LSU commit Jacob Bergeron
(AJGA Photo)
PALM BEACH GARDENS, FL (November 24, 2016) -- Davis Shore of Knoxville, Tennessee, and Jacob Bergeron of Slidell, Louisiana, moved through the quarterfinals and semifinals Thursday into the championship match at PGA National Resort & Spa. Hye-Jin Choi of Gimhae-si, South Korea, will face off against Youngin Chun of Gainesville, Florida, in the Girls Division championship match of the AJGA Polo Junior Classic.
Shore started the morning with a 5&4 win over Noah Norton from Chico, California. Shore is the defending champion of the Rolex Tournament of Champions and a member of the Wyndham Cup East team and Junior Ryder Cup team. In his match play history, Shore had never advanced past the Round of 16. In his quarterfinal and semifinal matches, he had the unique distinction of never making it to the Bear Trap.
Bergeron continued his fine play with a 1-up win over Rolex Junior Player of the Year Noah Goodwin of Corinth, Texas, in the quarterfinals. Bergeron found the bunker on his tee shot on No. 18 with Goodwin in the fairway, leading to the potential for extra holes. Goodwin found the collection area on the side in two and left his chip shot about 12 feet short for a birdie to extend the match. They halved the hole, however, to put Bergeron in the semifinals. The LSU commit went back and forth in his match with Kaiwen Liu of San Diego, California, but ultimately won 1-up to advance to the finals.
Choi moved into the semifinals with a 7&6 win over 25-seed Aubree Jones. The stroke-play medalist is familiar with semifinal matches, making it to the semifinals at the U.S. Girls Junior Championship this summer. Choi was 2-up against Rachel Heck of Memphis, Tennessee, through No. 16, but Heck battled back with a birdie on No. 17 to force the final hole. A birdie on No. 18 gave Choi the championship berth.
Chun and Alyaa Abdulghany of Newport Beach, California, went back and forth in their match, with Chun eventually pulling out the 2&1 victory in the semifinals. She had the task of taking on the Rolex Junior Player of the Year Paphangkorn Tavatanakit of Bangkok, Thailand, who beat Rose Zhang of Irvine, California, 3&2 in the quarterfinals. Chun was dormie 2 going into No. 17, but Tavatanakit responded by winning the last two holes to force extra holes. The pair moved back to No. 1, where Chun made a par to earn a berth with Choi in the finals.
The championship matches will go off the No. 1 tee of the Champion course at 8:00 a.m. and 8:15 a.m. Friday.
View results for Polo Junior Classic
ABOUT THE Polo Junior Classic
Sixty-four top junior golfers will be invited to
compete
in a round-robin style
match play event. Based on the Rolex AJGA
Rankings,
an equal field of 32
boys (Polo Division) and 32 girls (Liberty Division)
will
be divided into eight
groupings of four players each to compete in three
guaranteed singles
matches. The top eight Polo Division boys and
Liberty
Division girls from each
group after pool play will advance to single-
elimination
matches.
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