Palm Beach Garden, FL: The 2008 FCWT National Championship at the Champion Course at PGA National was one that fifteen year old Matthew Mabrey of Little Rock, AR (2011) will not soon forget. One hundred and seventy-four boys teed off for Round One on Saturday. Mabrey was part of the "Afternoon Wave" and teed off at 1:00pm. Severe thunderstorms rolled into the area on Saturday afternoon, resulting in stoppage of play. As the thunderstorms persisted, it became evident that over half the field was not going to complete Round One on Saturday. Mabrey was one of those players. So on Sunday morning he was up early and ready to finish Round One.

As Mabrey took to the course, Marcel Puyat of the PHILIPPINES (2011) was atop the leaderboard with a 3 under par 69 for Round One. Puyat was part of the Morning Wave who were all able to complete Round One prior to the weather issues. When all players had completed Round One, another player had matched the 69. Patrick Burke of Houston, TX (2009) also finished his first round on Sunday morning and tied Puyat. Mabrey, who carded a 2 under par 70, was now in a tie for 2nd place.

Once Matthew was finished in the scoring area, he headed back out onto the golf course for his Second Round. Sunday's weather was drier than Saturday, but it was quite windy. Matthew kept the momentum of the morning going and fired a 3 under par 69 as he finished Round Two on Sunday. At 5 under par, he was on top of the leaderboard and knew he would make the cut. The question was: where would he be for the start of the final round? Sunday proved to be a long day with the last of the groups not arriving in the scoring area until after 8pm, some having played 27 holes on Sunday. When all was said and done, Mabrey was leading with only 18 holes left to play.

At 9:20 am on Monday morning, Matthew teed off for the final round with a two stroke advantage over fifteen year old Marcel Puyat of PHILIPPINES (2011). The 6' 3" 15 year old from Little Rock had not won an FCWT event in this his 3rd FCWT season, but his game was coming together and things seemed to be going his way. After finishing T42 in the FCWT Boys 13-15 National Championship last season, he began this season playing in the 13-15 division. When he played Bear Creek East in March, he finished 2nd in the Boys 13-15 division and decided to try the 16-18 division at Candler Hills. A final round of 71 at Candler allowed him to finish T6 and his performance caught the eye of the Tournament Committee and he was accepted to the National Championship.

Matthew held his own on Monday, carded a final round of 1 over par 73 in the biggest event of his life to date. He held onto his 2 stroke advantage and won the Boys 16-18 National Championship finishing at 4 under par for the event.

Puyat, also a 15 year old, held his own as well and put together three solid rounds of 69-72-73-214 to finish in 2nd place at 214, his best finish of the season as well.

Finishing in 3rd place was Connor Arendell of Cape Coral, FL (2008) who began the day in 8th place, but can never be counted out. Arendell, currently ranked # 21 by the Golfweek/Titleist rankings, fired a final round of 4 under par 68. In three seasons on the FCWT, Arendell has never finished lower than T5. Only a bogey on #18 kept him from a perfect round and from tying

Reid Martin of Mukilteo, WA (2009) for LOW ROUND HONORS. Martin, who was the 2006-07 FCWT Boys 13-15 Player of the Year, fired a round of 5 under par 67 on Monday to finish at even par for the event and in 4th place.

Three players finished tied for 5th: William Wiseman of Salisbury, MD (2009), who began the day tied for 8th place, Matthew Ceravolo of Palm Beach Gardens, FL (2011), who led the field in pars with 41, and

Richard Lamb of South Bend, IN (2009).

Daniel Walker of Earlysville, VA (2009) finished in 8th place at +4. Daniel was named a first team FCWT All-American at Friday night's Awards Dinner. During the regular season, Walker won at both French Creek and Virginia Beach.

Cory Siegfried of Villanova, PA (2008) finished in 9th place at 221, just one stroke ahead of two players tied for 10th: Shang Zhi of Bradenton, FL (2009) and

John Beringer of Loveland, OH (2009). For Zhi it was his fourth Top 10 of the season, while Beringer earned his way to the Championship with a late season win at Yankee Trace. That win also earned him a spot on the FCWT 3rd Team All-Americans.

Other players who posted a final round under par include: Nicholas Austin of Midlothian, VA (2009), who finished T17, Zhong Yang Fu of Beijing, CHINA (2010), finishing T12, and Jeremy Wells of Prince George, VA (2009), also finishing T17, all with 2 under par 70. Cyril Suk of Bradenton, FL (2011) carded a final round of one under par to finish T25. All players finishing 25th and higher in the Boys 16-18 division earn exempt status for the 2008-09 season, which is now open for Member Registration. Online Tournament Registration for the 2008-09 season opens on June 1, 2008.

For those of you sitting at home enjoying a nice relaxing weekend, consider this: