One was junior golf champion Thailand and the other has junior golf championship trophies in his Northern California home.
Carl Corpus of Quezon City in the Philippines and Caleb Shetler of San Jose's Valley Christian High each signed a National Letter-of-Intent recently to enroll at San Jose State University next fall and participate in the men's golf program. Head coach John Kennaday made the announcement.
"We're excited to have both of these young men come in. They will fit in quite nicely with the rest of the guys. Their work ethic and aspirations are in line with the best players we've ever had here. It's proven by their track record in junior golf," said Kennaday about the two future Spartans.
Corpus has an international resume of achievements during his junior golf career. The winner of the 2015 Thailand Boys Junior Championship was the co-winner of the 2018 Philippine Amateur Open Match Play Championship.
The Philippine native represented his country at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games and was a member of the Boys' National Team at the 2018 Junior Team Championships in South Korea. The Philippine team finished at the Junior Team Championships and is one of 15 qualifying teams for the June 2019 Toyota Junior Golf World Cup in Japan.
Corpus was one of four amateurs to qualify for the 2018 Philippine Open. Equally good in match play and stroke play, he was the runner-up at the 2018 Philippine Junior Amateur Match Play Championship during the stroke play and match play portions of the tournament.
Shetler, too, has a list of envious golf accomplishments. Most recently, he was the 2018 medalist at the Santa Clara County Championship at age 17, one of the youngest winners in the tournament's 92-year history. In 2018, Shetler also won other three Northern California junior tournaments and reached the semifinals of the San Francisco City Golf Championship's Championship Bracket.
He is a three-time West Catholic Athletic League all-league golfer earning honorable mention acknowledgement as a freshman, second-team recognition as a sophomore and first-team honors as a junior.
As of November 27, Shetler was ranked #287 in the Rolex AJGA rankings and #118 by GolfWeek's Boys Junior rankings.
"They have wonderful families that have given them proper guidance through everything. They love our schedule, love our facility, our Western Intercollegiate. There's a lot to be loved here and they want to take advantage of it," the Spartans' coach concluded.