Yana Wilson and Miles Russell were named the 2023 American Junior Golf Association Players of the Year, the organization announced Thursday.
Russell, who turned 15 on Wednesday, is one of the youngest players to receive Rolex Junior Player of the Year honors. He is the first Florida native to earn top honors in the Boys Division since Peter Uihlein in 2007. Wilson is the first Nevada native to win Rolex Junior Player of the Year honors in either division.
In 2023, Russell had four wins in eight national junior golf events to end the season at No. 1 in the Rolex AJGA Rankings. The 2027 grad started his first full season of AJGA events with two Junior All-Star event wins in just three weeks. He also captured the Junior PGA Championship, the Junior Players Championship and was a member of the Junior Ryder Cup team.
Wilson, an Oregon commit, won the junior portion of the Mizuho Americas Open and the AJGA Girls Invitational. She’s also a two-time member of the United States PING Junior Solheim Cup Team and a 2023 Junior Ryder Cup team participant.
Russell, Wilson and the 2023 Rolex Junior All-America Teams will be honored at the Rolex Junior All-America Awards Banquet on Saturday, Nov. 18, in San Antonio, Texas. Then the duo, Rolex Junior All-Americans and a field of the top players in the Rolex AJGA Rankings will compete at the Rolex Tournament of Champions, Nov. 18-22 at TPC San Antonio – Canyons Course in San Antonio, Texas.
Tyler Watts of Huntsville, Alabama, posted a final round of two-under 70. He fired five birdies today to claim the 51st Southern Junior Championship title with a 9-under 207 total at Baton Rouge Country Club in Louisiana. Watts finished five shots ahead of his competition.
The win marked another amazing triumph for Watts, who just last week became the youngest champion in Alabama State Amateur history. His age record surpassed the one set by Gordon Sargent of Vanderbilt, who is currently competing as an amateur in the U.S. Open.
Collins Trolio of West Point, Mississippi, who finished second with a four-under 212 score. Noah Kent of Naples, Florida, and Liam Pasternak of Morristown, New Jersey, each finished at two-under 214. After a scorecard playoff, Kent claimed bronze.
72, 65, 70 earns the #SouthernJr Championship title.
— Southern Golf Association (@sgagolf) June 16, 2023
The winner of the Southern Junior Championship receives a silver medal, his name engraved on the Perry Adair Trophy, a Calamity Jane putter, exemption into the 2024 Southern Amateur Championship, exemption into all future Southern Junior Championships in which he is eligible to compete and is fully exempt with the American Junior Golf Association for 12 months.
Kaitlyn Schroeder started re-watching “The Last Dance” in recent months because she finds inspiration in Michael Jordan’s extreme competitiveness.
EVANS, Ga. — Kaitlyn Schroeder started re-watching “The Last Dance” in recent months because she finds inspiration in Michael Jordan’s extreme competitiveness. Her father, Scott, thinks some of Kaitlyn’s competitive fire came from the summer camps he ran at the University of North Florida. Kaitlyn, who didn’t attend just one week of camp but all the weeks, didn’t like golf at the time, but she hated losing more, and Scott often split up the groups for mini competitions.
Now an 18-year-old, Kaitlyn, last year’s AJGA Player of the Year, loves every part of the grind this game demands and wants nothing less than to be the best player in the world. As the daughter of a men’s Division I college golf, she’s had the rare opportunity to watch PGA Tour player Philip Knowles and current UNF star Nick Gabrelcik go to work daily at the UNF practice facility, which essentially doubled as her second backyard.
“It’s just seeing how hard they work,” said Kaitlyn. “Not hearing about it, but like literally seeing it.”
Kaitlyn Schroeder poses with the AJGA Rolex Player of the Year trophy alongside her parents, Scott and Wendy. (courtesy photo)
Kaitlyn is one of 37 players in the field this week making their debut at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, where just over half the participants are teenagers. She’ll have her father, Scott, on the bag, noting that she sometimes trusts him more than herself. Scott, a seven-time ASUN Conference Coach of the Year, played collegiate golf at UNF and his wife, Wendy, is a UNF Hall of Fame tennis player.
Scott notes that when Kaitlyn was growing up, former UNF All-Americans Travis Trace and Knowles didn’t let her win in friendly competitions. And none of them made excuses.
“In today’s society right now, everybody finds an excuse,” said Scott. “And for the most part, she’s really good about not making excuses: ‘I just played bad.’ If you’re going to be good, you’ve got to be willing to admit when you play bad and not blame somebody else.”
Kaitlyn, who was homeschooled long before she got serious about golf, graduated from high school last December and enrolled at Alabama as a redshirt freshman this spring. She’s currently taking 13 credit hours and transferred in with 12.
Knowing firsthand how difficult the transition can be jumping into the fall golf season while adjusting to college classes away from home, Kaitlyn thought she’d get her feet wet this spring, even though she can’t compete.
“She brings a competitiveness and a leadership that’s going to be really valuable to us and our culture,” said Alabama coach Mic Potter of what’s to come. He also said that recruiting conversations with Kaitlyn were exceptionally easy given her passion for college football.
Looking back, Scott said Kaitlyn’s trip to the 2018 NCAA Championships in Stillwater, Oklahoma, made a big impact because tournament rules allowed spectators to walk on the fairways, up to close to the action.
“I think that was probably when she decided, ‘I want to go do this,’ ” said Scott, “not just be good at golf, but be involved on a team and have a chance to do some of this stuff.
When asked how he knew when to pull back to allow Kaitlyn to grow in recent years, Schroeder said his coaching philosophy is to occasionally allow kids to fail.
“You don’t want them to fall off a large cliff, but you can let them fall off a short cliff,” he said. “Because sometimes they have to fail to be willing to listen more. If you’re only always telling them what to do, at some point, they’ll stop listening.”
With so many potential ANWA competitions still on the horizon, Scott said they’re not putting too much pressure on this week. As Kaitlyn continues to improve, Scott finds himself saying less of the things he used to preach on a consistent basis.
He now coaches Kaitlyn similar to the way he coaches Gabrelcik, who is currently No. 12 in the men’s World Amateur Golf Ranking.
Kaitlyn played her first AJGA event in the ninth grade and last year won both the AJGA Rolex Girls Junior and Junior PGA titles. While some of her junior friends have previous experience at the ANWA and Drive, Chip and Putt competition, Kaitlyn will see Augusta National for the first time this week.
The past two winners of the ANWA have been junior golfers, with then 16-year-old Anna Davis winning last year and Japan’s Tsubasa Kajitani triumphing in 2021 at age 17.
Bailey Shoemaker, 18, teamed with Schroeder to reach the finals of the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball last year. Shoemaker went on to reach the semifinals of the U.S. Women’s Amateur and made the cut in three LPGA starts, including the U.S. Women’s Open.
“I think we’re a little bit like Jordan (Spieth) and J.T. (Justin Thomas),” said Schroeder. “We love each other off the golf course, but every time we play, like whether it’s just playing for fun or playing, you know, in a tournament, we want to beat the crap out of each other.”
The teams were determined exclusively through the Rolex AJGA Rankings as of October 12.
Eric Lee of Fullerton, California, and Kaitlyn Schroeder of Jacksonville, Florida, were named the 2022 American Junior Golf Association’s 2022 Players of the Year, it was announced Thursday.
Lee is the first boys junior from California to earn the honor since 2010, and Schroeder the first girls junior from Florida since 2009. They are both first-team Rolex Junior All-Americans, as well, with their distinctions.
Lee, 17, did not finish outside the top 10 in seven national junior golf events to end the season at No. 1 in the Rolex AJGA Rankings. He won the season-opening Rolex Tournament of Champions at PGA National. He advanced to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Junior Amateur at Bandon Dunes. Lee is committed to Cal.
Schroeder, an Alabama commit, had two wins and three top-five finishes. Her wins came at the 31st Rolex Girls Junior Championship at The Loxahatchee Club and the Girls Junior PGA Championship at Cog Hill. She advanced to the round of 32 at the U.S. Girls’ Junior in Kentucky.
Kaitlyn Schroeder was named the 2022 AJGA Player of the Year. (Photo: AJGA)
The Rolex Junior All-America Teams annually recognize the best junior golfers from around the world. The 2022 class includes 48 boys and 48 girls, ages 14-19, from 24 states and 10 countries. The teams were determined exclusively through the Rolex AJGA Rankings as of October 12.
Lee, Schroeder, and the 2022 Rolex Junior All-America Teams will be honored through the Rolex Junior All-America Awards Banquet on Saturday, Nov. 19.
These are some of the best junior golfers in the world.
The American Junior Golf Association announced Tuesday the 21st annual AJGA Junior All-Star Team, which includes 20 players who were recognized as the top golfers ages 12-15 in the world during the 2022 season.
The AJGA Junior All-Star Team was selected based on the Rolex AJGA Rankings. The top 10 boys and 10 girls were determined as of Sept. 8. Eligibility for the team includes competition in at least two AJGA Junior All-Star Series tournaments, which also included the KPMG Stacy Lewis Junior All-Star Invitational. AJGA Junior All-Star Series events were conducted across the country from March to August.
Members of the AJGA Junior All-Star Team received an invitation to play in the concluding event of the Junior All-Star Series at the 2022 Ping An Bank Junior All-Star Invitational from Nov. 20-23 at Canyon Springs Golf Club in San Antonio.
Here’s a look at the 10 boys and 10 girls who were named to the All-Star team:
Girls
Hadley Ashton, Erie, Colorado (Class of 2025)
Sawyer Brockstedt, Rehoboth Beach, Delaware (Class of 2025)
Irene Kim, Woodstock, Maryland (Class of 2026)
Ellison Lundquist, Furlong, Pennsylvania (Class of 2025)
Rianne Malixi, (Philippines) San Bernardino, California (Class of 2025)
Avery McCrery, Wilmington, Delaware (Class of 2025)
Scarlett Schremmer, Birmingham, Alabama (Class of 2025)
Siuue Wu, (Hong Kong) Reunion, Florida (Class of 2024)
Angela Zhang, Bellevue, Washington (Class of 2027)
Donina Zhou, San Clemente, California (Class of 2027)
Boys
Finley Bartlett, Cincinnati, Ohio (Class of 2025)
Edan Cui, Atherton, California (Class of 2025)
Michael Lee, Fairfax, Virginia (Class of 2024)
Tyler Loree, Kula, Hawaii (Class of 2025)
Brody McQueen, Marietta, Georgia (Class of 2026)
Nathan Miller, Dallas, Texas (Class of 2025)
Sahish Reddy, Atlanta, Georgia (Class of 2026)
Michael Riebe, Encinitas, California (Class of 2025)
Luke Smith, (Canada) Toronto, Ontario (Class of 2025)
Eric Zhao, (Canada) Toronto, Ontario (Class of 2025)
Jackson Byrd, who won the AJGA’s Matthew NeSmith Junior Championship, could be the next son of a PGA Tour pro to make it.
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Davis Love III was practicing ahead of the 2021 RSM Classic at the Seaside Course at Sea Island Resort in St. Simons Island, Georgia, when his phone buzzed with a message from fellow PGA Tour pro Jonathan Byrd to come join him at the seventh tee.
Byrd, a five-time Tour winner and 2002 Rookie of the Year, was playing with his son, Jackson, who recently turned 16 and stepped up and smoked a drive 50 yards past Love at the par 5.
“We were waiting for the group to clear the green so I gunned it and he had 214 yards left,” said Love, who was freakishly long in his day and can still send it. “I got out a 4-iron to hit one from there. He lifted this high-arching iron on the green and I asked him, ‘What club did you hit?’ He said, ‘7-iron, but it’s downwind.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, it’s downwind for me too.’ ”
Love laughed. “We’re high on him,” he said. “Jackson’s the real deal.”
Move over Bill Haas and slow down Charlie Woods, who is 13. The next son of a PGA Tour winner to make the big time could be Jackson Byrd, who won the AJGA’s Matthew NeSmith Junior Championship in August in his first AJGA start.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” said Jackson, who shot three consecutive rounds of 1-under 70 en route to the win and earned a spot in the Junior Players Championship last week, where he finished T-55.
Jackson Byrd, 16, receives the winner’s trophy from PGA Tour pro Matthew NeSmith of the AJGA’s Matthew NeSmith Junior Championship.
As the son of a Tour pro and growing up around the game, Jackson had clubs from a very young age, but started taking golf seriously and playing tournaments at age 8. About three years ago, he finally beat his dad, who he regularly outdrives, at Frederica Golf Club.
“I knew that day would come but it came a lot faster than I hoped it would,” the elder Byrd said. “He’s a better driver of the golf ball than me, hits it farther and at times a better iron player. He’s got all the tools. But there’s a lot of talented players out there and it’s tough to make it. He’s watched me and seen the good, the bad and the ugly of professional golf. That experience of growing up around Tour pros (such as Zach Johnson and Keith Mitchell) has got to count for something.”
Father-son tandems in golf date all the way back to Old and Young Tom Morris. Of more recent vintage, Bill Haas, son of Jay, has notched six Tour titles, including the FedEx Cup; Kevin Stadler, son of Masters winner Craig, claimed the 2014 WM Phoenix Open; and Kevin Tway, son of PGA Championship winner Bob, hoisted the Safeway Open trophy in 2018. But good genes never helped Gary Nicklaus, son of 18-time major winner Jack, to the winner’s circle.
Jackson competed this summer in the Western Junior Championship and had his dear old Dad on the bag. How did that go?
“It was stressful,” Jonathan said. “It was also probably the highlight of my summer. We were 7 under with two holes to play in the first round until I made a caddie mistake and he drove into a fairway bunker and made double (bogey). He was tied for the lead after two rounds (67-70) and played in the last group (before finishing T-16)…It’s hard being a junior golf dad, it’s hard watching from the cart path and living and dying on every shot. But it’s also the greatest joy of my life watching my kids do anything well. I love seeing them have a passion and going out there and pursuing a worthy goal.”
Jonathan, 44, was a three-time All-American at Clemson, where his brother, Jordan, (Jackson’s uncle) became the head men’s golf coach in July 2021. It’s early but Jackson could well shape up as one of the most coveted recruits in the Class of 2025 and already has plenty of coaches keeping tabs on the next ‘J Byrd.”
Jackson aspires to follow in his father’s footsteps and play on Tour and win. “Hopefully as much if not more than he did,” Jackson said. “I know a lot about being on Tour and what it takes to get there.”
The Golfweek Junior Tournament Series is now in its 23nd year. All events in the Series are nationally ranked by Golfweek/Sagarin and the Junior Golf Scoreboard. The Golfweek International Junior Invitational is the flagship event of the Series and …
The Golfweek Junior Tournament Series is now in its 23nd year. All events in the Series are nationally ranked by Golfweek/Sagarin and the Junior Golf Scoreboard. The Golfweek International Junior Invitational is the flagship event of the Series and annually attracts one of the top fields in junior golf. Entry is based solely on (1) invitation, (2) submitted and approved application, (3) finishing top 10 in qualifying Golfweek Junior Series tournament, (4) finishing in the top 5 in a state junior championship. Other potential entrants are encouraged to submit a playing resume for consideration by the tournament committee.
A pair of college golf buddies are teaming up again for their second charity tournament.
Duke junior Phoebe Brinker started realizing the importance of mental health during COVID. Like all of us who struggled at some point during the pandemic, she saw friends and relatives face countless challenges and heard too many tragic stories of college students taking their lives too soon. She even faced low moments of failure and overwhelming stress, herself.
With the help of her friend and fellow collegiate golfer at Florida, Taylor Roberts, the two are hosting the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) Impact Cup, July 25-26, at the Bobby Jones Golf Club and East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.
The Impact Cup aims to educate, support and foster awareness around youth mental health, while establishing a peer-to-peer network where no one feels alone. The goal is to raise $100,000 for the Generation Next Project and the AJGA’s Achieving Competitive Excellence (ACE) Grant Program. Each player has agreed to raise at least $1,000 for Generation Next Project and the ACE Grant Program. As of the posting of this article, the group has already raised $91,332.
Founded by Robert Jones Black, the great grandson of Bobby Jones, the Generation Next Project strives to make a positive impact on youth mental health and provide teens, families and coaches mental fitness tools and communication skills to thrive in today’s world through the game of golf. The AJGA’s ACE Grant provides financial assistance to young men and women who aspire to earn a college golf scholarship through competitive junior golf.
“It’s crazy to see how everything has come together,” said Roberts. “It’s amazing to see how many people are supporting it and the more you talk about mental health and sharing my own story, the more people that want to support it. It’s just something that it’s really prevalent in our lives.”
Roberts actually had the idea while she was going through therapy, so she took her thoughts to her buddy Brinker, and the two got to work.
“After therapy, I wanted to help other athletes or just anyone in general gain resources because I realized how lucky I was to have the opportunity to better myself,” explained Roberts.
Taylor Roberts at the Golfweek Myrtle Beach Collegiate. (Photo: James Maggio)
Twenty-two players will compete in the tournament, including Brinker’s Blue Devil teammates, Megan Furtney and Rylie Heflin. The fun begins Monday, July 25, as golfers will play Bobby Jones Golf Club. On Tuesday, a mental health walk will be followed by tee times at East Lake Golf Club.
“The pandemic and the stress that comes with being a student-athlete is daunting and can seem unbearable at times, especially when there are no conversations being had surrounding mental health among peers,” said Brinker. “That is why Taylor and I decided to host the Impact Cup in support of mental health, specifically Generation Next Project which utilizes the game of golf to facilitate conversations surrounding mental health and to establish the life lessons that golf teaches us about emotional awareness, patience, among other virtues.”
This isn’t the first time Brinker and Roberts have tag-teamed an event to make a difference through their love of golf. Back in 2020, once again with the assistance of the AJGA, the pair hosted the Senior Cup for high school golfers whose senior seasons were cut short due to COVID-19 and raised $40,000 for the Emergency Golf Relief Fund and the AJGA’s ACE Grant.
“I hope that bringing together collegiate golfers who have faced similar circumstances and struggles can start the necessary conversation surrounding mental health, and that we can collectively raise an ambitious $100,000 for Generation Next to impact youth mental health through the game of golf,” said Brinker. “The event will be a fun way to facilitate activities and guest speakers to share stories, provide tips for how to cope with mental instability, and play the amazing East Lake Golf Club with friends who play collegiate golf around the country.”
“Our main mission,” added Roberts, “is that when everyone leaves, they have resources to like go back into their lives and understand themselves at a different level.”
Many of the world’s best male junior golfers – 72 of them, to be exact – will be bound for Florida in May to kick off the AJGA’s 2022 summer season of events.
First up is the Team TaylorMade Invitational, a 54-hole tournament slated for May 27-30 at Jupiter Hills Club in Tequesta, Florida. The club previously hosted the 1987 U.S. Amateur as well as the 2018 U. S. Amateur Four-Ball.
“Jupiter Hills is proud to serve as the host of the 2022 Team TaylorMade Invitational because it clearly illustrates our commitment to amateur golf and major golf events,” said Jupiter Hills Club president Robert Hofmann via a media statement. “We are honored to partner with the AJGA and TaylorMade so that these highly skilled young players can experience our impressive golf facilities. We anticipate that our Hills Course will be a great challenge for them. Additionally, our membership is eager to build some strong new relationships within this great game.”
A product of the Fazio family, George and his nephew, Tom, designed the Hills Course (1970) and the Village Course (1979) at Jupiter Hills. Tom’s son, Logan, revitalized the Village Course in 2017 and the Hills Course in 2020 with his father as part of the club’s 50th anniversary. The Hills Course ranks No. 5 on Golfweek’s Best 2021 list of private courses in Florida.
“We are so excited to bring this premiere junior golf event to Jupiter Hills Club,” said AJGA Executive Director Stephen Hamblin via the media statement. “The partnership we have with TaylorMade and Jupiter Hills is going to elevate this event to a new level in just its second year, and we cannot wait to help promote junior golf at such a premiere venue.”
The UNIQLO Adam Scott Junior Golf Championship is bound for L.A. in February.
A handful of the world’s best junior golfers will be bound for Los Angeles in 2022 for a new tournament hosted by a PGA Tour star.
On Tuesday it was announced that apparel retailer UNIQLO and the American Junior Golf Association would hold the UNIQLO Adam Scott Junior Golf Championship at River Ridge Golf Club in Los Angeles, Feb. 18-21, 2022.
The AJGA, Japan Golf Association and Golf Australia will team up and select 78 players, ages 12-18, to compete. Scott, a 14-time winner on the PGA Tour and the 2013 Masters champion, will host a discussion and run a clinic with participants.
“It is a great honor to host such a wonderful tournament with UNIQLO, which we have been working with for many years. When I was a junior player, I learned not only the fun of playing golf, but also about other important things in life, such as honesty and respect,” said Scott via a press release. “Together with UNIQLO, we have created a tournament we hope will be a valuable learning opportunity for young people.”
