Naples, Fla. –Mateo Desmond and Angela (Yiting) Wang conquered Royal Palm Golf Club and left Naples with victories in their respective divisions. Desmond picked up his first FJT victory while Wang earned her second win of the year.
Boys Division
Royal Palm Golf Club was the host of this week's FJT Royal Palm Open (13-15). With fast greens, fantastic weather and little wind, low scores were inevitable. After a runner up finish in Port Saint Lucie, Yuma Nemoto was looking for his first FJT victory. He came out firing in Round 1 with the low round of the day after a brilliant 6-under par, 66. Starting on the 10th hole in Round 1, Nemoto made birdies on holes 11, 14, 17 and 18. However, his four birdies were to be outdone by a holeout eagle on the par 4, 15th hole. Nemoto made the turn at 6-under par and followed that up with two more birdies on his second nine, which was offset by two bogies. This was enough to give the Japanese native a two-shot overnight lead over Mateo Desmond at 4-under par. Starting on hole #10 as well, Desmond stayed within reaching distance of Nemoto throughout his round, making birdies on holes 10,13,14,2 and 3. The lone blemish on Desmond's scorecard came with a bogey on hole #7. At the conclusion of play in Round 1, Xin Wang and William Lisle sat in a tie for third place after opening rounds of 3-under par, 69. With 18 holes left to play, the trophy was still anyone's for the taking.
The final round saw beautiful sunshine yet again and more wind that made the course slightly more challenging. Mateo Desmond had his eyes set on the title after finishing in 3rd place at his last event. Desmond would start the second round with birdies on holes #1 and #4 to get into a tie for the lead. An eagle on hole #7 would give him the solo lead after Nemoto's biridie. A costly double bogey on hole #10 would send Nemoto further down the leaderboard and narrow his chances of winning. Nemoto finished strong with three birdies in the closing four holes to secure second place at 7-under par. Desmond would make a birdie of his own on the finishing hole to cap off a bogey-free final round 67. The 2025 grad secured his first FJT victory with a 9-under par total, two shots clear of Nemoto. Rounding out the top 3 was Jordan Brown with scores of 70-69 for a 5-under par total.
Girls Division
With a strong field in the Girls (13-15) division, the battle for the title was always going to be tightly contested. Angela (Yiting) Wang came to Naples with hopes of picking up her second FJT Victory of the year. The Windermere native would put herself in a position to do so after an opening round of 2-under par, 70. Wang made three birdies in Round 1, offset by a lone bogey on hole #12. This was just enough for a 1-shot overnight lead. Close on her heels at 1-under par was Sophia Dyer after an opening round that was highlighted by an eagle on the par 5, 7th hole. In third place at the conclusion of play in Round 1 was Alejandra Botaya at even par. Botaya made six birdies in round one, making her one of five players leading in birdies made on the day.
At the start of the final round, Angela Wang was determined to finish atop the leaderboard at the conclusion of play. She would make three birdies and one bogey on her opening nine to take a comfortable three shot lead at 4-under par with nine holes to play. Sophia Dyer was was certain to make Wang earn her victory however as things got close on their closing nine holes. With Dyer making a birdie on hole #4 and Wang making a bogey, meant that the two-shot swing would put Dyer only one shot back with five holes to play. Both players would play thier final five holes at 1-under par with birides on the 7th hole. Wang would go on to earn her second victory of the year with a 3-under par total, one shot clear of the runner-up Dyer. No stranger to the top of the leaderboard, Ryan Donaldson would pick up a third place finish at 3-over par.
