South Florida PGA Clinches Fifth Consecutive Challenge Cup Victory
Bradenton, FL - For the fifth consecutive year the South Florida PGA defeated the North Florida PGA in the Annual Challenge Cup Matches, hosted at the Ritz-Carlton Members Golf Club, October 15-16.
Team South Florida earned 17 points to North Florida’s seven points in the Ryder Cup-style matches played yesterday and today in Bradenton. This win marked South Florida’s 29th Challenge Cup victory, while North Florida remains at 14.

The two-day event opened with morning four-ball matches where the SFPGA jumped out to an early 4.5 to 1.5 point lead, winning four matches, tying one and only dropping one match. For the third consecutive year, the duo of Jeremy Wells, PGA of Cypress Lake Golf Club and Justin Hicks, PGA of Stonebridge Country Club led off for the SFPGA, setting the tone with a 5 & 4 victory.
Making his Challenge Cup debut, Matt Sita, PGA of Boca Rio Golf Club, along with Christian De Greiff, PGA of Coral Ridge Country Club added the second point with a 4 & 3 victory. The duos of Justin Bertsch, PGA of Club Pelican Bay, and Evan Bowser, PGA of LaPlaya Golf Club, and Alan Morin, PGA of The Club at Ibis, and newcomer Ashley Grier, PGA of The Legacy Golf & Tennis Club, also added morning wins.
Heading into afternoon foursome matches, the SFPGA dropped three of the six matches, while winning two and tying one, bringing the day one total points to seven for the SFPGA and five for the NFPGA. The Seminole Golf Club pairing of Dakun Chang, PGA, and Matt Cahill, PGA, clinched a 3 & 2 victory, while Bertsch and Nick Latimer, PGA of Medalist Golf Club, added a 5 & 4 victory.
With only singles matches left for the final day, the SFPGA needed 12 total points to retain the Cup and 13 to win it outright.
Michael Kartude, PGA of The Bear’s Club, clinched the first point of the day with a 5 & 4 victory as Wells and Latimer followed shortly behind with 2 & 1 and 3 & 2 victories, respectively. A 2 & 1 victory from Sita added the team's 11th point before a tie from Grier allowed the SFPGA to retain the Cup.
With a 3 & 2 victory from Bertsch, the SFPGA successfully won the 2025 Challenge Cup outright. In two years, Bertsch has yet to drop a point, making a clean sweep in all matches played. Hicks, Bowser, De Grieff, and Morin continued adding on with individual wins, bringing the final point tally to 17.
Each team was made up of 12 PGA of America Golf Professionals who earned an invitation based on ROLEX Player of the Year Points Standings.
Dan Heaslip, PGA Director of Golf at Windstar on Naples Bay, captained South Florida’s winning efforts with the following PGA Professionals:
Justin Bertsch, Evan Bowser, Matt Cahill, Dakun Chang, Christian De Grieff, Ashley Grier, Justin Hicks, Michael Kartrude, Nick Latimer, Alan Morin, Matt Sita, and Jeremy Wells.
FootJoy outfitted this year’s team.
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