Congratulations to Hong Kong’s Shuai Ming Wong for winning the The Junior PLAYERS Championship in a 3-hole aggregate playoff over Logan McAllister (Oklahoma) & Jake Beber-Frankel (Miami). Exciting tournament with McAllister firing a 9-under 63 in Round 2 yesterday to start today’s final round with a 2-stroke lead. He struggled to a 74 today and rimmed out a 8-foot birdie putt on the 54th hole to win. Beber-Frankel shined with a 5-under bogey-free 67 and Wong went 5-under par over his last eleven holes, including a birdie on the home hole.
All three players found water in the playoff over the Stadium’s ‘Water Closet’ finishing holes (either you flush your iron shots or you get flushed down the leaderboard). Wong found water first, hitting an aggressive iron second shot at the par-5 16th hole after a monstrous drive. It flew the flagstick. His drop was on the green and he two putted for par. Beber-Frankel, with the young Kenny G look, bladed his sand third shot out of a difficult lie in the front bunker on No. 16 into water long. He too dropped on the green but his 2-putt was for bogey. He nearly made up for it but missed a 6-footer for deuce on the island green par-3 17th. McAllister’s water tragedy came on his drive left on the 18th. Tough finish after the 63 and a near-make birdie putt to win in regulation. Wong, staying cool with Lee Trevino-like kibitzing with his gallery buddies between shots, won the playoff with three pars.
Look for these guys and others from the Junior PLAYERS field to come back as pros in THE PLAYERS Championship in years ahead like the 15 who have already done so previously. It’s only a matter of time until one of the Juniors beats his elders on the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass to win THE PLAYERS!
Pictures from the Final Round and Awards Ceremony:
