The 2020 Junior Invitational at Sage Valley will pit the No. 1 ranked junior golfer against a field of worthy and experienced competitors.
The crown is anyone’s for the taking.
Thirty-eight out of the top 40 players in the Golfweek/Sagarin Junior Boys Rankings will tee it up at the 10th annual event in Graniteville, South Carolina, including No. 1 Joseph Pagdin.
Beginning Thursday, Pagdin will compete in the same event in which accomplished professionals like Justin Thomas, the past three U.S. Amateur champions, Doc Redman, Viktor Hovland and Andy Ogletree, and U.S. Amateur runner-up Matthew Wolff competed.
While name recognition among the field at Sage Valley might not be at the level of a “Justin Thomas” or rising PGA Tour star “Viktor Hovland” just yet, there are countless young stars showing promise.
Pagdin is one of them.
A top-10 finisher at the 2019 Rolex Tournament of Champions last fall and a U.S. Junior semifinalist, Pagdin is committed to join Florida’s competitive men’s team this fall. The high school senior is in peak position entering the event, coming off a second-place finish at the AJGA Simplify Boys Championship at Carlton Woods in February.
Pagdin may hold that No. 1 ranking and a few impressive finishes, but he shouldn’t be the favorite by any means. Other junior golfers have just as much edge as he does. Also in the field at Sage Valley is Luke Potter, a sophomore from Encinitas, California, who defeated Pagdin by four shots at the Carlton Woods event. In fact, eight of the top-10 finishers from February’s junior event, including Potter and Pagdin, are in the field at Sage Valley.
Another recognizable name in Graniteville is Preston Summerhays, who won the 2019 U.S. Junior Amateur. Unfortunately for Pagdin, Summerhays has experience taking down players with a No. 1 ranking. A junior verbally committed to Arizona State, Summerhays knocked off former No. 1 Akshay Bhatia in last year’s U.S. Junior on his path to victory.
While anything could happen with this field of 54 junior golfers, Pagdin has had success at the Tom Fazio-designed course already. Last year, Pagdin placed fourth at Sage Valley, three shots behind winner Tom McKibbin. However, Pagdin’s familiarity with Sage Valley isn’t nearly a solo advantage in the stacked field: McKibbin, a 2021 Florida commit, is back to defend his title at Sage Valley along with 22 other returners.
McKibbin, making his third appearance at the event, last year’s runner up Maxwell Moldovan and four-time Junior Invitational competitor Karl Vilips are all in the field.
While the outcome of the event is impossible to predict, the certainty from looking at the field these players will put on quite a show — this week and in the future.
The entire field for the 2020 Junior Invitational at Sage Valley can be read below.
2020 Junior Invitational field
- Kelly Chinn, Great Falls, Virginia | United States
- Jack Heath, Charlotte, North Carolina | United States
- Bo Jin, Encinitas, California | China
- Joseph Pagdin, Orlando, Florida | England
- Brock Hoover, Woodstock, Georgia | United States
- Nick Dunlap, Greer, South Carolina | United States
- Maxwell Moldovan, Uniontown, Ohio | United States
- Preston Summerhays, Scottsdale, Arizona | United States
- Karl Vilips, Perth | Australia
- Conor Gough, Slough | England
- George Duangmanee, Fairfax, Virginia | United States
- Tom McKibbin, Newtonabbey | Ireland
- Austin Scott, Daniel Island, South Carolina | United States
- Brett Roberts, Coral Springs, Florida | United States
- Luke Potter, Encinitas, California | United States
- Tucker Clark, Phoenix, Arizona | United States
- Ethan Chung, Murrieta, California | United States
- Jeewon Park, Lake Mary, Florida | South Korea
- Aaron Du, Beijing | China
- Taehoon Song, Buena Park | South Korea
- Andi Xu, San Diego, California | China
- Wilmer Ederö, Landeryd | Sweden
- Ben James, Milford, Connecticut | United States
- Jimmy Zheng, Auckland | New Zealand
- John Marshall Butler, Louisville, Kentucky | United States
- Jackson Van Paris, Pinehurst, North Carolina | United States
- Gordon Sargent, Birmingham, Alabama | United States
- Ian Maspat, San Diego, California | United States
- Ian Siebers, Bellevue, Washington | United States
- Andrew Goodman, Norman, Oklahoma | United States
- Jonathan Griz, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina | United States
- Brendan Valdes, Orlando, Florida | United States
- Ben Schmidt, Barnsley | England
- Ben Lorenz, Peoria, Arizona | United States
- Jake Beber-Frankel, Miami, Florida | United States
- Maxwell Ford, Peachtree Corners, Georgia | United States
- Michael Brennan, Leesburg, Virginia | United States
- Luke Clanton, Miami Lakes, Florida | United States
- Yuki Moriyama, Las Vegas, Nevada | Japan
- Piercen Hunt, Hartland, Wisconsin | Canada
- Tyler Wilkes, Tampa, Florida | United States
- Cohen Trolio, West Point, Mississippi | United States
- Sampson-yunhe Zheng, Orlando, Florida | China
- Carson Bacha, York, Pennsylvania | United States
- Andrew Yong. H Jung, Champions Gate, Florida | South Korea
- David Ford, Peachtree Corners, Georgia | United States
- Michael Thorbjornsen, Wellesley, Massachusetts | United States
- Scotty Kennon, Bandon, Oregon | United States
- Abel Gallegos, Veinticinco De Mayo | Argentina
- Caden Fioroni, San Diego, California | United States
- Jacob Sosa, Austin, Texas | United States
- Stephen Campbell Jr., Richmond, Texas | United States
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