IMG Junior Golf Tour crowns Players of the Year at Black Diamond Ranch

Bradenton, Fla. (May 21, 2014) - The IMG Junior Golf Tour hosted the 2014 Tour Championship at the acclaimed Black Diamond Ranch - Quarry Course, in Lecanto, Fla., May 17-18, where it named Players of the Year in four age divisions. The event fielded 78 players from 12 states and 14 countries, battling for the coveted division titles. In the Boys 15-18 division, Chile’s Claudio Correa, a South Florida commit, carded a final round 68 (-4) to complete a four-stroke win over Kavan Eubank of Bradenton, Fla. Correa finished with a total four-under 140, but it was not enough to stake his claim to the Boys 15-18 Player of the Year honors, which went to Spencer Schultz of Bradenton, Fla. Schultz finished fourth, but it was just enough to hang on for Player of the Year by a slim 30-point margin. On his way to becoming Player of the Year, Schultz was a model of consistency with seven top-five finishes on the year with one victory at Laurel Oak in January. 

In the Girls 15-18 division, Erica Stoner of Ocala, Fla. edged out Jacqueline Bendrick of Mercer Island, Wash. in a one-hole sudden-death playoff to win the Girls 15-18 division. Stoner and Bendrick completed regulation tied at six-over 150, and the win marked Stoner’s second of the year after earning her first win at Victoria Hills in March. Stoner would finish fourth overall in the Player of the Year standings. The runaway winner of the Girls 15-18 division was Thailand’s Jaravee Boonchant who tallied five wins and three runner-up finishes in nine starts.

The Boys 11-14 division at Black Diamond went to Max Coutsolioutsos of Lakewood Ranch, Fla. with solid rounds of 76, 72 to notch his first-career Tour victory in his first start.  Jason Jin of Windermere, Fla. finished in fourth place at the event, but took the Boys 11-14 Player of the Year honors with a massive lead in the points standings. On the year, Jin notched five wins and three runner-up finishes in nine starts.  

In the Girls 11-14 division, Nancy Lian of Lake Mary, Fla. rolled through the competition with a three-over 147 total. The win marked Lian’s first of the year in her third-career Tour start. Lian’s win, however, would not affect the top of the standings in the division where Australia’s Caitlin Cotterill stood alone with an insurmountable lead to become the Girls 11-14 Player of the Year. Through the year, Cotterill  finished in the top-three in all nine of her starts with two wins and four runner-up finishes.

Now in its fourth year, the Tour Championship has visited some of the top venues in the state of Florida, including Ritz-Carlton Members Golf Club (2011), The Concession Golf Club (2012) and Celebration Golf Club (2013). This year’s venue, Black Diamond Ranch - Quarry Course, is regarded by Golfweek as the No. 81 modern course in the United States, and widely considered one of the top courses in all of Florida. The event was ranked by the Golfweek/Sagarin Junior Rankings and Junior Golf Scoreboard. Elevated AJGA Performance Based Entry was awarded for the event, with the Boys and Girls 15-18 champions receiving eight Performance Stars, while the remaining top-five finishers in the Boys, and remaining top-three girls each received four Performance Stars.

Past IMG Junior Golf Tour champions include the likes of LPGA Tour player Kelly Tan and current Division I collegiate players Keagan Cummings (North Carolina), Jordan Lippetz (Princeton) and Hadas Libman (Baylor).

For full results, visit the IMG Junior Golf Tour leaderboard by clicking HERE