Tag: AJGA

Leigh Chien earns Symetra Tour start by defending KPMG Stacy Lewis Junior All-Star Invitational title

Leigh Chien, 14, won the KPMG Stacy Lewis Junior All-Star Invitational on Thursday by reaching 11 under for 54 holes at Blessings Golf Club.

Leigh Chien does not want for role models in women’s golf. At a tournament put on by Stacy Lewis, Chien defended her title with Nelly Korda’s sweet swing in her head.

Chien, 14, won the KPMG Stacy Lewis Junior All-Star Invitational on Thursday by reaching 11 under for 54 holes at the notoriously difficult Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Arkansas. She won by nine shots. Blessings is the home course for the golf teams at Arkansas (Lewis is a former Razorback) and memorably hosted the 2019 NCAA Championships.

Chien was the only player either field, girls or boys, to break 70 all three days (69-69-67). That’s notable in a tournament with a unique format. Players played in twosomes each round, made up of one competitor from the boys division and one from the girls division. The idea is to promote equity, friendly competition, and reinforce the importance of ethics, integrity and leadership in junior golf. It is, in part, Lewis’ mark on her namesake event.

Scores: KPMG Stacy Lewis Junior All-Star Invitational

For her part, Chien enjoyed the experience. It’s a good format, she said, and the pace was fast.

Chien played with second-round leader Kush Arora on Thursday. Jack Usner from The Woodlands, Texas, ended up firing a final-round 67 to come from behind for the victory. He won by two shots at 4 under.

Before teeing it up in Fayetteville, Chien, who lives in Irvine, California, had studied Korda’s swing on YouTube. She liked the tempo. She also likes Korda’s strong short game.

Leigh Chien takes a swing at Blessings Golf Club. (AJGA photo)

At Blessings, Chien notes that you need to hit it straight off the tee – no problem there for her – and you need to be able to control slick and sloping greens. The putting surfaces are much different than anything she’s used to, but it’s the place where she’s most able to demonstrate her growth over the past year.

Chien won the 2019 Stacy Lewis event despite having eight three-putts throughout the week. This time, she only had two.

“I think all around, my game was pretty solid,” Chien said. “I only missed one fairway, which was the first hole of today, and my approach shots were also really on point. I got a lot of them inside 10 feet or so. I capitalized on a lot of them, which really helped me shoot low.”

If there’s a gauntlet at Blessings, for Chien it’s No. 14, a tight par 4. She picked her spot off the tee, kept driver in her hand and hit that spot in each round. She played the hole in even par for the week.

This time last year, the Stacy Lewis title represented Chien’s first win in an AJGA invitational.

“Being able to shoot under par on this course last year gave me a lot of confidence coming into this year,” she said.

The spoils are both tangible and career advancing. An invitational title comes with a new golf bag for the winner and the Stacy Lewis event in particular comes with an exemption into a Symetra Tour event.

Chien played her way into the Firekeepers Casino Hotel Championship in Battle Creek, Michigan, last year. She fired rounds of 76-75 and missed the cut. It was her first professional start. This year, she earned a start in the Founders Tribute at Longbow, to be played Aug. 14-16 in Mesa, Arizona.

“I definitely learned that I needed to hit it a lot longer,” she said of the learning experience that Firekeepers offered. “… I worked on my speed from there.”

The improvement, in all areas of Chien’s game, certainly shows.

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Junior golf is back: David Ford claims title at AJGA Invitational at Sedgefield

On Thursday, David Ford won the AJGA Invitational at Sedgefield, the junior tour’s first event back since mid-February.

A few months have passed since the AJGA crowned a winner. On Thursday, David Ford won the AJGA Invitational at Sedgefield, the junior tour’s first event back since mid-February. Ford played 72 holes at Sedgefield Golf Club in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 8 under to win the event by two shots.

Ford closed the week with a round of even-par 70, which was his highest all week. He kept himself in contention with opening rounds of 68-65-69. In Friday’s final round, he was 3 over through 14 holes before playing his final four holes in 2 under. That effectively separated him.

“It was kind of a rough putting day,” he said. “I knew how well I was rolling it, just nothing went in.”

Scores: AJGA Invitational at Sedgefield

Ford finished ahead of Maxwell Moldovan, the AJGA’s Rolex Player of the Year in 2019 and a soon-to-be freshman at Ohio State, and Wells Williams, a high-school sophomore from West Point, Mississippi.

Ford is ranked No. 14 in the Golfweek Junior Rankings and will play golf at the University of North Carolina in 2021. Earlier in the year, he finished sixth at the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley and seventh at the Dustin Johnson World Junior Championship.

The Sedgefield event marked his first AJGA Invitational victory.

“I’ve put myself in pretty good position my last four or five tournaments,” Ford said. “Not amazing position but pretty good. I had the lead going into today and to finish it off, it means a lot. I’ve been working toward this for awhile and it feels really good.”

Preston Summerhays, who won the 2019 U.S. Junior, was tied for fourth at 4 under with Sean-Karl Dobson of Austin, Texas.

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AJGA reveals ambitious summer schedule with safety precautions in place

The AJGA will ramp up competition again in June, but will do so carefully and safely.

The American Junior Golf Association is about to embark on a significant undertaking in reviving its 2020 season. The junior golf circuit, just like most competitive events and tours, went dark in mid-February in light of the coronavirus. The good news is the AJGA will return June 8-12 for the AJGA Invitational at Sedefield Country Club in Greensboro, North Carolina. That event will kick off an expanded summer lineup featuring as many as seven events per week.

The organization calls it the most robust fall competition in its more than 40-year history. The full schedule can be found here.

The AJGA revamped its summer schedule according to industry guidelines for safety and social distancing. Recommendations from global health partners and the Back2Golf plan (an industry-wide collaboration of the PGA Tour, PGA of America, USGA, LPGA, IAGA and allied golf associations) were considered, and the AJGA has also said it will consult with local government officials to make sure community guidelines are met.

“Creative solutions are our hallmark,” said Executive Director Stephen Hamblin. “Returning safely to our mission after a global pandemic has required the coordinated effort of our staff, board, and local and global partners. We’ve used extensive expert advice, examined and adapted how we do absolutely everything in the safest possible way, and built a playbook for our team to follow.”

Among those solutions are the following:

  • The AJGA is eliminating physical paperwork and now will provide digital access to any necessary tournament documents. Players will score exclusively using the Golf Genius app on a smart phone and no paper scorecards will be exchanged or used.
  • Flagsticks are to remain in the hole and bunker rakes will be removed.
  • Players will be assigned designated warm-up times beginning an hour before each scheduled tee time, and host facilities may close those practice grounds after practice and competitive rounds.
  • A player can bring only one spectator on tournament grounds, with no exceptions. Staff, essential volunteers and players will participate in health screening questions prior to tournament play. An advanced health care provider (doctor or nurse) will be available at each event.

The AJGA will be reducing tournament fields (in most cases, to 78 players) and social distancing is now required of competitors by the organization’s code of conduct.

Junior golf is on its way back.

Junior golf: What does the summer tournament schedule look like after coronavirus?

Many junior golf tours and events have had to adjust both their schedules and operating procedures in light of the coronavirus pandemic.

The summer golf schedule certainly looks different than it did at the start of the 2020 season. Many tours have had to adjust both their schedules and their operating procedures in light of the coronavirus pandemic. Many other events have fallen off the schedule completely, such as the U.S. Junior and U.S. Girls’ Junior.

As school lets out this month, juniors would normally be doubling down on their summer competition. Using a list of previously ranked events in our Golfweek Junior Rankings database, we compiled updates for the summer junior golf calendar. News and information for this list can be emailed to Julie Williams at jwilliams@golfweek.com.

One-off events

Scott Robertson Memorial
May 15-17, Roanoke (Virginia) Country Club
Canceled.

Dye Junior Invitational
May 25-27, Crooked Stick Golf Club, Carmel, Indiana
No change.

Byron Nelson Junior
June 2-4, Lakewood Country Club, Dallas
No change.

Maridoe Junior Invitational
June 9-11, Maridoe Golf Club, Carrollton, Texas
New event on the schedule. (Invitation only)

Western Junior
June 15-18, Onwentsia Club, Lake Forest, Illinois
Canceled.

Women’s Western Junior
June 15-19, The Grove Country Club, Long Grove, Illinois
Canceled.

Pepsi Little People’s Golf Championship
June 18-24, Virtual
The long-running tournament in Quincy, Illinois, was originally scheduled for June 22-24 but has moved to a virtual platform this year.

Barbasol Junior Championship
June 29-July 2, Keene Trace Golf Club, Nicholasville, Kentucky
Canceled.

North & South Junior & Girls’ Junior
July 4-8, Pinehurst (North Carolina) Nos. 2, 6, 8
No change.

Bubba Conlee
July 7-9, Mirimichi Golf Course, Millington, Tennessee
Canceled.

Optimist International Junior
July 11-26 (various age groups), Trump National Doral Miami (Florida)
Canceled.

Hudson Junior
July 13-16, Country Club of Hudson (Ohio)
Moved from June to new July dates listed above.

Junior PGA Championship
July 13-16, PGA Golf Club, Port St. Lucie, Florida
Canceled.

U.S. Girls’ Junior
July 13-18, U.S. Air Force Academy’s Eisenhower Golf Club, Colorado Springs, Colorado
Canceled.

U.S. Junior Amateur
July 20-25, Hazeltine National Golf Club, Chaska, Minnesota
Canceled.

Girls Junior America’s Cup
July 21-23, Banbury GC, Boise, Idado
Canceled.

Boys Junior America’s Cup
July 26-30, Genoa Lakes Club, Reno, Nevada
Canceled.

Northern Junior Championship
July 27-29, Great River Golf Club, Milford, Connecticut
No changes.

Girls’ Junior PGA Championship
July 28-31, PGA Golf Club, Port St. Lucie, Florida
Canceled.

Nike Junior Invitational
Aug. 8-9, University of Georgia Golf Course, Athens, Georgia
Postponed until further notice.

Southern Junior
Aug. 12-14, Blessings Golf Club, Fayetteville, Arkansas
Postponed from June 17-19 to new August dates listed above.

Notah Begay Junior Invitational
Nov. 15-17, Koasati Pines at Coushatta, Kinder, Louisiana
Qualifying for the inaugural event has been reformatted because of the COVID-19 outbreak. Local qualifying has been canceled so the 140-player field (50 boys, ages 14-18; 20 boys 13 and under; 50 girls ages 14-18 and 20 girls 13 and under) will be filled entirely by regional qualifying in July and August.

Junior Tours

American Junior Golf Association: A schedule update will be made Wednesday, May 20, but the next tournament on the schedule is the AJGA Invitational at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, North Carolina, to be played June 8-12. Events scheduled for June 22 and beyond also remain on the AJGA’s schedule.

Canadian Junior Golf Association: Tour plans to provide an update in the near future regarding remainder of 2020 season.

Florida Junior Tour: Canceled through May 31.

Future Champions Tour: An event in Escondido, California, on May 9-10 marked the tour’s restart. The Tour will operate on an updated schedule for the remainder of the season.

Golfweek Junior Invitationals: The Golfweek West Coast Junior Open in Maricopa, Arizona, is still on the schedule for May 23-24.

Golfweek Junior Tour: The Tour restarted in Springboro, Ohio, on May 9 and will continue playing through May and June (with some new events and some events on new dates).

Hurricane Junior Tour: Returned to competition as of May 2-3.

IMG Junior Tour: The remainder of the Tour’s spring schedule was canceled, which included the Tour Championship which had initially been postponed to May 23-24.

International Junior Golf Tour: All spring tournaments canceled.

Peggy Kirk Bell Girls Golf Tour: Six postponed events still need new dates, but the next tournament on the calendar is the PKBGT Open Champion in Salisbury, North Carolina, starting May 23.

Rocky Mountain Junior Golf Tour: Scheduled to return to competition starting Memorial Day weekend (May 23-25).

Southeastern Junior Golf Tour: Working to reschedule events that were canceled in March and April. Tour restarted May 9-10 with the Chattachoochee Junior Classic in Gainseville, Georgia.

Texas Legends Junior Tour: The Byron Nelson Junior Championship remains on the schedule for June 2-4 with registration open for the next four events through June and July.

Texas Junior Tour: The Tour has an extensive safety plan for competitions from May forward.

Toyota Tour Cup Series: All events canceled through June 21 with plans to resume play on June 22.

Junior golfers step up to the plate to raise funds for COVID-19 through AJGA program

A total of 56 AJGA members are working on projects to support COVID-19 efforts and have collectively raised $26,000.

These are strange times when simply staying at home can make an impact. For an ambitious junior golfer like Chloe Chan, that didn’t feel like doing nearly enough to combat the coronavirus effects being felt around the world.

Chan, a 16-year-old from Hong Kong, has spent the last two summers on the American Junior Golf Association circuit. She knew it would be a way to showcase her game for U.S. college coaches, and it ultimately resulted in a verbal commitment to the University of Wisconsin. Summer golf also opened the door to the AJGA community. When Chan got an email from the AJGA about raising money, she went all in, using social media and email as platforms.

“I started using Instagram, Facebook, connecting with family and friends, letting them know that I have this thing up and I want them to donate to it,” Chan said. “My goal was to get to $1,000 and I managed to reach that.”

It was a big goal with the currency difference between the U.S. and Hong Kong, she said. Chan had been watching the situation become more and more serious around the world but wasn’t sure how to play her part until the AJGA’s email came through.

“It was just perfect timing, I would say,” Chan said.

Joining forces

Chan is among several AJGA players who have rallied to raise money for Direct Relief, a humanitarian aid organization currently focused on providing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to health care workers, making ICU medication and equipment more accessible and providing staffing and support to overwhelmed facilities.

“I feel like I’m responsible to give back and I feel like this is a great way to help,” Chan said by phone last month from Hong Kong.

Weeks into the pandemic, 56 AJGA total members are working on projects to support COVID-19 efforts and have collectively raised $26,000.

The AJGA’s fundraising arm exists even in times of normalcy. A program called Leadership Links helps equip AJGA members to raise money for larger causes or for causes of their own choosing. Since 2009, more than 3,000 juniors have volunteered nearly 30,000 hours and raised almost $3 million for charity.

For the first time in the 11-year history of the Leadership Links program, director of youth development Beth Dockter noted, juniors both in the United States and abroad rallied behind a single cause related to an international disaster.

“COVID-19 has been an equalizer for juniors from every walk of life to come together to make a difference,” Dockter said.

Yu Wen Lu and Eddie Zhang, both of Shanghai, China, were some of the first players to begin raising money for Direct Relief. Lu raised more than three times her $1,000 goal.

More players continued to join the effort. Aksel and Jonas Moe, 13- and 14-year-old brothers from Richville, Minnesota, raised for than $6,000 for the relief effort.

Some players branched out from social media and email, like Savannah Hylton and Jonathan Griz. In the absence of junior golf, the two Hilton Head Island, South Carolina-based teens started calling hospitals and redirecting money for canceled spring golf tournaments to the medical force. The money instead went toward snack and supplies organized into goodie bags with hand-written thank-you notes.

This affects the whole world

Charlene Chung also lives in Hong Kong – she and Chloe Chan sometimes practice together, but not lately. Chung has joined the effort with her friend, also setting – and exceeding – a $1,000 goal. She used social media and tapped family friends in her fundraising effort.

“I think it was just because it not only affected China and Hong Kong, in my area, but it also affected the whole world,” she said of getting involved.

Chung said she had some experience fundraising, having done charity work as a sixth grader in the form of a baking contest through a program called Creativity Activity Service. She also has volunteered at schools, working with younger children.

Chung’s first AJGA start was two years ago. She was inspired by the level of competition and hopes to one day qualify for the U.S. Girls’ Junior, a tournament that has already been canceled for 2020.

“When I went to play the AJGA for the first time I was like whoa,” she remembers. “That made me work a lot harder while I’m here.”

In times of crisis, a determination usually funneled into junior golf has simply been redirected.

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Cameron Champ: Passion, not money, is the only way to excel in golf

A drive for trophies and money won’t help fuel a long golf career, according to PGA Tour rising star Cameron Champ.

Practice is a necessity. Talent needs to be obvious.

But a drive for trophies and money won’t help fuel a long golf career, according to PGA Tour rising star Cameron Champ, who spoke with longtime coach Sean Foley on an American Junior Golf Association Instagram Live feed this week.

Champ, who grew up in Sacramento, California, said he’s learned through time — and he’s still only 24 — that the most success comes from a passion to simply play the game.

“If you’re playing for the fame and the money and all that other stuff, you’re not going to play well at all,” Champ said. “You’ll have 10 different things going through your mind when you’re sitting over a simple inside-the-cup four-footer and you’ll miss it because you’ve got so much going on in your head.

“If you play for the love of the game, which is what all of us, down inside, is why we’re playing … when you get to certain points, whether you want to move up in the rankings or whether you want to make this tournament, you can’t really think about that. You have to just play. Everything will fall the way it falls. You can’t really try to force anything.”

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Champ, who already has a pair of PGA Tour victories under his belt, has very few problems off the tee, where he’s already established himself as one of the best. So it’s not surprising that much of his work during the pandemic has been focused on his short game.

The former Texas A&M star insists that will likely remain a large part of his routine moving forward, too.

“For me, it’s 80 percent, if not a little more, just short game. Basically, like 150 yards and in,” he said. “Obviously, you still want to focus on the good, but you may want to focus on the bad. For me, my ball-striking and off the tee, has been (good). But when you look at my stats from 150 yards in, that’s where everything I need to work on. For me, down the line, that’s the main area I’m going to focus on,  pretty much my entire career.”

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Coronavirus: When could competitive golf return?

With most professional golf, and competitive golf on all levels, on hiatus, we’re all wondering when we might see the sport return.

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The sports world as we know it has changed completely, with major leagues – golf included – grinding to a halt in an effort to help slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. A month ago, cancellation notices for major golf tournaments began rolling in, leaving professional golf quiet for the next several weeks.

At some point, professional golf – and competitive golf on every other level, from state associations to junior to college and amateur – will return.

Below is a running list of the current status of the major tours, and various other organizations, with updates on when each might resume play.

PGA Tour

The last completed tournament on the PGA Tour’s wrap-around 2019-20 schedule was the Arnold Palmer Invitational, played in Orlando, Florida on March 5-8. The last actual round, however, was the first round of the Players Championship, which went off March 12 before the remainder of the tournament was canceled the next day. The Tour has now been dark five weeks. Next week’s Masters has been postponed with the next four events – through the (already postponed) PGA Championship – outright canceled.

With events still jostling around on the schedule, our Eamon Lynch presented a picture of how the rest of the season might unfold. As Lynch reports, “While any refreshed schedule would obviously be subject to change — and complete cancellation, given the rapidly expanding coronavirus crisis — the timeframe targeted to resume the PGA Tour season is mid-June.”

Korn Ferry Tour

The developmental tour has been dark since March 1, the final round of the El Bosque Mexico Championship. The next eight weeks of events have come off the calendar with only two being postponed as opposed to canceled: the Visit Knoxville Open and Savannah Golf Championship. The earliest play could resume would be May 21, which would be the first round of the Evans Scholars Invitational.

Champions Tour

The Champions Tour is in a very similar position, having been dark since March 8. Two of the tour’s seven disrupted events – the Regions Tradition slotted for May 7-10 and the Principal Charity Classic scheduled for May 29-31 – have been rescheduled for September. The Champions Tour could return as early as June 5, which would be the American Family Insurance Championship. The next event after that? The U.S. Senior Open Championship.

LPGA

An April 3 announcement from the LPGA moved a season re-start back to at least mid-June. The tour continues to be heavily impacted by the coronavirus, especially considering that it lost three Asia Swing events in February and early March before most tours felt the impact in their domestic events. A revised schedule shows the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship as a possible returning point June 19-21 with the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, a major, slotted for the next week.

Symetra Tour

As it stands now, the developmental tour could return in a similar time-frame to the LPGA. Play is on hold through the end of May, with the Island Resort Championship on June 19-21 being the first possible return date.

European Tour

The European Tour schedule is on hiatus at least through the end of May. The Trophee Hassan II, which would be played June 4-7 in Rabat, Morocco, is the next standing event on the calendar. Like the PGA Tour, the last completed tournament on the European circuit was the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters on March 5-8.

The scoreboard at the 2019 NCAA Women’s Championship. (Photo by Julie Williams)

NCAA

When it comes to sanctioned NCAA college events, the 2019-20 season was officially kaput on March 12 when the NCAA announced it was canceling all spring sports. Many conferences had already made such declarations.

While we’re on hold until September and the start of the 2020-21 college golf season, some collegians may see some action at the Arnold Palmer Cup at Lahinch Golf Club in Ireland, scheduled for July 3-5. When the teams were revealed for the annual event, the GCAA also announced that “in these unprecedented times we do not know if the matches will be held as scheduled, postponed, or canceled.”

AJGA

As the largest junior golf organization in the country, the American Junior Golf Association is a leader in the up-and-coming sector of golf. The AJGA runs events year-round, but is on hiatus until at least Memorial Day weekend. The organization announced March 16 that it would suspend all events until that date, and then would run seven events per week “to maximize playing opportunities” through the end of the year.

USGA

A decision will likely be made soon regarding the U.S. Open, which is still scheduled for June 18-21 at Winged Foot in Mamaroneck, New York (the U.S. Women’s Open has already been moved from June to December). The U.S. Senior Open and U.S. Senior Women’s Open would be the next events after that, scheduled for late June and early July, respectively.

The big question here surrounds the USGA’s amateur events. The organization has canceled the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball and U.S. Amateur Four-Ball, and moved the Curtis Cup, scheduled for June, to 2021. Registration has been delayed for four major amateur events: U.S. Amateur, U.S. Women’s Amateur, U.S. Junior and U.S. Girls’ Junior. Those four events account for most of the USGA’s July and August lineup.

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State golf associations fall in line with pro tours in suspending events

State golf associations have heeded cautions about large gatherings, with many suspending competitions in the wake of the coronavirus.

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As golf’s major bodies – the PGA Tour, PGA of America and Augusta National Golf Club – have made decisions about the sport’s immediate future in the wake of a coronavirus outbreak, there has been a trickle-down effect. Jim Demick, executive director of the Florida State Golf Association, is one of those people paying close attention.

Demick, who has been at the helm of the FSGA for 24 years, and his organization moved quickly. All FSGA competitions were suspended on March 14, shortly after the next three weeks’ events on the PGA Tour were canceled. The Masters was postponed shortly after the FSGA announced its decision.

“That comforted us some that the major organizations in golf were concerned enough about not even holding a golf tournament without spectators present,” Demick said.

LPGA commissioner Mike Whan’s statement sealed it. In taking the next three LPGA events off the calendar – which included the season’s first major, the ANA Inspiration – Whan noted that he couldn’t live with the possibility of being wrong and putting people in danger by going ahead with events.

“These are golf tournaments where, in our case, a bunch of amateur golfers go play in a tournament,” Demick said. “It’s just not that important, and I’ve dedicated my life to running these events and building this organization. But in the final analysis, these golf tournaments are just not that important.”

FSGA’s suspension includes all tournaments, trainings and education functions. Players already registered for canceled events will receive a full refund, which signals an understanding on the part of host sites.

Demick said the FSGA’s move was based on the health of its staff, as well as the individuals who might be affected at those sites.

“I don’t think our demographics are dramatically different than most large amateur golf associations, but we do know that in the early part of the season, we run a lot of senior championships for men and women and many of our volunteer rules officials are also seniors, and of course there are seniors at the clubs that we visit with competitors.”

“With them being at a higher risk factor or higher risk level, that was one additional consideration.”

MORE: USGA calls off Four-Balls; changes coming for U.S. Open, Women’s Open qualifying

Farther north, Michigan faced a broader and more complicated issue. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer released an executive order on Monday placing “temporary restrictions on the use of places of public accommodation.” The order extended from restaurants to bars to theaters to libraries. It mentioned golf courses explicitly.

Chris Witten, executive director of the Golf Association of Michigan, and the Michigan Golf Alliance spent much of Monday working to figure out what, exactly, that order meant. The Michigan Golf Alliance is made up of several of golf’s governing bodies in the state, including the GAM and the Michigan PGA.

“We’ve been on a continuous email and call loop the last 12 hours trying to get clarity on what that executive order really means,” Witten said on Tuesday, noting that the Alliance was seeking confirmation from the governor’s office on how to proceed in compliance.

Later in the afternoon, the GAM clarified on its web site that courses would remain open for the sole purpose of golf and that indoor restaurant/bar facilities must close for the designated period through March 30.

In the meantime, the GAM has canceled in-person education seminars and meetings through the end of the month. The first event on its competition schedule is not until April 25.

Like the FSGA and the GAM for guidance, many associations have already responded.

On Monday, the Texas Golf Association announced measures similar to the FSGA, suspending all competitions and golf activities indefinitely but at least through April 12. That includes the South Senior Amateur, that was to be played in Beaumont, and the North Senior Amateur, scheduled for Frisco. The TGA will also issue full refunds.

Golf House Kentucky is canceling all events through April 12, the Carolinas Golf Association canceled events through April 15 and the Arizona Golf Association has gone dark through the end of March, but players wishing to play at tournament venues on the scheduled dates can still play (though it won’t be a formal event).

The Alabama Golf Association has postponed the first competition on its 2020 calendar and said it would closely monitor the situation as other events approach. The Metropolitan Amateur Golf Association, located in St. Louis, Missouri, sent a message to its members on Tuesday that competitions – which do not begin until April 27 – would continue as scheduled, for now.

In California, the Northern California Golf Association announced it would suspend all scheduled competitions and events through April 18. The Southern California Golf Association announced it would suspend all gatherings – competitive and non-competitive – indefinitely, with a status update coming in a week.

In Arizona, the AGA has canceled all scheduled competitions in March.

On the junior golf level

The American Junior Golf Association presented one of the most thorough plans on Monday when it called off events through Memorial Day weekend (May 23-25) but revealed a plan to beef up its schedule once life returns to normal.

“We’ve taken the past few days to align with mission-critical partners, host facilities and local leaders and ask for their support in rescheduling spring events,” executive director Stephen Hamblin said in a statement on the AJGA’s site. “We plan to open the season Memorial Day weekend and conduct an expanded schedule with seven events per week to maximize playing opportunities for members.”

Here’s hoping for a busy summer and fall.

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Joseph Pagdin takes up residence atop Golfweek Junior Rankings

Joseph Pagdin’s resume includes a top-10 finish at the Rolex Tournament of Champions last fall and semifinal run at the U.S. Junior.

Joseph Pagdin came up four shots short Monday at the Simplify Boys Championship at Carlton Woods, a stacked AJGA invitational traditionally played over Presidents Day weekend. By the next day, however, Pagdin had claimed something else: the top spot in Golfweek’s Junior Rankings.

The 18-year-old Englishman now lives in Orlando, Florida, and is headed to the University of Florida next fall. He’ll be part of a major infusion of talent for the Gators in the graduating class of 2020. Pagdin’s resume includes a top-10 finish at the Rolex Tournament of Champions last fall and a run to the semifinals at the U.S. Junior, where he lost to eventual champion Preston Summerhays.

Joseph Pagdin signs with Florida (Photo: Justin Johnson)

At Carlton Woods in The Woodlands, Texas, Pagdin fired rounds of 64-64-68 for a 16 under total. It just wasn’t quite enough to overtake Luke Potter, the Encinitas, California, resident whose 20 under total included a course-record 10-under 62 in the second round. Potter’s 54-hole total is an AJGA tournament record.

For that effort, Potter also made a considerable move up the rankings, from No. 21 to No. 5.

Potter has committed to play for Arizona State in 2022.

Karl Vilips, an Australian headed Stanford in the fall, lost the top spot but not by much. After his own T-11 finish at the Simplify Boys Championship, Vilips only dropped to No. 2 in the Golfweek Junior Rankings.

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Benedetta Moresco’s AJGA debut ends with Annika Invitational USA trophy

Benedetta Moresco won the Annika Invitational USA in her first competitive start in the United States.

Benedetta Moresco’s tournament history is diverse. Type her name into the World Amateur Golf Rankings and the hit produces a list of tournament starts in which a U.S. flag appears only once, to indicate Moresco’s turn on the European Junior Solheim Cup team for last fall’s matches in Scotland.

This week’s Annika Invitational USA was both Moresco’s first competitive start in the U.S. and her first win. It’s significant considering that she relied on a tip from tournament host Annika Sorenstam during a weekend clinic to make up for inexperience on Bermudagrass.

Moresco went 4 under at World Golf Village’s Slammer & Squire course in St. Augustine, Florida, edging runner-up Sadie Englemann (a 2020 classmate) by two shots. She played the front nine of the final round in even par – three birdies, three bogeys – but felt she really had a leg up on Englemann by the time she cleared the par-5 16th with a birdie to reach 1 under on the back.

Leaderboard: Annika Invitational USA

For as much inexperience as she has on thick Bermuda, wind that kicked up on the final day worked to her advantage.

“I quite like playing in the wind,” Moresco said. “I prefer wind instead of rain. I was kind of confident today even though the wind was blowing high.”

She arrived two days early in St. Augustine and devoted her practice rounds to practicing touch shots around the green. By the first round of the tournament, she felt relatively confident and posted 1-under 71, the sixth-best score of the day.

Sorenstam typically hosts a clinic during this event, which happened after the second round. She focused on short game and Moresco listened carefully.

“I learned that you have to swing with the bounce and let the club do the work,” Moresco said. “I was hitting it harder and with a negative angle but then I understand I have to use more bounce and let the grass help and the club swing through.”

St. Augustine is a long way from Moresco’s home in Caldogno, Vicenza, Italy. Her favorite course, however, is in France – Saint-Cloud Golf Club near Paris. You can see the Eiffel Tower from the 17th hole.

Playing around Europe, particularly on her home course in Italy, has reigned in Moresco’s tee ball.

“I grew up on a narrow course,” she said. “Here it’s different because the fairways are a little bit wide open and the driver was really good today and the whole week.”

Annika Sorenstam presents the trophy to Benedetta Moresco. (Photo: Annika Foundation)

For proof of the girls golf empire that Sorenstam has built, look no further than Moresco. After four starts at the Annika Invitational Europe (she finished in the top 5 last year), Moresco decided to play the U.S. event for the first time. She became the first Italian champion. This was also her first AJGA start.

Moresco was headed back to Italy after a long holiday weekend in Florida. The Italian player has competed all over Europe in the past two years, winning twice in Italian “under 18” events. In a few months, she’ll be back to play the Augusta National Women’s Amateur for the first time. At No. 24 in the world, she easily earned an invitation – and one that prompted lots of screaming when it arrived in the mail.

Moresco’s older sister Angelica, a junior at the University of Alabama (ranked No. 72 in the world) will make the five-hour drive from Tuscaloosa that week to watch Benedetta compete. Next fall, Angelica will likely help ease the college transition for little sis, who has signed to play for the Crimson Tide, too.

“It’s exciting because I really want this experience and every time I look on the calendar and see that days are coming,” Benedetta said. “I’m kind of nervous but I’m really, really happy and I really can’t wait.”

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