2021 TTC Patrick Cantlay Foundation Series at Arroyo Trabuco – PGA of America

Elina Kuang and Zhen (Tony) Tao Are The Champions!

Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club | June 28-29

FINAL ROUND RECAP

June 28^th, 2021 | Mission Viejo, CA – Elina Kuang and Zhen (Tony) Tao are the champions of the 2021 TTC Patrick Cantlay Foundation Series inaugural event at Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club!

Part of a two-year partnership with the Patrick Cantlay Foundation, this event was the inaugural event for the “Patrick Cantlay Series,” which is a series of four events to be conducted on the SCPGA Junior Tour’s Toyota Tour Cup schedule. Patrick Cantlay participated in the SCPGA Junior Tour from 2002-2010, and has become one of the most successful alumni of the program. He is a four-time PGA Tour Champion, including the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in 2017, the ZOZO Championship in 2020 and the Memorial Tournament in 2019 & 2021.

In the girls championship, Kuang, of Murrieta was in the driver’s seat with a wire-to-wire victory, posting back to back rounds of 67 on Arroyo’s narrow fairways despite the strong afternoon winds sweeping across the valley. Finishing nine-shots clear of the field, Kuang said, “My putting definitely made an impact this week, I sank a lot of putts and that put me in a good spot for this event.” Finishing runner up was Jasmine Kahler of Carlsbad at one-under par, and claiming solo third was Lauren Sammon of Murrieta at even-par for the event.

A plethora of players stacked at the top in the boys championship saw a crucial birdie putt on the 17^th hole launching Zhen (Tony) Tao of Claremont into the winners circle for his first win at five-under par, with rounds of 71 and 68. “Playing the ball with my own tempo was the key to success for me today,” said Tao after accepting his champions trophy. Finishing runner up, a single shot clear of the field was Dalin Piao of Torrance with rounds of 72,68 and finishing at four-under par. A tie for third place between Taehyun Kim of Corona and Leo Cheng of Porter Ranch at three-under par.

The next TTC Patrick Cantlay Foundation Series event will be hosted at The Saticoy Club on July 19-20. Thank you to Patrick for his generous support of junior golfers in Southern California and the SCPGA Junior Tour.

Special thanks to Head PGA Golf Professional Michael Block and Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club for hosting the event. This event wouldn’t be possible without the great support from our partners, Toyota, Patrick Cantlay Foundation, Titleist, Footjoy, BOSS, Lexus, Marcus by Goldman Sachs, Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club and US Foods.

ROUND ONE RECAP

June 28^th, 2021 | Mission Viejo, CA – The 2021 TTC Patrick Cantlay Foundation Series kicked off the first round at the inaugural event today at Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club today.

Elina Kuang of Murrieta is the round one leader in the girls division, posting an opening round of five-under par, 67, and leads the pack by three shots. After her round, Kuang said, “I’m just going to focus on staying calm and not to get to far ahead of myself, come out tomorrow and just play for pars and see what happens.

The boys division saw a plethora of outstanding players stacked at the top of the leaderboard but it was Kasper Verwers of Carlsbad and Timothy Jung of Corona who find themselves tied at the top after round one. Verwers and Jung share a single-shot lead after each posting two-under par, 70’s. When asked about his round, Verwers said, “I drove it pretty straight and got some good breaks, it’s really tight, so you have to hit good tee shots out there.” Jung was showing confidence in his game heading into tomorrow’s final round and said, “The course sets up well for me because I do mostly hit a draw, and a lot of the holes are more on the left to right side.”

Final round coverage begins tomorrow at 7am with a single tee start. Follow along on social media with the handle, @scpgajrtour!