Final Day of the First Tee Champions Challenge Brings Excitement to Tiburón Golf Club
By Zoe Waltzer
NAPLES, Fla. – The excitement was palpable at Tiburón Golf Club as participants of the First Tee Champions Challenge prepared for the final day. Many of the young athletes had the rare opportunity to be honorary observers of the final round of the Chubb Classic presented by SERVPRO, taking in the atmosphere of professional golf before heading into the skills challenge, which would determine the overall winner.
Coming into today, the Philadelphia team led the leaderboard after round two. Jonathan Dilliplane said, “I feel pretty confident with me and my teammate. We just have to play our game.” Reflecting on their journey, he added, “We’ve played some great courses and taken it all in.”
His teammate Savannah Laverty shared her excitement and gratitude for the experience. “I’m feeling pretty good, and I'm excited to see what happens today at the skills challenge,” she said. “I think… no matter how we do, I'll be happy.”
She also reflected on the bigger picture: “I feel like it's an amazing experience. Like, a once in a lifetime thing, and I'm really grateful to be here. I felt like I've learned a lot, and had really great connections with other people here.”
Kristen Konetchki, coach for the Philadelphia team, expressed pride in her players’ performance. “Feeling really great. The kids have had such a cool experience this week and have really stayed level headed on some really intense professional courses,” she said. “And for our two students to be leading the tournament right now, by two strokes, is awesome.”
She noted the importance of networking as part of the gained experience. “Definitely networking. Between the First Tee kids… across the different chapters, we've started to see them really interact these last couple days. But also just networking in general. Getting out of your comfort zone to step out and meet a professional, ask the questions and be vulnerable in those spaces.”
Other teams were equally eager to showcase their skills. TJ Haggerty from the Metropolitan New York chapter reflected on his experience: “It’s been a great experience. The course is beautiful. I think I played decent round two. It's been really fun.”
He also spoke about the friendships he’s made during the event: “I met a lot of people, and I made a bunch of new friends with the other First Tee members. And, I got to play a lot of good golf.”
The Chicago team remained optimistic leading into the final day. Mason Fernandez explained, “Round two was a little rocky for us. It was kind of hard to keep our drives to the fairway, but luckily, we won’t have to hit any drivers today for the skills challenge.” He added, “Hopefully we can work together, me and my partner, Kennedy, and try and get some points back up on the board.”
Fernandez also reflected on the professionalism of the pros they’ve encountered: “The gap between them and the average amateur golfer, these pros put in a lot of work and it shows on the course… how much work they put in.
“They don’t seem to let things get them down, even if they have a bad hole, continued Fernandez. “Their mentality keeps them going so that’s something that’s really inspiring to me.”
His coach Erika Shavers focused on the broader experience. “I hope they had fun,” she said. “This is, for some, a once in a lifetime experience. You want to not only take it all in from just playing a course you may have never played before, but take it all in, in terms of the experience… meeting new participants from different chapters, how resilient were you.”
Erika offered advice for taking the experience forward. “Most of these kids play high school golf, and so I know when they come here, they want to play their best and they want to show up for themselves, and sometimes that's not always the case… And so, you know, be resilient… take away some good things from it.”
“Just keep a positive attitude. I hope everybody walks away with a positive attitude, knowing that… golf is an incredible sport, and it'll give you all kinds of opportunities in life. And so this is one of those opportunities,” she concluded.
No matter the outcome of the skills challenge, the week has already provided a transformative experience—an opportunity to learn, grow and connect on and off the course.
