China Wins Rain-Shortened Youth Golf Match

For the second consecutive year, a team of eight junior golfers from China came away victorious in the USA-China Youth Golf Match. This year's match was held at Nanshan International Golf Club in the Shandong Province of the People's Republic of China.

China held a 5-3 lead over the U.S. heading into the final day's singles matches on Saturday, August 3, and won three of the four completed matches to extend their lead to 8-4. That was how the competition ended, as storms rolled in and cancelled the rest of the day's play.

In the completed matches, Wilson Furr, 15, of Jackson, Miss., scored a 1-up victory over Wang Dongyu for the lone U.S. point. Furr, who reached the Round of 32 at last week's U.S. Junior Amateur at Martis Camp Club in Truckee, Calif., went 3-0 in this week's match.

A.J. Beechler, 13, of Pinehurst, N.C., fell to Jin Bo, 4 and 2; Seiya Liu, 16, of Beverly Hills, Calif., lost a tough 1-up decision to Bai Zhengkai; and Jean Tyrrell, 16, of Leawood, Kan., was on the wrong end of a 6-and-5 margin to Shi Yuting.

At the time of the storms, China led in two of the remaining four matches, while the U.S. led in the other two. Patrick Martin, 16, of Birmingham, Ala., was 2 up and dormie over Li Yuan and Dree Fausnaugh, 16, of Maitland, Fla., was 3 up with five holes to play over Wu Sha. Ciara Petronizio, 15, of Scottsdale, Ariz., was 3 down with five to play, while Divya Manthena, 15, of Camarillo, Calif., was trailing Gao Meiqi, 2 down with six to play.

The 2013 USA-China Youth Golf Match, co-sponsored by the USGA and the China Golf Association, is the third edition of this international competition designed to foster camaraderie and sportsmanship between the two nations. Last year’s match was held at CordeValle in San Martin, Calif., where China came away the victors, while the inaugural match was played in China in conjunction with the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, with the USA prevailing.