AJGA Polo Junior: Finals set for Friday
11/26/2015 | by American Junior Golf Association
see also: View results for Polo Junior Classic, Bethpage State Park - Black Course
Mariel Galdiano of Hawaii will face Muni He of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. for he Girls title while Cooper Dossey of Austin, Texas will play Ryan Gerard of Raleigh, NC for the Boys title
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – No. 1 seed Mariel Galdiano of Pearl City, Hawaii, defeated two first-team Rolex Junior All-Americans on Thursday and advanced to play Muni He of Rancho Santa Fe, California in Friday’s championship match at the Polo Golf Junior Classic. In the Boys Division, Cooper Dossey of Austin, Texas, won his semifinal match in 19 holes and earned a spot in the championship against Ryan Gerard of Raleigh, North Carolina.
Galdiano may be the 1-seed, but her path to the finals included a win over Alyaa Abdulghany, the No. 11 player in the Polo Golf Rankings, and Sierra Brooks, the defending champion. Galdiano needed 19 holes to win her quarterfinal match against Abdulghany, and a conceded birdie on No. 18 gave her a 2-up win over Brooks in the semifinals.
“Both Alyaa and Sierra are great players, Sierra especially because she went 3-0-0 at the PING Junior Solheim Cup,” Galdiano said. “Going against her was a little difficult because we’re good friends and have known each other for a long time.”
By advancing to the finals, Galdiano is in position to become the first No. 1 seed to win since Vicky Hurst won in 2007. She will face He, whose day included a quarterfinal win over Kristen Gillman, the 2014 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion. In He’s semifinal match against Emilee Hoffman, she never trailed and advanced with a 3-and-2 win.
“I’ve never really thought of myself as someone who’s strong at match play, but this year I’ve discovered that you have to take control of the game,” He said. “You have to try your best to fight instead of trying to play off someone else.”
The boys championship will come down to Dossey and Gerard. In the semifinals against Nate Menon, Dossey forced extra holes after being 2-down with eight holes to play. A 25 mph wind was helping the players on the 344-yard, par-4 first hole, and Dossey took advantage. After he drove the green, he made a 20-foot eagle putt to secure his spot in the championship match.
“This afternoon I was hitting my driver in the fairway, so I figured I might as well try it. On the tee box I didn’t want to back down, so I went for it,” Dossey said. “I think that’s the biggest putt I’ve ever made in my life. I missed a lot of putts inside six feet for birdie, but it felt really good to finally get one in at that time.”
Before advancing to the finals, Dossey earned the 30-seed with a birdie on the fifth hole of an 8-for-5 playoff Tuesday night. On Wednesday, he defeated the two finalists from the 2014 Polo Golf Junior Classic (Spencer Soosman, Matthew Wolff), and on Thursday he started with a 2-and-1 quarterfinal win over Ryan Grider, a second-team Rolex Junior All-American.
Gerard’s path to the final included two matches against Rolex Junior All-Americans. In the quarterfinals, he downed Aden Ye, 2 and 1, and in the afternoon he never trailed and won his semifinal match against Norman Xiong, 4 and 3.
In 2015, Gerard tallied four AJGA top-five finishes, including a win at the Midwest Junior Players Championship. He is currently No. 58 in the Polo Golf Rankings and has verbally committed to UNC-Chapel Hill.
“I’m playing really well. I’m playing as well as I ever have this week,” Gerard said. “It’s a fresh start tomorrow, it doesn’t matter if you shot 10-under today or 10-over. You still have to play the same guy tomorrow and it starts all over.”
The boys championship match will begin at 8 a.m., while the girls championship will begin at 8:15 a.m. Both matches will be played on PGA National Resort & Spa’s Champion Course.
- story courtesy AJGA
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...
Most Popular Articles
2025 PGA TOUR Q-School Guide: Sites, Scores, and Who Advanced
Dec 5, 2025Second Stage is complete and Final Stage awaits at Sawgrass — follow every Q-School leaderboard and the players still chasing
2025 LPGA TOUR Q-Series: Final Qualifying Stage FINAL SCORING
Dec 8, 2025Helen Briem earns medalist honors, 31 players headed to the LPGA next year
2025 PGA TOUR Q-School Final Stage: Ewart Leads Five New TOUR Card Winners
Dec 14, 2025A.J. Ewart topped Final Stage at TPC Sawgrass, leading five players who secured PGA TOUR membership for 2026.
Australian Open at Royal Melbourne: Preview, amateur bios, and how to watch
Nov 30, 2025Rory McIlroy headlines one of the championship's top fields in years - at least four amateurs will have their chance at glory
Inside Gil Hanse’s Restoration of Baltusrol’s Upper Course: A Return to Tillinghast’s
Dec 11, 2025Renowned architect Gil Hanse reveals how he brought Baltusrol’s Upper Course back to life by honoring A.W. Tillinghast’s original