Lunden Esterline, Asterisk Talley win Junior PGA titles; Charlie Woods backs up to T-9

NBC Sports

a day ago

While the U.S. Ryder Cup picture is still unclear, the U.S. Junior Ryder Cup team is nearly set.
Lunden Esterline, a 2027 Auburn commit from Andover, Kansas, won the Junior PGA Championship by six shots on Friday afternoon and, in turn, earned an automatic Junior Ryder Cup berth.
Esterline, who fired a second-round 62 to take control, closed in even-par 71 at the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex's Ackerman-Allen Course to finish the 72-hole tournament at 19 under.
'I'm still trying to comprehend the whole thing, but it feels amazing,' Esterline said. 'It means a ton. It gives me a lot of confidence going into bigger tournaments after this that I can do it, and I proved to myself this week that I'm just as good as anybody else out there.'
Behind Esterline were 2026 Vanderbilt commit Tyler Mawhinney and 2027 recruit Guiseppe Puebla in a share of second. Mawhinney double-bogeyed the par-3 17th hole before capping his closing 69 with birdie. Puebla fired the round of the day by three shots, a 64. Because Mawhinney, who earlier this year teamed with Will Hartman to win the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball, qualified for the U.S. Junior Ryder Cup team via points (along with top-ranked Miles Russell), Puebla received the automatic berth afforded to the runner-up.
Esterline, Puebla, Mawhinney and Russell will be joined by U.S. Junior Amateur winner Hamilton Coleman and a captain's pick to be named Tuesday in competing in the two-day Junior Ryder Cup, which is scheduled for Sept. 23-25 at Nassau Country Club and Bethpage Black (singles only).
Ayden Fynaut of Fresno, California, nearly had a solo second before doubling the par-4 18th hole. He tied for fourth at 12 under with China's Zenghao Hou, who played his final five holes in 4 over.
As for Charlie Woods, he began Friday in the final threesome alongside Esterline, but after back-to-back 66s, he shot 74 to slip to 9 under and T-9. He was 12 under for the tournament until going bogey-double at Nos. 14 and 15.
Woods likely will not receive the captain's pick for the Junior Ryder Cup. That pick should be extended to 2026 Vanderbilt commit Luke Colton, who is the second highest-ranked junior in the World Amateur Golf Ranking at No. 24, behind only Russell (16th) and ahead of Tyler Watts (40th), who is not eligible for the pick because he skipped the Junior PGA to play this week's Western Amateur. Colton, fresh off making the semifinals at the U.S. Junior, declined to the play the Western in favor of chasing a Junior Ryder Cup spot.
Asterisk Talley took the girls division, birdieing two of her last three holes to help offset three bogeys in her last five. Talley earned the one-shot win over Zoe Cusack, who closed her final round bogey-double.