The final round 41st Nicklaus Junior Championship came down to a back-nine eagle and a decisive playoff hole on June 24 in Palm Beach County.
Port St. Lucie’s Jeremy Hsu and Jupiter’s Reese McMillan emerged as champions of the boys and girls competition respectively after the competition’s final round on Tuesday at the Bear’s Club and Tequesta Country Club.
McMillan, a rising freshman at the Benjamin School, defeated 11-year-old phenom Bella Simões of Lake Worth in a playoff hole to secure one of the biggest victories in her junior golf career.
Entering the final round six shots back of Simões’ lead, McMillan surged into contention with a 69 (2-under) and closed the tournament at 2-over. She was the only player in the girls field to break par in the final round.
McMillan will begin her freshman year at Benjamin this fall but is already a district champion and two-time All-County selection.
Hsu, a rising junior at Morningside Academy and the reigning TCPalm Player of the Year, entered the final round tied for the lead with Windermere’s Avery Liu and Weston’s Ignacio Hurtado.
He eagled the par-5 No. 12 and rode out a late push from Hurtado and Palm Beach Gardens’ Tristan Rhodenizer to win the tournament by two strokes at 4-under overall.
Here’s a look at the Top 10 from the tournament’s final leaderboard:
41st Nicklaus Junior Championship
Boys
- 1. Jeremy Hsu, Port St. Lucie (-4)
- T2. Tristan Rhodenizer, Palm Beach Gardens (-2)
- T2. Ignacio Hurtado, Weston (-2)
- T4. Avery Liu, Windermere (-1)
- T4. Adin McMaster, Estero (-1)
- 6. Charlie Woods, Palm Beach Gardens (E)
- T7. Kaden Latreille, Naples (+2)
- T7. Mateo Desmond, Pompano Beach (+2)
- T9. Vlad Alexander Barcea, Melbourne (+3)
- T9. Jordan Reyes, West Palm Beach (+3)
- T9. Maurice Hoben, Jupiter (+3)
Girls
- T1. Reese McMillan, Jupiter (+2)
- T1. Bella Simões, Lake Worth (+2)
- 3. Jaime Baker, West Palm Beach (+3)
- 4. Nicole Wu, Davis (+5)
- 5. Petra Compton, Palmetto Bay (+8)
- 6. Kaitlyn Hummers, West Palm Beach (+9)
- T7. Madison Hyndman, Palm Beach Gardens (+10)
- T7. Valentina Hurtado, Weston, (+10)
- 9. Meyher Kohkhar, Longwood (+11)
- 10. Lilly Parker, North Palm Beach (+13)
Eric J. Wallace is deputy sports editor for The Palm Beach Post. He can be reached at ejwallace@gannett.com.
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