The winning team (AJGA Photo)
The 34th Wyndham Cup has officially concluded, and the East team takes home their 13th Wyndham Cup victory with a score of 25.5 to 24.5. This brings the all-time record to 17-13-4.
The West took an early lead on day one, putting the East behind 9.5 to 5.5. On day two, the East team claimed 8.5 points and cut their deficit in half, making it a tight race heading into the singles matches on the final day.
2024 marks the East team's first victory since 2021, a win that was also captured in the state of South Carolina at Bulls Bay Golf Club.
The East won nine of the 20 matches and tied five of them. The East team scored the first two points of the day. Logan Reilly of Lovettsville, Virginia, won 3&2 over Luke Colton of Frisco, Texas, while Pennson Badgett of Pilot Mountain, North Carolina, won 5&3 over Michael Riebe of Encinitas, California.
The majority of the afternoon was neck-and-neck, with matches going off of Nos. 1 and 10. It would come down to the final few matches of the day.
The first West point of the day came from Elise Lee of Irvine, California, and Mia Hammond of New Albany, Ohio. Lee took the match lead on No. 2 and held a 2-up or better lead throughout the rest of the match before taking the win 3&2 on No. 16.
The biggest upset of the day came in the final pairing. No. 3 in the Rolex AJGA Rankings, Wheaton Ennis of Litchfield Park, Arizona, won 5&4 over No. 1 in the Rolex AJGA Rankings, Miles Russell of Jacksonville Beach, Florida. This was the West's largest margin of victory in a match today.
Coming down to the wire, the last remaining match of the afternoon was contested between Blades Brown of Nashville, Tennessee, and Kihei Akina of Kahuku, Hawaii. The duo started on the back nine and Brown took the initial lead on No. 10. Akina brought the match to a tie on No. 13, which is how the match remained through the rest of the back nine. Making the turn to the front nine, Brown reclaimed the lead and stayed 1-up through No. 6. Brown went 2-up after winning hole No. 7 and closed out the match 2&1 on No. 8 to secure a point and the East team win.
The matches that went the distance and halved on No. 18 include:
- Princeton University verbal commit Thanana Kotchasanmanee of (Thailand) Rome, Georgia, and 2027 grad Anna Huang of (Canada) Coto De Caza, California
- LSU verbal commit Ryleigh Knaub of Debray, Florida, and No. 16 in the Rolex AJGA Rankings, Jude Lee of Walnut, California
- Sofia Cherif Essakali of Orlando, Florida, and 2024 graduate Jasmine Koo of Cerritos, California
- Clemson University verbal commit Jackson Byrd of Saint Simons Island, Georgia, and Stanford University commit Jay Leng Jr of San Diego, California
- Vanderbilt University verbal commit Will Hartman of two-time Rolex Junior All-American Marvin, North Carolina, and Henry Guan of Dallas, Texas
8 total seniors represented both the East and West this week. The AJGA is proud that they chose to end their junior golf careers playing in the Wyndham Cup. Their names and the colleges they are committed to playing college golf at are below:
- Wheaton Ennis - Texas A&M University
- Erin Yun - Princeton University
- Jay Leng Jr - Stanford University
- Bowen Ballis - Vanderbilt University
- Megan Meng - Northwestern University
- Elise Lee - Northwestern University
- Kylie Chong - University Southern California
- Jasmine Koo - University Southern California
Since 1990, the Wyndham Cup has brought together 40 of the country’s top junior golfers (20 males and 20 females) in an East versus West team match play tournament. In addition to featuring some of the world’s best junior golfers annually, the Wyndham Cup is known for its iconic host venues.
A list that features Old Sandwich Golf Club, Mayacama Golf Club, The Stanwich Club, Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Club & Lodge and now The Golf Club at Briar's Creek.
While this is the first time in the event's history that The Golf Club at Briar's Creek is hosting the Wyndham Cup, they are no stranger to the AJGA and its' high caliber events. The club has also played host to the 2019 and 2023 Rolex Girls Junior Championship.
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ABOUT THE
The Wyndham Cup is an annual team match play
competition featuring the 10 best male and
female junior golfers from East of the Mississippi
River versus their counterparts from the West.
Wyndham Cup teams will be determined based upon
the
Rolex AJGA Rankings.
Matches include four-ball, mixed-four-ball,
foursomes, mixed-foursomes and singles.
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