South Florida PGA Earns Third Consecutive Challenge Cup Victory
Ocala, FL - For the third consecutive year, the South Florida PGA has successfully defended the Cup, beating the North Florida PGA to win the 43rd annual Challenge Cup at Golden Ocala Golf and Equestrian Club.
Team South Florida, captained by David Ladd, PGA of Champions Club of Summerville, earned 16.5 points to North Florida's 7.5 points in the annual Ryder Cup style matches played over today and yesterday.
“Our guys have so much talent and I knew how badly they wanted to win,” said Ladd. “To be around all the guys from both Sections was a ton of fun, definitely a lot of laughs and a great experience.”
The first matches started with a Four-Ball format where South Florida jumped out to an early 5-1 lead. Returning partners, Jeremy Wells, PGA and Justin Hicks, PGA picked up exactly where they left off last year, earning South Florida their first point.
Foursome matches followed as South Florida added four more points to bring their total to a 9-3 lead. Wells and Hicks kept their undefeated streak going while partners Matt Cahill, PGA and Tim Cantwell, PGA as well as partners Evan Bowser, PGA and Justin Bertsch, PGA added their second points of the day.
Going into the final day of single matches, South Florida needed just 4.5 points to retain the Cup. After a tie from Cahill and wins from Cantwell and Hicks, Joe Kern, PGA clinched the winning point in a 5 & 3 match win.
Christian De Greiff, PGA, Tyler Collet, PGA, Alan Morin, PGA and Justin Bertsch, PGA added four more points with their wins to bring the total points tally to 16.5.
With the win, South Florida earns the Challenge Cup for the 27th time while North Florida remains at 14 victories.
Each team was made up of 12 PGA Professionals who earned an invitation based on ROLEX Player of the Year Points Standings. David Ladd, PGA captained South Florida’s winning efforts, with the following PGA Professionals:
Tyler Collet, PGA, Justin Bertsch, Evan Bowser, PGA, Matt Cahill, PGA, Christian De Greiff, PGA, Joe Kern, PGA, Brett Melton, PGA, Alan Morin, PGA, Justin Hicks, PGA, Tim Cantwell, PGA, Richard Terga, PGA, and Jeremy Wells, PGA,


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