TOP JUNIORS SPONSORED TO PLAY IN MONDAY FINS CUP PRO-AM
Eight of the top junior players in South Florida, four young ladies and four young men, will get to play alongside PGA TOUR pros in the Honda Classic's Fins Cup Pro Am on February 28 as beneficiaries of a sponsorship created five years ago by Honda Executive Director Kenneth R. Kennerly that now is also supported by Ross Johnson, former CEO of RJR Nabisco, and The Honda Classic.
The young ladies foursome is composed of Top 10 nationally-ranked junior Jaye Marie Green, Cardinal Newman High standout Annie Dulman, Benjamin School senior Kelly Okun, and Kailey Walsh.
The young men's foursome is composed of Martin County High senior Will Davenport, Kevin Jorden and Chase Koepka from Cardinal Newman High's state championship team, and Archbishop Canterbury junior Zachary Toste.
For the second straight year, Tire Kingdom CEO Orland Wolford also is sponsoring a group of Palm Beach area Boy Scouts. That foursome from the Gulfstream Council of the Boy Scouts of America will be paired with a PGA TOUR professional.
The purpose of the sponsorships is to give top South Florida junior players the opportunity to play alongside a PGA Tour pro for the day. A collective $100,000 has been donated to the cause since Kennerly founded the program five years ago.
"Ross and I are thrilled that we are able to create this experience for these gifted young players," Kennerly said. "Kids are the future of the game and it is important that we do everything that we can do as a tournament to promote the sport to that next generation."
Green, a 17-year-old from Boca Raton, qualified and played in the 2010 U.S. Women's Open at Oakmont. She is ranked sixth in the nation in Golfweek's Amateur rankings. Green won the 2010 Polo Junior Golf Championship at PGA National's Champion Course, the 2011 Sally (Amateur Championship) in Ormond Beach in January and was awarded a Special Invitation to the upcoming LPGA Futures Tour event, The Daytona Beach Invitational, on April 1. She is committed to attend the University of Florida.
Dulman's mom was a teaching pro when she was young so she picked up her first club at a young age. She now plays in many Junior and Amateur tournaments in Florida in addition to high school golf at Cardinal Newman, where she was captain, two-time district champion and team MVP. She was runner-up in the Junior Honda Classic and has already been accepted onto the Rollins College golf team even though she is only a junior.
Okun, who will attend the College of William and Mary, was the MVP at Benjamin School in 2009 and 2010. She was first team on the All-Area team in 2010 and placed 15th at the state championships.
Walsh is a product of St. Andrews School in Boca Raton as well as the Laurel Springs College Prep Academy in California. She won the District title this year and placed second at regionals. She has played in a long line of Junior events over the past year, often finishing in the Top 10.
Davenport, who will attend Yale University this fall, won the Junior Honda Classic last fall. He is currently ranked 204th in the junior golf world rankings by Golfweek and finished third at the state hogh school tournament this season. Among his credits is a third-place finish at the AJGA Mayakoba tournament, a third place finish at the Qdoba Tournament of Champions 2010 and a ninth-place finish at the AJGA Nemacolin Woodlands.
Jorden, the MVP of Newman's state title team who will attend the University of South Florida, won the state title this past season. He has a long lineup of quality results in State, Regional and National junior tournaments
Koepka, a junior at Cardinal Newman High, has been playing golf since he was 3 years old, starting out in programs and tournaments developed by LPGA professional Donna White at Okeeheelee Park in Palm Beach County. This year, he was part of the state championship team at Cardinal Newman. In December 2010, Koepka was honored as Rolex Junior All-American, honorable mention. He recently completed a full year of invitational tournament play which included a seventh-place finish at Sea Pines Junior Heritage at Hilton Head, a third-place finish at the prestigious Bobby Champion Junior Invitational in Spartanburg, SC. , a second place finish at the American Junior Golf Association's Burgett H. Mooney Jr. Rome Classic in Rome, Georgia and a T-9 at the Charles Howell III, Junior Championship in Augusta, Georgia.
Toste, a junior at Archbishop McCarthy in Pembroke Pines, is the top player in Broward County and is ranked 83rd nationally by Golfweek. He finished 26th at the state championships this season and plays an extensive schedule of junior events throughout the state.
Last Updated: 2/25/2011 10:36:59 AM / Generated at: 2/4/2012 10:22:27 PM