The American and European Junior Ryder Cup teams played to a 6-6 draw this week at Celtic Manor Resort in Newport, Wales. In the past three Junior Ryder Cups, the U.S. has lost twice and tied once.

The U.S. was in the driver’s seat in the final matches after Tony Finau of Utah (who recently won the Utah State Amateur Championship, while his younger bro Gipper, just 16, made the cut at the Nationwide Tour’s 2006 Utah Energy Solutions Championship) and Cassandra Blaney of New York beat a duo from Germany and Belgium.

In the final, however, an American duo fell 4&3 to a pair from France clinching a draw which allowed the Europeans to retain the Cup.

In a cool footnote, Isabelle Lendl, whose dad Ivan made a name for himself in a minor sport I believe is called tennis, was on the American team and played quite well. “It has been fun and a real honor to represent my country in the Junior Ryder Cup. I’m back to school tomorrow but I will leave with some good memories, although we could have won it,” she told reporters.

Good memories but no Cup. I have a feeling this does not bode well for the adults this week.

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