Team California won the PGA Junior League championship for the fourth time in five years by defeating Team Georgia, 8-4, at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Alice Liu sank a three-foot putt to collect the winning point for the team from Las Positas Golf Course in Livermore, which also represented California when it won the tournament in four years ago.
“When I was setting up to the ball, I just wanted to make it,” the 12-year-old Liu told PGA.com. “When everyone started jumping and cheering, that’s when I realized it was the winning putt.”
Team California also included Aidan Tran, Ethan Jaehn and Jacob Ponce, all 12, plus 13-year-olds Ian Gilligan, Darren Pang, Drew Kim and Madison Wu, and 14-year-olds Austin Tran and Anay Roge.
The California team was captained by PGA pro Jeff DeBenedetti and coached by LPGA instructor Becky Chin.
“These kids fight,” DeBenedetti told PGA.com. “They grind. They go after it.”
Georgia has faced California in every final match of the five-year history. Georgia won the championship only in 2013, with California winning the last three.
