Rodriguez, Celiberti prevail in tough conditions at Mansion Ridge

MONROE, NY - The IMG Junior Golf Tour hosted at The Golf Club at Mansion Ridge, a first-time venue for the tour and the second event of the 2015-16 Northeast Series schedule. Located at the foothills of the Catskill Mountains in the highlands of the Hudson Valley, the course sits on a historic 220-acre estate in Monroe, NY with landmarks predating the American Revolution.

The Jack Nicklaus signature design was in pristine condition as 50 players competed in the event which was ranked by Junior Golf Scoreboard and also provided AJGA (American Junior Golf Association) performance-based entry status to top finishers.

Saturday’s first round was cold and breezy, with temperatures in the low-40’s and a powerful wind sweeping across the course. Justin Lane (Woodstock, NY) shot the low round of the day with a (+1) 73 to lead the Boys 15-18 Division heading into Sunday. Ryan Rodriguez (Highland Mills, NY), who calls Mansion Ridge his home course, finished his first round at (+3) 75 with a (-3) 33 on his front nine to hold the second place position in the division. Danel Yam (Englewood Cliffs, NJ), Teddy Trosset (Cooperstown, NY), and Alex Chin (Chatham, NJ) rounded out the top-five.

In the Boys 11-14 Division, Will Celiberti (Ridgewood, NJ) finished at (+7) 79 to hold a six-shot lead over Tommaso Fabbri (New York, NY) after day one.

With freezing overnight temperatures and anticipated frost, groups went out in shotgun format at 10:15 AM for Sunday’s final round. There was some movement in the Boys 15-18 Division as Alex Chin moved up the leaderboard into a tie with Ryan Rodriguez, both finishing 36 holes at (+10 ) 154. This resulted in a sudden-death playoff on the downhill par-5 18^th hole at Mansion Ridge.

Chin was first on the tee and went out of bounds on the right side with his driver. His next shot was a 3-wood down the middle. Playing it safe, Rodriguez opted to go iron off the tee and kept it on the right side of the fairway. He then chose to lay up and set himself up for a short chip to get on the green. Meanwhile, Chin was hitting four and had to go for it in two to have any shot at splitting the hole and keep his hopes alive. He put it high just off the right side of the green, chipped on and two-putted while Rodriguez finished with par to win the playoff and take first place at his home venue.

Will Celiberti, Tommaso Fabbri, and Jimin Jung finished first, second and third in the Boys 11-14 Division, respectively.

To view complete results from the event, click HERE.

To view the tournament photo album, visit our Facebook page HERE.

To register for upcoming events, view our complete 2015-16 IMG Junior Golf Tour schedule HERE.