The team from Southern California took top honors at the 43rd-annual Junior America’s Cup held in Flagstaff at Pine Canyon Club, July 28-30.  The team – made up of Sam Choi of Cerritos, Chase Furey of Newport Beach, Justin Kim of Fullerton and Joseph Chun of Irvine – finished at 25-under par for the tournament, a whopping 13 strokes clear of the second-place team from Wyoming and 17 strokes ahead of the third-place team from Colorado. The team from Arizona – featuring David Ricciardelli of Scottsdale, Brock Goyen of Tucson, Mason Andersen of Phoenix and Briggs Duce of Sierra Vista – finished at two-under par, T7 for the tournament with a total score of 646.

“Congratulations to the team from Southern California.  They certainly deserved to win,” said Scott McNevin, Executive Director of the Junior Golf Association of Arizona, host of the event. “I’d also like to recognize Wyoming for their great play, as well as Pine Canyon Club and all the other sponsors for their generous support.”

With roots reaching back to 1959, this 54-hole event features 18 teams made up of the top four boys representing 12 Western States, Mexico and Canada. The best three scores each day were added together to establish the team score. Many former participants have gone on to become successful professional golfers such as Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Fred Couples, Corey Pavin, Ricky Barnes, Notah Begay, John Cook, Peter Jacobson, Steve Jones, Anthony Kim, Ryan Moore and Kevin Na.

Southern California finished the first round in fourth place at seven-under par, three strokes off the pace. They caught fire in the second round, posting a 13-under-par performance to move into the lead by 11 strokes. Team Southern California then cruised to the finish line with a five-under-par final round (623 total strokes). In addition to the team competition, Sam Choi drained a lengthy putt the final hole to win the Sally Pini Award, as the tournament medalist, by two shots (68-67-69-204).

43rd-Annual Junior America’s Cup – Final Results

Pos Team Today Thru Total R1 R2 R3 Total

1 Southern California -5 F -25 209 203 211 623

2 Wyoming -3 F -12 206 217 213 636

3 Colorado -7 F -8 216 215 209 640

T4 Oregon +3 F -6 206 217 219 642

T4 British Columbia +1 F -6 208 217 217 642

6 Northern California -4 F -5 210 221 212 643

T7 Arizona -2 F -2 216 216 214 646

T7 Hawaii -3 F -2 217 216 213 646

T9 Idaho E F +1 218 215 216 649

T9 San Diego -3 F +1 210 226 213 649

11 Washington -6 F +2 221 219 210 650

12 Montana +2 12 +6 215 221 143 579

13 Mexico I E F +9 227 214 216 657

14 Nevada +9 12 +10 214 219 150 583

T15 Utah +3 F +12 213 228 219 660

T15 Mexico II +10 12 +12 219 215 151 585

17 Alberta +16 F +38 224 230 232 686

18 Sun Country +22 F +67 241 236 238 715

State/Country/Province Team Roster

Alberta  Logan Carver, Brendan MacDougall, Landon Stellingweff, Michael Martin

Arizona  Mason Andersen, Brock Goyen, Briggs Duce, David Ricciardelli

British Columbia  Roy Kang, Alex Park, Diego San Pedro, Sy Lovan

Colorado  Aj Ott, Coby Welch, Jackson Solem, Davis Bryant

Hawaii  Kyosuke Hara, Kyle Suppa, Andrew Chin, Junho Won

Idaho  Connor Johnstone, Carson Barry, Josh Gliege, Andrew Hess

Mexico # 1  Luis Garza, Jorge Villar, Camilo Mexsen, Eduardo Carrete

Mexico # 2  Luis Carrera, Juan Padilla, Isidro Benitez, Andre Becerra

Montana  Ryggs Johnston, Caleb Stetzner, Joey Moore, Jonny Cielak

Nevada  Jack Trent, Scott Rescigno, George Kim, Jay Babu

Northern California  Matt Lloyd, Bryan Baumgarten, Matt Robinson, Christopher Ebster

Oregon  Bryce Wortman, Spencer Tibbits, Kevin Geniza, Reese Fisher

San Diego  Cullen Plousha, Everton Hawkins, Hunter Reed, Noah Henderson

Southern California  Justin Kim, Chase Furey, Sam Choi, Joseph Chun

Sun Country  Sean Moore, Slater Sivage, Richy Silva, Patrick McCarthy

Utah  Carson Lundell, Cole Ponich, Brock Stanger, Elijah Turner

Washington  Sam Warkentin, Alvin Kwak, Nick Nolan, Ryan James

Wyoming  Jordan Costello, Easton Paxton, Brock Ehlers,  Jared Edeen