Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — Davis High golfer Cole Ponich is making waves in the state of Utah.
Now he’s taking his game to an international level.
Ponich was among the final five members selected to the United States squad for the 2018 Junior Ryder Cup, the U.S. junior golf association announced Saturday. The team golf all-stars will face Europe’s top junior golfers in the 11th edition of the event Sept. 24-25 at Disneyland Paris.
Ponich, a senior-to-be at Davis High and BYU commit for the Class of 2019, is the first Utahn named to the Junior Ryder Cup squad since Tony Finau made back-to-back appearances in 2004 and 2006. A 2017 Rolex Junior Second-Team All-American, Ponich won the Utah State Junior Amateur match play championship over the summer and registered a hole-in-one at the 2018 Boys Junior PGA Championship.
The 5-foot-10 golfer carries a plus-6.2 handicap with a 67 average strokes per 18 holes.
"For me, BYU gives me a proven track record getting players on the PGA Tour," Ponich told the Deseret News in January. "When Bruce Brockbank has had national talent, the chances were high he could put players on the Tour.
Related Story
Utah may be home to 2 future pro golfers
Utah is home to two of the top high school golfers in the nation — Zach Jones of Lone Peak High School and Cole Ponich from Davis High School. Ponich is ranked 24th in the AJGA national rankings, while Jones is ranked 110th."It’s a program that has done that with players like Zac (Blair), Daniel Summerhays and Mike Weir. I like who I’ll be playing with in the future on this team. I'll feel more comfortable with them than some I might play with away from home at UCLA."
Ponich also had scholarship offers from USC and Georgia Tech, among others.
He finished sixth in the Junior Ryder Cup standings before being selected as a captain’s pick by U.S. captain Allen Wronowski.
Ponich joined North Carolina’s Akshay Bhatia, Kentucky’s Canon Claycomb, California’s Ricky Castillo and Texas’ William Moll as the final five selections to the event.
