Terra Cotta Invitational set for this weekend at Naples National Golf Club
The 27th edition of the Terra Cotta Invitational tees off this weekend at Naples National Golf Club.
The top men’s amateur tournament is mix of junior golfers, along with collegians, mid-amateurs and senior amateurs.
This year’s field includes 20 of the top 25 U.S. golfers in the Rolex AJGA rankings, including No. 1 Jackson Koivun of North Carolina.
Also scheduled to compete will be senior amateur Mike McCoy, the U.S. captain for this year’s Walker Cup, set for September at the Old Course at St. Andrew’s in Scotland. The biennial competition features a team of 10 American male amateurs versus a team from Great Britain and Ireland.
“I’m guessing he’s coming to look at the kids before they make any decisions,” said Denny Glass, the tournament’s director since 2006. “Usually they might take a junior or two.
“The strength of the field is very high.”
Among the other juniors in the field is 16-year-old Misha Golod, a native of Ukraine who played in last year’s Terra Cotta after escaping the war-torn country with the help of the golf world. He’s now living in Florida and is a junior at Windmere Prep High School outside of Orlando. He finished tied for ninth last year, 13 strokes behind Caleb Surratt, who became the first repeat Terra Cotta champion.
From 2022: Junior Ukraine golfer rescued from war coming to Naples for Terra Cotta Invitational
2022 results: Caleb Surratt first to repeat as Terra Cotta Invitational champion in Naples
There are five Naples golfers in the field, including Gulf Coast High senior Noah Kent and Naples High senior Oliver Marshall, as well as five FGCU golfers: Sam Baker, Austin Cherichella, Jon Hopkins, Lukas Roessler and Pierre Viallaneix.
Glass said the tournament has also established a partnership with Nick Faldo’s junior golf series. The three top finishers in the series’ finales in Europe, Asia and Great Britain will be invited to play in the Terra Cotta beginning next year. In addition, this year’s Terra Cotta winner will receive an exemption to play in a professional European challenge tour event in Germany in September.
“That’s pretty unusual for an amateur event like ours to get a professional start for a winner,” he said.
This year’s Terra Cotta champion also gets an automatic exemption to the Northeast Amateur. The public is welcome to attend the 54-hole tournament which runs Friday through Sunday. Admission is free and the tournament will once again be making a donation to a Naples-area children’s charity.
Friday's Round 1 pairings
Hole 1
7:30 a.m.: Matt Moloney, Hans Risvaer
7:40 a.m.: Lukas Roessler, Camden Smith, Eric Zhao
7:50 a.m.: Carl Santos-Ocampo, Sam Baker, Adam Bresnu
8 a.m.: Cayden Pope, Mark Costanza, Johnny Spellerberg
8:10 a.m.: Connor Williams, Noah Kent, Eric Lee
8:20 a.m.: Byungho Lee, Henry Guan, Mykhailo Golod
8:30 a.m.: Ethan Gao, Johnnie Clark, Jimmy Ellis
8:50 a.m.: Jackson Koivun, Nicholas Gross, Cooper Jones
9 a.m.: Nicholas Prieto, PJ Maybank, Max Herendeen
9:10 a.m.: Gene Elliott, Mike McCoy, Bobby Leopold
9:20 a.m.: Brian Bassett, Jon Hopkins, Jake Peacock
9:30 a.m.: Niall Donegan, Giovanni Manzoni, Quentin Debove
Hole 10
7:30 a.m.: Carson Brewer, Matthew Foster
7:40 a.m.: Gerardo Gomez, Michael Hamilton, Will Hartman
7:50 a.m.: Gaven Lane, Alex Long, Oliver Marshall
8 a.m.: Jay Mendell, Bruce MUrphy, Scott Turner
8:10 a.m.: Jack Roberts, Rylan Shim, William Jennings
8:20 a.m.: Max Jelinek, Ryder Cowan, Jean-Philippe Parr
8:30 a.m.: Jonathan Bale, Austin Cherichella, Jose Cristobal Islas
8:50 a.m.: Bryan Kim, Aaron Pounds, Jack Turner
9 a.m.: Carson Kim, Pierre Viallaneix, Nick Maccario
9:10 a.m.: Rocco Salvitti, Joe Alfieri, Andrew Pranger
9:20 a.m.: Josh Duangmanee, Hampton Roberts, Jeremy Chen
9:30 a.m.: Joe Pagdin, Andy Fogarty, Daniel Faccini
This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Terra Cotta Invitational to feature 20 of the nation's top junior golfers
