Capan Sets Tournament Record to Win Puerto Rico Junior Open; Sigel Finishes Tied for Eighth

RIO GRANDE, Puerto Rico – Frankie Capan knows how the Carolina Panthers must have felt Sunday afternoon.

The 16-year-old from North Oaks began Monday's final round of the Puerto Rico Junior Open with a five-stroke lead, and it looked as if he might lap the field as he made six birdies, four pars and one bogey over the first 11 holes at Coco Beach Golf & Country Club. But two Floridians -- Tyler Strafaci and Greyson Porter -- were both making birdies of their own, and they staged an impressive late rally, much like the Seattle Seahawks in their narrow loss (31-24) to the Panthers.

As a matter of fact, both Strafaci and Porter closed with 6-under-par 66's -- those equaled the lowest score produced during the tournament -- and both finished 54 holes with totals of 205, thereby bettering the old tournament record of 206.

Capan (pronounced Sapan)  couldn't have asked for a better start than the one he got off to on Monday. At the 435-yard, par-4 first hole, he hit a 7-iron to about 8 feet and made the putt, and he followed that with another birdie at the 544-yard, par-5 second. He bogeyed the third hole (383 yards, par 4), but retrieved that lost stroke with a birdie at the 530-yard, par-5 fifth and made another birdie at the 192-yard, par-3 eighth.  

Two more birdies at the 10th and 11th holes got Capan to minus 5 for the day and minus 15 for the tournament. Then the birdies stopped. He parred the 12th through 15th holes, and bogeyed the16th, 17th and 18th. It made for a much more dramatic finish than he would have preferred, but fortunately, he had given himself a big enough lead so that the bogeys didn't matter. His final round of 70 was good enough to claim a one-stroke victory -- with a new tournament-record score of 204.

Capan went wire to wire on the way to the title, starting off with a 67 that included seven birdies, and following it with a bogey-free 67.

The PRJ Open was Capan's second triumph in an American Junior Golf Association event -- he claimed his first AJGA title in the Target Junior Championship at Rush Creek in August -- but this one came with a bonus. It qualified him to play in the 2016 Puerto Rico Open, a PGA Tour event that will be played on the same Coco Beach G&CC course March 24-27.

Pretty heady stuff for a high school sophomore. (Capan, who much prefers golf clubs to snow shovels, spends most of the winter in Arizona, and he attended Pinnacle High School in the North Valley of Phoenix through the end of his freshman year. This fall, he switched to what is essentially an on-line academic program that is a better fit for his tournament schedule, which includes six events such as the one in Puerto Rico that take up roughly one week each, and another six smaller ones that take up about three days each. He used to worry about all the days of school he was missing. Now, as long as he has his computer with him, he can keep up with all of his classes fairly easily.)  

There were four 66's posted during the tournament. Porter had two of them, Sunday and Monday, after a first-round 73. The other player to shoot 66 was Eugene Hong, and he, like Strafaci, saved his for the last round. It gave him an aggregate of 206 and sole possession of fourth place.

Andrew Kozan, the 2015 champion, concluded his defense of the crown with a 67, which put him at 207, good for solo fifth.   

Another Minnesotan, Ben Sigel, a junior at Minnetonka, shot 72 and finished tied for eighth at 212. He opened with a 69 on Saturday before shooting 71 in the second round.

Incidentally, the Puerto Rico Open might not be the biggest tournament on Capan's calendar this winter. He's hoping to get a spot in the Waste Management Phoenix Open through a pre-tournament qualifier in a couple of weeks.

His other big tournament in the first half of the year will be the U.S. Four-Ball Championship, which will be played in late May at the iconic Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, N.Y. Capan and partner Shuai Ming Wong earned the right to play there when they won a USGA qualifier in September at StoneRidge GC with a 9-under 63.

AMERICAN JUNIOR GOLF ASSOCIATION

Puerto Rico Junior Open

At Coco Beach Golf & Country Club

Par 72, 7,068 yards

Rio Grand, Puerto Rico

Final results 

1. Frankie Capan, North Oaks                     67-67-70--204

T2. Tyler Strafaci, Davie Fla.                          71-68-66--205

T2. Greyson Porter, Clearwater, Fla.              73-66-66--205

4. Eugene Hong, Sanford, Fla.                        71-69-66--206

5. Andrew Kozan, Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.  72-67-68--207

6. William Buhl, Fairhope, Ala.                         68-74-67--209

7. Cole Bradley, West Lafayette, Ind.               69-70-72--211

T8. Ben Sigel, Minnetonka                             69-71-72--212

T8. Wocheng Ye, Lake Mary, Fla.                     71-72-69--212

For complete tournament results go to: www.ajga.org/scoring/leaderboard.asp?tn=2016002