Jack Turner knew he needed to make birdie at the last for Team USA. So, all he did was step up and deliver.
After a slow start at The Spirit International Amateur Golf Championship, the University of Florida star saved his best for last, canning a 22-foot birdie putt at Whispering Pines Golf Club on the final hole for a one-stroke victory over Team Australia on Saturday.
Team USA, which consisted of Turner, Ethan Fang, Anna Davis and Farah O’Kefe, set a tournament scoring record of 45 under in Trinity, Texas, in the three-day event. Team France, which led after 18 and 36 holes, finished third at 40 under.
Turner and teammate Fang of Oklahoma State won the Men’s Division with a combined record score of 30 under, seven strokes better than Team Colombia
(Mateo Payan/Tomas Restrepo) and Team Australia (Harry Takis/Chun Ta-Wa). Turner also won the Men’s individual competition.
Team USA’s Davis of Auburn University and O’Keefe of University of Texas, who made a clutch 10-foot par putt on 18, finished tied for seventh in the Women’s Division and were key contributors to Team USA’s overall victory.
“Walking down the 18th fairway, Ethan and I took a look and knew we needed a birdie to win,” said Turner. “Farah hit a long par putt, so we knew we needed to birdie to win. We both hit a great shot in there. I knew if I missed mine that Fanger was going to roll it right in, so I knew we were in a good spot.”
Team USA, captained by former Spirit participant and PGA Tour player Sam Saunders, improved every day en route to its victory. The team shot 11 under on Thursday and 17 under on day two, before finishing with 18 under on Saturday to best Team England’s record score of -44 that was set in 2024.
“I don’t think any of our players birdied the same hole,” said Saunders. “They picked each other up when one was out of the hole. The support was huge and it was just so much fun to be a part of it. All I had to do was run around and tell them, ‘Yeah, I like it,’ and they just kept hitting good shots.”
Team Canada, on the strength of Vanessa Borovilos’ (Texas A&M University) seven birdies on Saturday, captured the Women’s Division at -22. Borovilos partnered with 16-year-old Aphrodite Deng for the win.
“Aphrodite and I were talking on the front nine that even par wasn’t going to do it today, so one of us had to start making some putts and start being aggressive,” said Borovilos. “I think it is very easy to create momentum out here. Once you see a couple of putts falling, you start getting more aggressive, more confident going forward and luckily, we were able to do that today.”
Team Australia made a great run at the overall championship but came up just short. Team Australia’s women’s squad, Amelia Harris (University of South Carolina) and Raegan Denton (Louisiana State University), finished tied for second in the Women’s Division with Team France’s Valentine Delon (Virginia Tech University) and Sara Brentcheneff (University of Arkansas) at -21. Harris also won the Women’s Individual Championship.
The individual competition for men and women is based solely on birdies and eagles with one and two points awarded for each, respectively. Turner led all golfers with 22 points to win the Men’s Division by five over Team Italy’s Biagio Gagliardi (Clemson University) and Team Colombia’s Payan (New Mexico State University). Harris had 16 points to win by one over Brentcheneff for the women’s individual title.
A full leaderboard for all competitions can be found atwww.thespiritgolf.com.
This marked the 12th edition of the Spirit at Whispering Pines Golf Club, Golfweek’s top-ranked course in the state of Texas. he Spirit brings together teams of two men and two women representing 20 countries. Teams compete over 54 holes of four-ball stroke play in three concurrent competitions: international team, men’s team and women’s team. Gold, silver and bronze medals were awarded to the top three finishers in each competition.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Team USA completes comeback to win the 2026 Spirit International
