Rockville Golfers Help Bring Capital Cup Home to MD

Two teens from Rockville and one from North Bethesda were part of the Maryland team that defeated a team from Virginia to bring home the Capital Cup in a Ryder Cup-style Middle Atlantic Section PGA junior tournament last weekend at the Country Club of Virginia in Midlothian, VA.

In singles match play, Evan Shapiro, 17, of Rockville, battled from 5 down through six holes, winning the last two holes and halving a match with Erik Dulik, of Great Falls, VA. Jon Carr, 16, of Rockville, lost a close match to Michael Mead Jr., of Spotsylvania, VA, when Mead birdied the 18^th hole to win 1 up.

Carter Connelly, 17, of North Bethesda, lost to Brett Engle, of Charlottesville, VA, 2 and 1. Engle came back from three down to close out the match on the 17^th hole.

Maryland won the tournament 16-8.

Played on the Tuckahoe Creek Course, the tournament featured alternate shot foursome match play on Saturday morning, four-ball best-ball match play on Saturday afternoon and head-to-head singles match play on Sunday.

Maryland led 7 ½ to 4 ½ after Saturday before clinching the cup with wins in 8 of 12 matches on Sunday, when many golfers recorded scores near or below par despite rain throughout.

On Saturday, Connelly and Mike Blasey, of Potomac, won the first three holes en route to an easy victory, 6 and 5, over Bryan Carter, of Yorktown, VA and Brett Engle, of Charlottesville, VA.

Shapiro and Cody Lissner, of Hampstead, won the last two holes to close out Dulik and Garrett Sweeney, of Salem, VA, 5 and 4.

In the closest Saturday morning match, Carr and Sam Clark, of Hampstead, defeated Griffin Clark, of South Chesterfield, VA, and Andrew Butts, of Salem, VA, 1 up. Maryland won the 15th hole to go 2 up—the biggest lead by either team—and closed out the match on 18. 

In the Saturday afternoon matches, Engle and Mead never lost a hole and defeated Carr and Lissner, 4 and 3. Clark and Derick Paxton, of Great Falls, VA, defeated Shapiro and Rij Patel, of Cockeysville, 2 and 1. Blasey and Connelly defeated Dulik and Brandon Berry, of Great Falls, VA, 5 and 3.

Click here for photos and more from the tournament.

It is the fourth consecutive year Maryland has won the event.