, Karen Miyamoto of Howey-in-the-Hills also shot under par to take the lead with a 2-under-par 70. Karen carded four birdies during her impressive opening round, but stumbled late with bogeys on holes 16 and 17! Julia Towne of Eustis did her best on Saturday to stay within striking distance of Miyamoto. Julia has finished in the top three in her last two events and her round of 73 put her in position to have another great finish this weekend. Cindy Kou posted a 75 in the windy conditions on Saturday, which placed her four shots back of Miyamoto in third place.
The sun came out on Sunday for the final round at Duran, but the winds remained a challenge for the entire field. In the girls’ division, Julia Towne did her best to keep pace with Miyamoto, but early bogeys led to a final round, 76, giving her yet another third place finish this season. Cindy Kou did everything she possibly could to track Miyamoto down from four strokes back. Kou showed she meant business as she birdied four holes throughout her round, but she was unable to catch Miyamoto. Karen Miyamoto shot a steady 75 in the final round, including fifteen pars and three bogeys, to claim a one shot victory over Kou.
The boys’ division provided plenty of excitement as well on Sunday! Andrew Farraye, whom stood in third place after Saturday’s round, was unable to stay in the hunt after early bogeys derailed him from a possible come from behind victory. This left it to a two man race at the top of the leader board between first round leader, Ryo Harada, and the hometown player, Calvin Sierota. Both players birdied the opening hole of the day, but Calvin exploded with birdies on four of his first six holes on the day to take the lead from Ryo. Ryo battled extremely hard on the back nine, shooting a nine hole score of one-under par 35 on the back, but it wasn’t enough to beat Calvin. Calvin closed with a final round, 71, to take home the victory in his hometown by one stroke over Ryo.
The Florida Junior Tour will head to Lemon Bay Golf Club in Englewood this coming weekend with the 13-15 age division. The 16-18 age division will pick back up in two weeks at Old Corkscrew Golf Club in Estero on April 30 – May 1.
As always, thank you so much to Duran Golf Club for their hospitality during this weekend’s event! Their staff and members were all beyond welcoming and we would not be able to run successful events without their help and support!
