West leads after first day of Wyndham Cup

Day one of the 29^th annual Wyndham Cup lived up to its bidding. The East and the West competed in morning four-ball matches and transitioned into mixed foursomes for the afternoon session. At the end of the first day of competition the West Team holds a two-point lead.

Morning four-ball matches were tight throughout the session. During much of the morning all the matches were all square or 1 up. It wasn’t until the back nine that sides began to make their move. The biggest win of the morning came from the East Team, where Karl Vilips of (Australia) Wesley Chapel, Florida, and Michael Thorbjornsen of Wellesley, Massachusetts, took down the West’s William Mouw of Chino, California, and Sam Choi of (South Korea) Anaheim, California, 5 & 4.

“Today was a great day. Michael is one of my best friends and we just played solid golf together,” Vilips said. “We have really great chemistry which helps a lot and we are looking forward to playing together tomorrow and keeping it going.”

After the dust settled from the morning, the East held a 5.5 to 4.5 lead. That lead would soon disappear however during the afternoon mixed foursomes matches as the West claimed four of the five available points in the afternoon to take an overall 8.5 to 6.5 lead into the second day.

The biggest victory of the afternoon came from the West’s duo of William Moll of Houston, and Sadie Englemann of Austin, Texas. The pair defeated the East’s Frankie Capan of North Oaks, Minnesota, and Megan Schofill of Monticello, Florida, 4 & 2.

“We played pretty solid, we really fed off of each other,” Englemann said. “We won some holes and got the energy up. It was a really solid win and the West had a really solid afternoon. We are both from Texas, and I’ve known William for about five years so we all bonded and we worked well together.”

Morning Four-Ball Results

Ryan Burnett, Lafayette, Calif. (2018) & James Song, (Canada) Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. (2018) West def. Canon Claycomb, Bowling Green, Ky. (2020) & Frankie Capan, North Oaks, Minn. (2018) East, 1 up

Aneka Seumanutafa, Emmitsburg, Md. (2018) & Megan Schofill, Monticello, Fla. (2019) East vs. Rose Zhang, Irvine, Calif. (2021) & Anne Chen, (Australia) Suger Land, Texas (2020) West, halved

Michael Sanders, Davidson, N.C. (2018) & Jackson Suber, Tampa, Fla. (2018) East def. John Keefer, San Antonio, Texas (2019) & William Moll, Houston, Texas (2019) West, 2 & 1

Calista Reyes, (Philippines) San Diego, Calif. (2018) & Brooke Seay, Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. (2019) West def. Michaela Morard, Huntsville, Ala. (2020) & Rachel Heck, Memphis, Tenn. (2020) East, 1 up

Cole Ponich, Farmington, Utah (2019) & Cameron Sisk, El Cajon, Calif. (2018) West def. Ryan Hall, Knoxville, Tenn. (2018) & Jackson Van Paris, Pinehurst, N.C. (2021) East, 3 & 2

Sophie Guo, (China) Orlando, Fla. (2019) & Xin (Cindy) Kou, (China) Windermere, Fla. (2021) East def. Christine Wang, Houston, Texas (2020) & Elizabeth Wang, San Marino, Calif. (2018) West, 2 & 1

Karl Vilips, (Australia) Wesley Chapel, Fla. (2022) & Michael Thorbjornsen, Wellesley, Mass. (2020) East def. William Mouw, Chino, Calif. (2019) & Sam Choi, (South Korea) Anaheim, Calif. (2018) West, 5 & 4

Alexa Pano, Westborough, Mass. (2022) & Caroline Curtis, Richmond, Va. (2019) East def. Amari Avery, Riverside, Calif. (2022) & Sadie Englemann, Austin, Texas (2020) West, 2 & 1

Jeewon Park, (South Korea) Lake Mary, Fla. (2021) & Eugene Hong, Orlando, Fla. (2018) East def. Jackson Rivera, Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. (2021) & Shiryu (Leo) Oyo, (Japan) San Diego, Calif. (2018) West, 1 up

Lucy Li, Redwood Shores, Calif. (2020) & Yujeong Son, (South Korea) Norman, Okla. (2019) West def. Erica Shepherd, Greenwood, Ind. (2019) & Lei (Angelina) Ye, (China) Bradenton, Fla. (2019) East, 2 up

Afternoon Foursomes Results

James Song, (Canada) Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. (2018) & Calista Reyes, (Philippines) San Diego, Calif. (2018) West def. Michael Sanders, Davidson, N.C. (2018) & Aneka Seumanutafa, Emmitsburg, Md. (2019) East, 2 & 1

William Moll, Houston, Texas (2019) & Sadie Englemann, Austin, Texas (2020) West def. Frankie Capan, North Oaks, Minn. (2018) & Megan Schofill, Monticello, Fla. (2019) East, 4 & 2

William Mouw, Chino, Calif. (2019) & Brooke Seay, Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. (2019) West def. Michael Thorbjornsen, Wellesley, Mass. (2020) & Caroline Curtis, Richmond, Va. (2019) East, 2 & 1

Cameron Sisk, El Cajon, Calif. (2018) & Yujeong Son, (South Korea) Norman, Okla. (2019) West def. Jackson Van Paris, Pinehurst, N.C. (2021) & Michaela Morard, Huntsville, Ala. (2020) East, 2 & 1

Jeewon Park, (South Korea) Lake Mary, Fla. (2021) & Xin (Cindy) Kou, (China) Windermere, Fla. (2021) East def. Cole Ponich, Farmington, Utah (2019) & Amari Avery, Riverside, Calif. (2022) West, 1 up