November 28, 2016

The junior All-Stars from Las Positas Golf Course in Livermore have done it again.

Playing as Team California, the All-Stars from Las Positas captured the 2016 PGA Junior League Golf National Championship, defeating Team Georgia 8-4 on Nov. 21 at Grayhawk Golf Club in Arizona.

Team California, which featured a number of regulars on the Junior Tour of Northern California, clinched the title when Alice Liu sank a 3-foot birdie putt on the 12^th hole. Team California had built a 3 point lead through the first three holes of the match.

“When I was setting up to the ball, I just wanted to make it,” Liu said. “When everyone started jumping and cheering, that’s when I realized it was the winning putt.”

It’s the second PGA Junior League National Championship title for Las Positas, who also captured the title in 2012.

“These kids fight,” said Team California Captain Jeff DeBenedetti, PGA Director of Golf at Las Positas. “They grind. They go after it.”

Cheers of “Go Las Po!” rang throughout the course all morning from the families of Team California. “They heard the cheering, and they kept going because they knew it was for them. It was fun to watch,” said DeBenedetti.

Team California’s two girls on the squad of 10 players—Madison Wu, 13, who fought off an illness and returned to compete in the National Championship, and Liu— shined throughout the competition, with both girls making key putts in match after match.

Drew Kim, 13—who sent Team California to the 2016 National Championship after sinking a make-or-break clinching putt during the PGA Junior League Golf Western Regional at Chambers Bay in September—played on the 2012 team at age 9. By the age of 13, he already has two national championships to his name.

“Drew has always been a solid player,” said DeBenedetti. “Drew’s golf age is about four-to-five years older than his actual age. He’s a competitor. It’s great for him to work for four years, and get back.”

Teams in the league were comprised of 80 top junior players from across America, each winning their Regional competition to advance to the PGA Junior League Golf National Championship presented by National Car Rental. A record 36,000 boys and girls participated in PGA Junior League Golf in 2016.

Here’s your 2016 National Champion Team California Roster

• Captain: Jeff DeBenedetti, PGA
• Coach: Becky Chin, LPGA
• Ian Gilligan, 13 – Corte Madera
• Darren Pang, 13 – San Ramon
• Drew Kim, 13 – Pleasanton
• Anay Roge, 14 – San Ramon
• Aidan Tran, 12 – Fresno
• Ethan Jaehn, 12 – Fremont
• Jacob Ponce, 12 – San Ramon
• Austin Tran, 14 – Fresno
• Alice Liu, 12 – Pleasanton
• Madison Wu, 13 – Dublin