Junior Orange Bowl International Golf Championship

         
Tournament Director J.R. Steinbauer (Center) with 2011 Girls Champion Hyo Joo Kim (KOR) and Boys Champion Juan Cerda (CHI).

48^th Junior OrangeBowl International golf championship – Coral Gables, Florida– Final Results

By: David Mackintosh

South Korea’s Hyo Joo Kim and Chile’s Juan Cerda are the new Junior Orange Bowl International golf champions, Cerda taking the Boys title in a three-hole sudden death playoff.

16-year old Kim went wire to wire for victory, although her final round of 3-over par left the title open to challengers into the closing moments, securing the championship by single stroke with two birdies in her final three holes. Equally critical was her 20-foot uphill par-save at the 17^th, after a weak approach stroke.         

“I did not putt well for most of the round but was able to find my concentration at the most important moments,” Kim explained through an interpreter.

As Kim slipped backward early in the round, pressure was being exerted by 14-year old Canadian phenom Brooke Henderson, who birdied the 14^th and 15^th to get in touch with the lead, but then uncharacteristically missed a 2-footer at the 16^th. Finally it came down whether Kim could match Perrina Delacour’s birdie at the 72^nd hole, which she did with the graceful simplicity she had shown throughout the entire championship.

Cerda became the Boys champion in spectacular style. At the third sudden-death hole he blistered his second shot to the 516yd par-five within three feet, then calmly stroked home the eagle putt for victory over Belgium’s Thomas Detry, the Belgian National Match Play champion.

Cerda, the Chilean Junior champion, bogeyed the 71^st hole to let Detry back into contention and the Belgian then birdied the final hole to set up the playoff. Second round leader Austria’s Marcus Maukner surged into 3^rd spot while third-round leader, Poland’s Adrian Meronk, slipped down the leaderboard with final round of 77.      

 The 48^th edition of the Junior Orange Bowl International Golf Championship featured a 103-player field from 35 countries.  For complete 2011 results please click here.