Recap courtesy of Jeff Shain of the Junior Orange Bowl International

Nobody ever suggested to Lorenzo Rodriguez that closing out the Junior Orange Bowl International golf championship would be easy. After last year’s edition, he’d already kind of learned that.

Then again, he didn’t expect the stress test that Monday provided.

The payoff was sweet in the end, though, as the Miami teen finally raised the trophy that had eluded him a year earlier, showing his moxie through a precarious final day to claim a one-shot triumph at historic Biltmore Golf Club.

“Yeah, it was definitely a stressful one out there,” said Rodriguez, who steadied himself after a double bogey at No. 11 to keep Switzerland’s Joshua Hess at bay. It was definitely a grind out there, but I was able to get it done.”

In contrast, there wasn’t much stress at all for girls’ winner Shauna Liu. The Canadian entrant again found her form that had fashioned an opening 64, steadily pulling away to turn a two-shot cushion into a six-shot romp.

“If they were trying to make birdies, I was trying to make birdies too,” Liu said after a 5-under-par 66 left her just one stroke shy of matching the girls’ four-day scoring record.

They now join a list of Junior Orange Bowl champions highlighted by Tiger Woods (1991) and LPGA Hall of Famer Inbee Park (2002). The lineup also features LPGA major winners Lexi Thompson (2009) and Brooke Henderson (2013), plus current Saudi International champion Joaquin Niemann (2014).

“It’s a big confidence boost to tell myself I’m a great player,” said Rodriguez, set to attend Wake Forest in the fall. “Sometimes I feel like I’m not there yet, but seeing my name next to all those great players is a big shot of confidence.”

Liu, meanwhile, becomes the fourth Canadian girl to capture the Junior Orange Bowl crown and second in the five years alongside Emily Zhu (2021). Maude-Aimee LeBlanc was the first in 2006, joined by Henderson seven years later.

“It’s just such an honor to be with them and have my name beside theirs,” said Liu, who completed four rounds at 8-under 276. “And not just the Canadians, but all of these past champions. They’re all really good players.”

For Rodriguez, it was a day to dig down deep. After posting his first three rounds in the 60s, including a third-round 65 that opened a two-shot cushion, he needed every bit of it to survive Monday’s 5-over 76.

“I was hitting the ball great,” he said, “but I couldn’t make a putt to save my life out there”

Fortunately for Rodriguez, Hess was enduring similar struggles. With a five-shot margin to their nearest pursuers — most of whom were faring little better — their anticipated two-man duel became one to see who could grind it out the best.

“The putter got a little cold,” said Hess, who briefly shared the early lead on the way to a 75. “I didn’t make a couple of up-and-downs that would have kept me in it a little better. I didn’t make any big mistakes, but in the end, (Rodriguez) just made fewer mistakes.”

A Hess bogey at No. 4 gave Rodriguez the sole lead again, and despite everything the Miamian never relinquished it. He took a two-shot advantage to the turn, then survived a couple of situations that could have turned things sideways.

The biggest came at No. 11, where Rodriguez found the front of the putting surface but would have had to putt through a cut-in in the green’s shape. He opted to chip instead — sending a low bullet off the back of the green.

“That was definitely my low point,” said Rodriguez, who carded double bogey.

But Hess also bogeyed the hole, leaving Rodriguez still ahead.

“I was telling myself I was still up one at that point,” Rodriguez said. “It wasn’t like I lost my lead. Stay in it and you’ll be fine.”

From there, Rodriguez carded only one more bogey to go with six pars — one a critical up-and-down at No. 14 after finding trees and a greenside bunker.

And though Hess birdied the par-5 18th, Rodriguez needed only to two-putt from 10 feet to seal the triumph.

“Those last couple of putts, (the stress was) definitely a 10,” he said. “I was shaking. I don’t remember much beyond that.”

Rodriguez’s 76 was the highest round by a Junior Orange Bowl winner in more than four decades, since Adam Armagost won the 1980 title with a 77. Then again, a win is a win.

And it was especially sweet after last year, when he also struggled after entering the final day one shot off the pace. He shot 75 that day to place seventh.

“I definitely feel like I played better this year compared to last year, even though it was almost the same score,” he said. “I just feel like I was more mentally there this time.”

Colombia’s Tomas Restrepo took third, just two shots off the pace after a final-round 70.

With Liu’s closing 66, she bookended the week’s two lowest rounds in the girls field around a middle 72-73. That left her just shy of Lily May Humphries’ four-day record of 9-under 275 when she won the 2017 title.

“The first day was just really good, but that’s not going to happen every week,” Liu said. “The middle two days, I was just trying to stay consistent and hold onto that. Then today — it’s the last day, so we’re just giving everything we’ve got.”

Liu birdied three of Monday’s first six holes, the last a chip-in from just off the green at the par-4 sixth. That pushed her lead to four shots over Hawaii’s Alexa Takai, and the lead grew to six when Takai took double bogey at No. 7.

“I was just playing as if we really didn’t have a gap,” said Liu, who essentially slammed the door with back-to-back birdies at Nos. 12 and 13. “I looked at it as if we were tied. I was just doing my best.”

Takai finished second after a closing 70, three shots ahead of Maryland’s Zoe Cusack in third.

“(Liu) doesn’t look like she gets worked up over bad shots,” Takai said. “And she’s such a solid putter. When you’re going up against someone who’s sinking 10- and 12-footers, it’s going to be difficult.”

This year’s field brought together entrants from such diverse locales as Bermuda, Iceland, Ecuador, Czechia, Paraguay, Switzerland, Peru, Bolivia and Turkey.