Apopka golfer wins in St. Lucie

Apopka golfer Izzy M. Pellot narrowly took home the first place finish at Santa Lucia River Club in Port St. Lucie on November 12-13.

Although she is only 12, Pellot plays in the 13-15 Age Division of the Florida Junior Tour. The Tour traveled to Port Saint Lucie on November 12-13 to take on the difficult Santa Lucia River Club course. The weather was spectacular, but the difficult greens gave players fits all weekend.

The opening round of play saw an overall stroke average of 83.7, one of the highest scoring averages we have seen during the 2016 season. A difficult stretch of holes on the front nine gave the girls’ division all they could handle during Saturday’s round.

At the end of the day, three girls were tied atop the leaderboard after posting rounds of 6-over par, 78. Co-leaders Izzy Pellot and Tianyi Zhuang have been looking for their first Florida Junior Tour victories all season long. Pellot has finished inside the top 3, two times already in the 2016 season. Alyssa Mercado was also tied with Pellot and Zhuang after the first round of play. Mercado won her first FJT event back in April at Lemon Bay Golf Club in Englewood.

The second round on Sunday looked similar to the opening round in the girls’ division. After shooting an opening round of 80, Taylor Roberts posted the low round of the tournament for the girls firing a 4-over par, 76. Robert’s impressive final round was enough to propel her into a tie for fourth place for the tournament.

The final group of the day in the girls’ division provided plenty of excitement during the closing holes. First round co-leader, Pellot, started off very strong on her opening nine. Pellot went out in 1-over par, 37, on her front nine and opened up a nice lead heading into the final nine holes of the tournament.

Pellot had back-to-back double bogeys on the 14th and 15th holes which opened the door for Zhuang, Mercado, and Victoria Hwang to make a run. Pellot settled down during the closing stretch and came into the final hole with a one stroke lead over Zhuang and Hwang.

All three girls made par on the final hole giving Pellot her first Florida Junior Tour victory.

"I work hard on my game to get better,"said Pellot. "It's grind but I'm young and also doing well in school . I have the support of everyone including my parents and my two best friends which are my big sister Lisette M. Pellot and Alexus M. Pellot. One day I all my hard work will land me on the LPGA Tour. Thank you."