Blades Brown and Gianna Clemente were named Tuesday as the American Junior Golf Association’s 2024 Rolex Junior Players of the Year.
The Rolex Junior All-America Teams annually recognize the world’s premier junior golfers. The 2024 class includes 48 boys and girls, ages 13-19, from 19 states and three countries.
Brown, a 17-year-old from Nashville, Tennesssee, finished third at the AJGA Simplify Boys Championship in a field that included 18 of the top-20 players, highlighted by 2023 Rolex Junior Player of the Year, Miles Russell. He also made his PGA Tour debut this spring at the Myrtle Beach Classic. He also won medalist honors at the U.S. Junior Amateur, becoming only the third person to do so at the Junior and U.S. Amateur. He then placed second at the Junior Players.
Gianna Clemente of the United States plays her shot from the fourth tee during the final round of the Mizuho Americas Open at Liberty National Golf Club on May 19, 2024, in Jersey City, New Jersey. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
Clemente, 16, is now a five-time Rolex Junior All-American. She began the year with a top-10 finish at the Fortinet Girls Invitational and then tied for 11th at the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley. She also placed fifth at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur before winning the Mizuho Americas Open. Clemente was a semifinalist at the U.S. Girls’ Junior and made the Round of 32 at the U.S. Women’s Amateur.
Brown, Clemente and the 2024 Rolex Junior All-America Teams will be honored at the Rolex Junior All-America Awards Banquet on Saturday, Nov. 23, at the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa.
“Just to be on tour, week to week like this, this has been my dream since I was a little kid.”
When Gianna Clemente was first introduced to golf as a toddler, the stakes were not quite as high as the LPGA.
Range sessions with her father, Patrick, included friendly wagers over a bag of M&Ms or a Snickers.
“She grew up on the golf course. It’s in the family to be at the club all the time,” said Patrick, who played college golf at Youngstown State. “We tried to keep it fun.”
Patrick had no idea his daughter would show the strive and passion to become a rising star in the sport. He’s been able to see every step of the journey pulling double duty as dad and caddie.
“Golf started as something that I just wanted to be around my dad,” Clemente said. “Deep down, he loves caddying. He wants to be out here just as much as I do.”
‘There was this drive and fire’
Gianna Clemente sizes up a putt on the18th green during the 2024 Kroger Queen City Championship at TPC River Bend in Maineville, Ohio. (Liz Dufour/The Enquirer)
Clemente, 16, is the top-ranked amateur in the Rolex AJGA Rankings. She won the American Junior Golf Association’s Mizuho Americas Open in May and helped lead Team USA to the U.S. Ping Junior Solheim Cup title Sept. 10. She received a sponsor invite to the Kroger Queen City Championship this week at TPC River’s Bend in Maineville, her sixth career LPGA Tour event.
In 2022, Clemente played in the inaugural Kroger Queen City Championship at Kenwood Country Club at 14 years old, becoming just the second player ever (Hee-Won Han) to Monday qualify for three consecutive LPGA events.
This time around, there’s no early-week pressure as she’s secured a spot in the field amongst the game’s best.
“Just to be on tour, week to week like this, this has been my dream since I was a little kid,” Clemente said in her pre-tournament press conference Tuesday.
It’s a dream that began with countless hours with dad between Squaw Creek and Avalon Lakes Golf Course in Trumbull County. Other sports like gymnastics and softball didn’t stick the way golf did. By the age of 10, she had won two major junior championships. At 11, she qualified for the U.S. Women’s Amateur and wasn’t fazed by the slew of cameras and media attention that came along with it.
“There was just this drive and fire. It was almost like she liked that attention. I thought that was a little unique,” Patrick said. “Everybody is nervous, but I thought the way she handled being put on that stage at a really young stage was different.”
‘I try not to be dad at all’
Gianna Clemente of the United States reacts with her caddie Patrick Clemente after saving par on the No. 9 green during round two of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur at Champions Retreat Golf Club, Thursday, April 4, 2024. David Paul Morris/Augusta National
The journey has been a process for Patrick, too. Trying to juggle the roles of dad and caddie was a hard hurdle to clear early on. He started as Clemente’s swing coach, but knew she had to pave her own way eventually.
“As a family and a support system, we’re smart enough to know that she needs to make her own path,” he said.
The secret? Patrick doesn’t let the dad role come out at all inside the ropes. In addition to a full-time swing coach, Clemente is coached by Jorge Parade from Liberty National. Patrick has backed out of anything swing-related and is focused on a game management role from the bag.
“Somehow, we’ve found a way to compartmentalize a little bit,” Patrick said. “On the course, if dad comes out, it doesn’t work. It’s knowing when to let her be or walk 50 yards ahead to let her work with a coach while I stay out of the way. That’s a healthy thing. Somehow, we still get along.”
‘This is his dream, too’
Gianna Clemente smiles while walking to the hole eight tee box during the second round of the 2023 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles, Calif. on Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2023. (James Gilbert/USGA)
When she first qualified for the Canadian Women’s Open in 2022, Clemente stepped on the putting green for the first time and was somewhat star-struck.
“I had no idea what I was doing,” she laughed.
Clemente has pictures with the likes of Morgan Pressel, Paula Reto and Lexi Thompson from her days with dad at the Dana Open in Toledo. When she found herself playing against her idols, nerves were initially at an all-time high.
“It takes time for those (nerves) to wear off,” Clemente said.
It’s all part of the gig now for both Clemente and Patrick. She dreamed of teeing it up with the best women’s golfers on the planet. He never thought he’d caddie at places like Augusta National.
“It’s amazing for me but I know it’s even cooler for him,” Clemente said. “This is his dream, too.”
Players got a little bit of everything from the weather Wednesday. Early-morning clouds gave way to plenty of midday sun with some afternoon showers, as well. However, that rain didn’t damper any of the excitement from the Round of 64 in match play, with plenty of matches going to extra holes and upsets across the board.
Kiara Romero, the 12th seed who three weeks ago won the U.S. Girls’ Junior, is one of the big names heading home early after falling to Thienna Huyhn. However, only two of the top 10 seeds were knocked out, and plenty of stars remain in Hollywood.
Here’s everything you need to know from the Round of 64 at the 2023 U.S. Women’s Amateur, including best Round of 32 matchups and TV information for Thursday.
It’s time for one of the premier women’s amateur championships.
The 2023 U.S. Women’s Amateur begins Monday at Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles, as the field of 156 players will vie for their chance to capture the oldest trophy in women’s amateur golf, the Robert Cox Trophy.
This will be the 123rd U.S. Women’s Amateur, which began in 1895. There were a record 1,679 entries accepted for the championship.
Although the top three players in the World Amateur Golf Ranking aren’t in the field, including defending champion Saki Baba, there’s no shortage of star power who will be teeing it up near Beverly Hills.
Here’s a look at 10 players to watch at the 2023 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Bel-Air Country Club.
It was a special week for Gianna Clemente and Miles Russell.
It was a special week for Gianna Clemente and Miles Russell.
They’re both going home with some new hardware for the trophy case.
Clemente and Russell won their respective divisions of the 47th Junior PGA Championship at Hot Springs Country Club in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Clemente finished at 9-under 275, beating Yana Wilson, Kylie Chong and Kinsley Ni by three shots. Last year, Wilson beat Clemente in the U.S. Girls’ Junior final.
Meanwhile, Russell ran away with the title on the boys side, finishing at 18-under 266 to win by seven shots. Jackson Byrd and Billy Davis tied for second at 11 under.
With their victories, Clemente and Russell earned spots on the Junior Ryder Cup team. Also earning spots were Byrd on the boys side and Chong on the girls side.
The event will be the first USGA championship conducted on a military base.
It’s time again for the best girls in the world to battle it out in the biggest junior event.
The 74th U.S. Girls’ Junior begins Monday at United States Air Force Academy Eisenhower Golf Club’s Blue Course in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The event will be the first USGA championship conducted on a military base. The site was originally scheduled to host in 2020, but COVID-19 canceled that championship.
Last year, Yana Wilson of Henderson, Nevada, defeated Gianna Clemente of Estero, Florida, 3 and 2, in the 36-hole championship match at The Club at Olde Stone in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Both are back in the field this week.
Here’s everything you need to know for the 2023 U.S. Girls’ Junior.
EVANS, Ga. — The Rose Zhang Show broke out early at Champions Retreat and picked up steam as the World No. 1 put together another record day at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. The Stanford sophomore broke her own course record with a second-round 65 and now leads Andrea Lignell by five strokes heading into Saturday’s final round at Augusta National.
Zhang’s 13-under 131 total also set a record.
While it almost feels like all that’s left is a celebration of Zhang, there were plenty of other highlights on a day when red numbers peppered the board for one of the most pressure-packed days in golf. A total of 31 players made the cut. Every player in the field, however, will tee it up on Friday for a practice round at Augusta National.
Here are five things to know beyond the Zhang headlines from Day 2 at ANWA:
Everything you need to know for one of, if not the, best junior golf tournaments in the world.
GRANITEVILLE, S.C. — Founded in 2011, the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley has become one of, if not the, best competitions in junior golf.
This year’s event at Sage Valley Golf Club, a private, pristine gem of a course nestled among the pines less than 20 miles from famed Augusta National Golf Club, features a loaded field of some of junior golf’s best players from 17 different countries.
Junior Invitational returned to the amateur schedule in 2022 after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the 54-hole event featured a new wrinkle: a girls competition held concurrently alongside the boys. Last year’s event didn’t just include the first girls field, but also the first playoff. Not only that, both boys and girls champions were decided by a playoff.
With a pair of gold jackets on the line, here’s everything you need to know for this week’s 2023 Junior Invitational at Sage Valley.
Neither defending champion will be back in 2023, but Bailey Shoemaker, who held a seven-shot lead entering the final round in 2022 and lost to girls champion Amalie Leth-Nissen in a playoff, returns as a favorite alongside 2022 Augusta National Women’s Amateur champion Anna Davis and nine of the top-10 players in the Golfweek/Sagarin girls ranking.
Of the 24 girls in the field, 13 are from the United States, with two from Spain and one from Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Germany, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and Taiwan.
The 36-player boys field includes the top-12 players in the Golfweek/Sagarin ranking, such as No. 1 Preston Stout and 2022 AJGA Player of the Year Eric Lee. A whopping 25 of the boys players hail from the United States, while Mexico and the United Kingdom each have two players in the field. Canada, the Netherlands, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden and Thailand each have one player in the field.
Records
The lowest rounds recorded both occurred during the inaugural event in 2011, where both Nick Reach (first round) and Justin Thomas (final round) shot 10-under 62. The closest since? That’d be 2019 champion Tom McKibbin, who fired an 8-under 64 in his final round.
Reach also holds the record for lowest 54-hole total after winning by eight shots in 2011 at 20 under following impressive rounds of 62-66-68. Last year’s playoff participants Luke Potter and champion Caleb Surratt each finished at 14 under, the second-best 54-hole total in event history.
On the flipside, the girl’s record books are primed for filling after last year’s inaugural event. Shoemaker holds the mark for lowest score with her 7-under 65 in the second round in 2022, which was two shots better than Davis’ 5-under 67 in the opening round.
Leth-Nissen and Shoemaker each finished at 5 under for the tournament before their playoff.
It's finally here! We're set up and ready to go for the 2023 Junior Invitational. pic.twitter.com/NHzLrctvK5
“Seeing the invitation on my front doorstep was like, woah.”
Gianna Clemente watched Jennifer Kupcho and Maria Fassi battle in 2019 at the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur and, like so many, thought: I really want to do that.
Clemente, 14, will be the youngest player in the field at this year’s event, but it still took longer to get there than she expected. Clemente became the youngest player to Monday-qualify for three consecutive LPGA events last year, and the only part of that stretch that surprised her coach, Spencer Graham, was that she didn’t make the cut in any of them.
Clemente, who turns 15 on March 23, isn’t the favorite at this year’s ANWA, which will be held March 29-April 1, the week before the 87th Masters. That would be Rose Zhang, the Stanford super sophomore who first rose to No. 1 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings back in September 2020. It’s worth noting, however, that junior golfers have won the past two ANWAs, with 16-year-old Anna Davis winning last year and Japan’s Tsubasa Kajitani triumphing in 2021 at age 17.
Clemente, who is set to graduate in 2026, heads into this week’s Junior Invitational at Sage Valley as the No. 1 player in the Golfweek/Sagarin Junior Rankings. She’s No. 57 in the WAGR. At age 11, she became the third-youngest player to ever qualify for the U.S. Women’s Amateur.
“Seeing the invitation on my front doorstep was like, woah,” said Clemente, who recently tied for 16th at the Epson Tour’s season-opening event in Winter Haven, Florida, a field that included a number of card-carrying LPGA members and two major champions.
The Clemente family poured a lot into golf early on, with the family deciding to split their time between Ohio and Florida after Gianna finished the third grade. That’s also when she made the switch to online school.
“I remember them kind of sitting me down and saying ‘Hey, this is what we’re thinking about doing, would you be OK with that?’ ” said Gianna. “Obviously 8-year-old me was like ‘Oh yeah, sure, why not?’ I don’t think I fully realized what I was getting myself into at the time. But I’m glad I did it. Obviously, it wouldn’t work out for everybody. It’s not meant for everybody. But it worked out for me, and it’s working pretty good right now.”
Gianna Clemente and her father Patrick (courtesy Epson Tour)
Patrick Clemente called it a weather-dominated decision. He and his wife Julia saw a spark in their daughter’s eyes and a desire to get out and practice more than Ohio winters would allow. South Florida also offered more tournament options, and Gianna had a number of friends living in the area.
Graham, who has worked with Gianna since age six, said he’s most impressed with her “even-keeled killer instinct.”
Patrick agrees, noting that whether it’s pool or ping pong, Gianna, a winner of over 130 tournaments, doesn’t take losing lightly.
“If anything, we have to force her to relax sometimes rather than be more intense,” he said.
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After Clemente came up short in the U.S. Girls’ Junior last summer, Graham and Patrick sat down and quickly hashed out two areas that needed attention: distance control with her putting and wedge game.
“She was more of a hitter of the ball as opposed to a more rolling type of stroke,” said Graham, who runs Junior Golf Performance Academy in Naples, Florida.
It wasn’t long after those concentrated efforts that Clemente went on a roll at LPGA Monday qualifying. The rhythm and timing of her stroke, he said, is now a strength.
Graham describes Gianna as the straightest ball-striker he’s ever seen in junior golf, and that the next level of growth entails areas of the game she’s never worked on, such as learning how to shape the ball and trouble shots.
“She’s a pure ball-striker,” said Graham, who caps a high-level program he calls ‘The Process’ to 15 elite juniors from around the world.
Gianna reports that she’s recently become passionate about fitness as she looks to add more distance to her game. She’s added 10 yards in the past six months.
She’s also newly obsessed with paddle-boarding and, like most teenagers, admits to spending too much time on her phone listening to music, mostly country.
But really, it’s golf that consumes her heart.
“I really spend all my time on the golf course and that’s by choice,” she said. “A lot of people think that’s by force, but it isn’t. I’d spend 24/7 on a golf course if somebody would let me.
“Outside of golf, I’m a normal teenager.”
Gianna signed with IMG last fall for name, image and likeness (NIL) representation. The family has taken a long-term approach when it comes to partnerships and hasn’t yet signed with anyone.
Patrick said the two main takeaways from that Monday-qualifying spree were that she loved it and learned what she needed to work on.
“The level of short game and wedge game that we saw was a whole other level,” said Patrick. “It was great for her to see that first-hand, and she saw it literally for 20 days straight.”
Gianna Clemente plays her tee shot at the fourth hole during the first round of stroke play at the 2019 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Old Waverly Golf Club in West Point, Miss. on Monday, Aug. 5, 2019. (Copyright USGA/Steven Gibbons)
The Clementes took a preview trip last December to Champions Retreat Golf Club, where the first two rounds of the ANWA are played on the Island and Bluff nines.
This year, the top 30 players and ties will advance to Saturday’s final round, held over Augusta National. But first, every player in the field will play a practice round over the iconic course.
For the first time ever, the first two rounds will be broadcast on Golf Channel from 1:30-3:30 p.m. ET. NBC will air the final round from 12-3 p.m. ET. Clemente had quite a bit of experience last year playing in front of crowds and television cameras.
“The most special thing that I can say about her,” said Graham, “is that she continues to defy the thought process of how good can a young girl can be against older players.
The LPGA has returned to Cincinnati for the first time since 1989.
MADEIRA, Ohio – The first round of the LPGA’s Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G kicked off Thursday morning at Kenwood Country Club under clear skies.
The battle for the top of the leaderboard was heated, but Nasa Hataoka found herself on top early with a 7-under round of 65 to pace the field. Hataoka is followed by Sarah Kemp and A Lim Kim, both at 6-under. While Hataoka’s scorecard didn’t feature any eagles, she did card eight birdies and only one bogey.
Amateur sensation Gianna Clemente, the 14-year-old who Monday qualified after shooting a 65, shot a bogey-free 2-under 70, good enough to be T-22 alongside fellow amateur and Xavier University golfer Emma McMyler.
On the opposite end of the leaderboard, Minjee Lee, the top-ranked player on the LPGA, found herself T-138 after carding a 4-over 76. Brooke Henderson, the fifth-ranked player and one of Lee’s playing partners this week, finished with a 1-under 71.
Perhaps the most interesting round of the morning wave came from Paula Creamer, who was grouped with Lee and Henderson. Creamer’s adventure around the Kendale course included a double bogey on the par-4 16th hole, a hole-out eagle at the par-4 fifth hole and a hole-in-one on the par-3 eighth hole.
🚨 ACE ALERT 🚨
An eagle hole out and now a hole-in-one for @ThePCreamer?! 🤯
This is the first time the highest level of professional women’s golf has been played in Cincinnati since 1989 when the Jack Nicklaus Golf Center near Kings Island hosted the LPGA Championship.
Built in 1930, Kenwood also hosted the U.S. Women’s Open in 1963.
