Aurora, Ontario, CANADA (June 23, 2007) – After watching Canada claim a pair of successive titles, team USA took back its golf dominance among the countries of the Americas with a clean sweep of men’s, women’s and overall team titles at the 2007 Copa de las Americas.

The United States team of Jonathan Moore, Webb Simpson, Stacey Lewis and Jennie Lee fired a team score of 1-under on the day and 28-over for the championship to take home the titles.

The US team, building on its seventh-place finish in 2005 and runner-up to Canada in 2003, sent four of the nations top amateurs to the prestigious Aurora layout. On the ladies side, Lewis, a junior at the University of Arkansas won the 2007 NCAA individual championship while All-American Jennie Lee helped lead Duke to its third consecutive NCAA team title. The men’s team featured Simpson and Moore, respectively ranked as the United States’ number one and three-ranked amateurs.

“We had the A-team here this week and when you’ve got that kind of talent, my job becomes easy,” said team captain Loren Singletary. “They battled through some tough conditions over the first couple days on a real challenging golf course and I’m proud of the way they all held together. The Copa championship is all about the spirit of friendship among the countries and all the players of the Americas and while we’re certainly happy to win, it was just wonderful to be a part of it all.”

Mexico shot even-par as a team to secure second place at 65-over par. After collectively struggling during Friday’s third round, the Team Canada foursome of Graham Hill of Bright’s Grove, Ont., Keven Fortin-Simard of Roberval, Que., Laura Matthews of Essex, Ont. and Stephanie Sherlock of Barrie, Ont. bounced back with a final-round team total 5-over to finish in third at 67-over. Rounding out the top-five was Argentina (+75) and Columbia (+96).

On the women’s side, the United States finished with a convincing 24-stroke victory over the Team Canada pairing of Matthews and Sherlock. Stacey Lewis and Jennie Lee finished a combined 2-over on the day to win the country’s first women’s team title.

Lee shot the women’s round of the day with a 2-under 70 under to sit atop the individual leaderboard at 8-over for the championship while Lewis is second at 12-over.

In the men’s division, the US team of Simpson and Moore finished at 1-under for the day and 28-over for the championship to outlast Argentina by four strokes. Mexico was third at 16-over for the tournament while the Canadian duo of Hill Simard finished fourth at 21-over. With their finish, the 2007 event marks the first time Team Canada hasn’t been victorious in the men’s division.

Alan Wagner, the number-16 ranked amateur in the world finished as the men’s low individual at 7-under for the championship for by Jonathan Moore at 2-over.

The following are final-round scores at the 2007 Copa de las Americas:

Overall Team Results – Round 4
1 USA 287 -1 +28
2 Mexico 288 E +65
3 Canada 293 +5 +67
4 Argentina 311 +23 +75
5 Colombia 307 +19 +96
6 Puerto Rico 307 +19 +135
7 Peru 325 +37 +140
8 Trinidad and Tobago 325 +37 +148
9 Guatemala 342 +54 +212
10 Dominican Republic 348 +60 +267

Men’s Team Results – Round 4
1 USA - Men 141 -3 +6
2 Argentina - Men 148 +4 +10
3 Mexico - Men 143 -1 +16
4 Canada - Men 144 E +21
5 Colombia - Men 149 +5 +35
6 Puerto Rico - Men 149 +5 +41
7 El Salvador - Men 155 +11 +50
8 Ecuador - Men 150 +6 +51
9 Guatemala - Men 166 +22 +53
10 Trinidad and Tobago - Men 156 +12 +58
11 Peru - Men 159 +15 +63
12 Dominican Republic - Men 155 +11 +65
13 Uruguay - Men 160 +16 +72
14 Costa Rica - Men 160 +16 +96
15 Venezuela - Men 171 +27 +100

Women’s Team Results – Round 4
1 USA - Women 146 +2 +22
2 Canada - Women 149 +5 +46
3 Mexico - Women 145 +1 +49
4 Colombia - Women 158 +14 +61
5 Argentina - Women 163 +19 +65
6 Peru - Women 166 +22 +77
7 Trinidad and Tobago - Women 169 +25 +90
8 Puerto Rico - Women 158 +14 +94
9 Guatemala - Women 176 +32 +159
10 Dominican Republic - Women 193 +49 +202

Individual Men Results - Round 4
1 Alan Wagner Argentina 35 36 71 -1 -7
2 Jonathan Moore USA 33 37 70 -2 +2
T3 Andres Felipe Echavarria Botero Colombia 34 38 72 E +4
T3 Webb Simpson USA 35 36 71 -1 +4
5 Julian Valenciana Mexico 36 35 71 -1 +5
6 Graham Hill Canada 35 37 72 E +6
7 Yoshio Yamamoto Mexico 37 35 72 E +11
8 Rafael Campos Puerto Rico 39 37 76 +4 +13
9 José Toledo Guatemala 38 41 79 +7 +14
10 Keven Fortin-Simard Canada 38 34 72 E +15
11 Luciano Dodda Argentina 35 42 77 +5 +17
12 Herbert Day El Salvador 40 37 77 +5 +23
13 Rafael Claux Peru 38 43 81 +9 +24
14 Juan Antonio Serrano Ecuador 36 37 73 +1 +25
15 Juan Felipe Aegerter Ecuador 39 38 77 +5 +26
T16 Pablo Carrere Uruguay 39 38 77 +5 +27
T16 Carlos Benjamin Arias Dominican Republic 37 38 75 +3 +27
T16 Robert Moore El Salvador 40 38 78 +6 +27
T19 Ben Martin Trinidad & Tobago 39 39 78 +6 +28
T19 Alfred Colon Puerto Rico 33 40 73 +1 +28
21 Carlos Baynes Trinidad & Tobago 38 40 78 +6 +30
22 Marcelo Rozo Rengifo Colombia 41 36 77 +5 +31
23 Francisco Santoni Dominican Republic 43 37 80 +8 +38
T24 Philip Reiser Peru 42 36 78 +6 +39
T24 Sebastian Fernandez Guatemala 44 43 87 +15 +39
26 Pablo Faget Uruguay 44 39 83 +11 +45
27 Manuel Jimenez Costa Rica 42 40 82 +10 +46
28 Pascual Andrés Cicenia Venezuela 46 37 83 +11 +48
29 Antonio Bruna Jr. Costa Rica 38 40 78 +6 +50
30 Daniele Vittorio Cabriles Impera Venezuela 45 43 88 +16 +52

Individual Women Results - Round 4
1 Jennie Lee USA 35 35 70 -2 +10
2 Stacy Lewis USA 37 39 76 +4 +12
T3 Paola Moreno Perez Colombia 41 34 75 +3 +20
T3 Stephanie Sherlock Canada 37 42 79 +7 +20
5 Liliana Alvarez Mexico 37 33 70 -2 +23
T6 Diana Cantu Mexico 36 39 75 +3 +26
T6 Laura Matthews Canada 35 35 70 -2 +26
8 Kiara Hayashida Peru 42 37 79 +7 +28
9 Victoria Tanco Argentina 41 41 82 +10 +32
10 Agostina Parmigiani Argentina 38 43 81 +9 +33
11 Kyle Roig Puerto Rico 37 40 77 +5 +39
12 Maria José Uribe Duran Colombia 46 37 83 +11 +41
13 Monifa Sealy Trinidad & Tobago 42 40 82 +10 +42
14 Martine de Gannes Trinidad & Tobago 49 38 87 +15 +48
15 Maria Salinas Peru 44 43 87 +15 +49
16 Patricia Garcia Puerto Rico 39 42 81 +9 +55
17 Anne Mette Brunn Dominican Republic 43 43 86 +14 +66
18 Mariana Rodas Guatemala 45 47 92 +20 +75
19 Maria José Camey Guatemala 41 43 84 +12 +84
20 Alba Garcia Dominican Republic 56 51 107 +35 +136

Conducted this year by the Royal Canadian Golf Association (RCGA) and hosted for the first time ever in Canada, The 2007 Copa de las Americas welcomed teams representing 15 countries from North, Central and South America as well as the Caribbean.

The third bi-annual Copa de las Americas saw teams compete over four rounds of stroke play with both team and individual titles up for grabs. The event is proudly supported by both the R&A and the United States Golf Association (USGA) through funding to offset the travel costs of participating countries.

- story courtesy RCGA