By Gary Curreri

A chance encounter with Phil Mickelson as a 10-year-old helped launch Wyatt Rubin’s golfing career.

“I was just starting out in golf in 2007 and me and my dad went to Doral and we followed Phil Mickelson during his round,” said the 18-year-old Rubin, who lives in Pompano Beach. “He had just finished the 13th hole and flipped his golf ball to me. He said, ‘here you go kid.’ I still have that ball today. It was the Holy Grail for me.”

Rubin recently won the Junior Golf Association of Broward County’s Boys Championship Flight by firing an even par, 72 (35-37) at the Plantation Preserve Golf Club. Fellow Pompano Beach resident Isak Nilsson tied for sixth just four shots back after shooting 38- 38-76.

Rubin hit 13 of 18 greens for his win and putted well as he totaled six birdies in his round. He recorded birdies on 1, 7, 9, 11, 15 and 17 and came back from a double bogey on 10.

He started playing in the Junior Golf Association (JGA) of Broward County when he was 10 and was in the lower flights as he worked his way up. The best he had done in the JGA of Broward was tying for third at Plantation Preserve last year.

The recent Calvary Christian Academy graduate is in the process of walking on at Florida Atlantic University. He is preparing for a September tournament staged by the school for walk-on golfers.

“It would be amazing to play college golf,” said Rubin, who helped his high school team win district and regional titles in golf. “Just like going to states in high school was a big deal, to be able to say I played a Division 1 sport in college would be a really good accomplishment. I am going to try my best and we’ll see.”

Golf almost wasn’t in his future. He made the Calvary Christian school team as a seventh grader, but gave up the sport in the eighth grade.

“I was sick of golf,” Rubin said. “I played in a lot of tournaments that required me driving like two hours when I was younger. I played both days on the weekends and it took all of my time. I wasn’t playing very well. It was just so time consuming and it was frustrating.”

Rubin didn’t even watch golf on TV and didn’t play the sport at all for a year.

“When I came back for my freshman year, I was refreshed and from then on I kept getting better and better,” Rubin said. “It was exciting because I got to hang out with all of my friends and my coach Marty Fanning, who was my teacher in the third grade and is like a mentor of mine.”

He said the JGA of Broward County has been the majority of his competitive golf experience. He likes the players and the organizers.

“It is such a cool thing to wake up on a Monday morning and go play some competitive golf,” Rubin said. “Competitive golf is a feeling you can’t replicate anywhere else.”

Knowing he won a tournament that a current PGA golfer has probably won in their history is also exciting.

“I was thinking the whole week after I won I was like the big man on campus for one week,” Rubin said. “I am sure there have been some really good golfers who have won the boys championship in the past.

“Every time I won a lower flight tournament in the past, it felt good, but it wasn’t the Championship Flight,” he added. “And to finally pull off a championship where all the best players were in and to call myself the best in the entire JGA for that week, really felt good.”

In other divisions involving local golfers at Plantation Preserve, Pompano Beach’s Daria Korovina shot a 30 to place fourth in the Girls B Division. Weston’s Polina Anisimova carded a 25 to win the division.

Two Pompano Beach golfers finished fourth and sixth respectively in the Boys Junior Division. Dylan Glatt shot a 42-41-83 to finish fourth, while Nicklaus O’Bryan was sixth just three shots back with a 43-43-86.

Deerfield Beach’s Justin Danzansky carded a 48 to finish seventh in the Boys A Division. He was seven shots back of Sunrise’s Orangel Machado. In the Boys E Division, Daniel Melnick of Pompano Beach shot a 24 to finish four shots behind winner Evan Kuperman of Parkland.

Pompano Beach’s Mateo Desmond carded a 14 to tie for second with Lauderhill’s Israel Bailey in the Boys F Division. Pembroke Pines’ Jose Esteras also shot a 2-over par, 14 and won the division on a tiebreaker.

There are five more weeks left in the JGA of Broward season, including the three-day final tournament to be held at the end of July at Jacaranda Golf Club, Woodlands Country Club and Ft. Lauderdale Country Club.

By Gary Curreri

Highlands Christian Academy’s (HCA) sports programs are proving that the future is now as three of its lower school sports team won South Atlantic Coast Conference (SACC) championships recently.

The girls elementary and junior high girls basketball teams were joined by the junior high boys soccer teams as titlists this year.

The girls’ elementary basketball team had an outstanding season finishing 5-1. The Knights squad is composed of 4th and 5th graders, and its lone loss of the season was to Abundant Life, who plays 6th graders on its team.

Brooke Vaccarro led the Knights in scoring and received the Outstanding Contribution Award as she scored 6 of the team’s 8 points in an 8-6 victory over Sheridan Hills in the SACC championship game. It was almost a repeat of the regular season where Highlands, with just four returning players from last season, defeated the Sharks, 7-6.

“I am so proud of my Lady Knights,” said Leslie Shein, who is an alumnus of the school and in her second year as coach. “These girls worked hard, encouraged one another, had great sportsmanship, and finished strong. They practiced hard throughout the season and it paid off!”

The school’s junior high girls basketball program needed to work overtime; however, it also brought home a title.

After dispatching Zion Lutheran, 28-19, in its opening game of the SACC tournament, the Knights were pushed to overtime; however, it prevailed with a 26-23 victory over Sheridan Hills.

“It was a very successful year for our team as we were able to achieve our goal of winning the SACC tournament,” said 5th year coach Scott Lassen, also an HCA graduate. “We had five returning 8th graders who were determined to win it all their final season.”

Seventh grader Raphael Menezes scored the lone goal of the game and fellow 7th grader Jason Thomfhorde recorded his fifth shutout of the season as Highlands Christian Academy blanked Coral Springs Christian, 1-0, for the boys’ junior high SACC title.

It was Menezes’ fourth goal of the season for the Knights, which went from third place in the league to first this year. The team finished the year 10-2.

“I’ve seen a good amount of improvement in the quality of soccer,” said second year coach Daniel Mauro, whose father Darryl is the boys’ varsity coach. “I am very proud of my squad and the boys should be very proud of their achievements, but not satisfied; there is more to come from these guys.”

Kyle Coulson was named the team’s MVP and led the Knights with 10 goals and 6 assists. The Knights were the top seed going into the SACC Tournament and defeated Westminster Academy 4-2 to advance to the championship game.

By Gary Curreri

Gwen Bencie made the most out of her first year in the Deerfield Beach Ocean Rescue Junior Lifeguard program.

Bencie, 11, of Deerfield Beach, had spent her previous two years as a junior lifeguard with the Ft. Lauderdale program before moving to her hometown program.

She won the Girls C Division beach flags title, as well as the paddleboard championship, and placed third in the surf swim division in the second annual Florida State Junior Lifeguard Championships in Ft. Lauderdale recently.

“It is the first time I actually won beach flags,” said Bencie, who will be a Deerfield Beach Middle School sixth grader in the fall. “I was actually surprised, but really excited too. I never won beach flags before and the girls were really fast. I like junior life guarding because it is actually a lot of fun.”

Bencie said paddleboard is her favorite event. She’s captured nationals, regionals and states.

“Junior Life guarding has made me a stronger paddler and stronger in beach flags,” Bencie said. “It has also helped me learn about the water. They teach you how to rescue people.

Mike Brown, who heads the Deerfield Beach program, said the junior lifeguards get to see the other lifeguards from the other beaches and they may know them from school.

“We are proud to represent Deerfield and there is a lot of camaraderie there,” said Brown, who has been with the city for 15 years and headed up the program as its coach for the past six years. “A lot of kids, especially the ones who have never been a part of a team, accomplished something.”

Pompano Beach won the team competition with 1,240 points, while Ft. Lauderdale was second with 810 points. Hollywood and Deerfield Beach were third and fourth with 455 and 360 points, respectively, in the competition that featured nearly 150 competitors recently.

Other local double winners included Pompano Beach’s Sloan Sizemore (Run-Swim- Run, surf swim, Girls B Division); Pompano Beach’s Shane Shulte (Paddleboard, Run-Swim-Run, Boys C Division); Pompano Beach’s Kelly Shulte (Paddleboard, Surf-Swim, Boys B Division).

Individual winners included Pompano Beach’s Julia Schulte (beach flags, A Division); Glenis Carlson (beach flags, B Division); Pompano Beach’s Konnor Katzmark (Paddleboard, Boys A Division); Pompano Beach’s Race Wilhate (Run- Swim-Run, Boys B Division); Pompano Beach’s Clayton Adkins (Run-Swim- Run, Boys A Division).