Is there a junior player on a better streak than Caleb Surratt right now?
Not surprisingly, doors flew open for Caleb Surratt when he learned how to win. After a 2020 golf season during which Surratt appeared in the final pairing in the final round over and over, but never came home with anything to show for it, something clicked in April at the Terra Cotta Invitational.
“I’ve got to disconnect from results and not waste my energy on reacting to shots,” Surratt explained. “I felt like I used to try to control everything that happens. Just kind of in that final round (at Terra Cotta) is when it finally clicked, I’m going to put all my energy into my process over the ball and then wherever the ball goes, goes.”
It’s an epiphany that took quite a bit of time. Surratt has spent lots of energy with swing instructor Chase Duncan in Raleigh, North Carolina – near the Surratts’ home of Indian Trails, North Carolina – working not only through the finer points of closing but also improving his golf swing and finding a process that works for him.
He used to get lazy over shots, he remembers, and sometimes come down under plane, which caused him to lose his posture at the ball. It was a move, he said, that was “not very high-competitive profile.” Add that fix, which has taken quite a bit of work plus physical and mental maturity, and Surratt’s presence on leaderboard after leaderboard isn’t all that surprising.
Surratt’s is one of the great growth stories in junior golf right now. He’s the recent Western Junior champion and entered this week’s U.S. Junior off a win last week at the Junior PGA Championship.
“I really want to win the U.S. Junior, to be honest with you,” Surratt said when asked for his next goal. “That was the goal at the start of the year, and I’m still in a position to do that.”
At the Country Club of North Carolina this week, there have been many mini wins. Rounds of 70-67 set him up with the No. 5 spot on the bracket. He narrowly dispatched Daniel Choi in the first round of match play, 1 up, and took down Rowan Sullivan in the next round by a more comfortable 5-and-4 margin.
Remarkably, given his resume, this is Surratt’s debut in the U.S. Junior. He has seemingly been in the conversation at every major junior event for a year: runner-up at the 2020 Dustin Johnson World Junior, third at the 2020 Ping Invitational and runner-up again at the 2020 Jones Cup Junior. He has top-10 finishes already this year at the Scott Robertson, Team TaylorMade Invitational and Wyndham Invitational.
“I just think, over the years, I feel like I’ve really just matured physically,” he said. “My body has gotten a lot stronger and I’ve been able to hit a lot of different shots but mainly I feel like I’m working with some great coaches now.”
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As Surratt moves toward a college career at Tennessee (he has verbally committed for the fall of 2022), he’s also looking at ways to break through on Tour. He narrowly missed Monday qualifying into the Palmetto Championship earlier this summer and has played Monday qualifiers for the Wells Fargo and Wyndham Championship, too.
— Junior PGA Championship (@JuniorPGAChamp) July 15, 2021
Despite an early-week announcement that the Junior Ryder Cup has been canceled this fall because of COVID-19 reasons (the European team will not travel to Whistling Straits in light of the lingering pandemic), Surratt can expect some facetime with the Ryder Cup team, too.
Surratt was the first player named to the junior team last week when he won the Junior PGA Championship at Kearney Hills in Lexington, Kentucky. He called making the team a lifelong goal, and is thankful U.S. team members will still be invited to Whistling Straits for the event.
“I’m honestly really happy they’re still making it happen that way we can still go hang out with all our friends and have a great week and still feel like it’s truly going on even though Europe won’t be able to come,” he said. “I’m excited for the experience, I think it’s still going to be really good.”
The Junior Ryder Cup has been canceled for this fall because of ongoing COVID concerns.
Chances are few for a player to represent his or her country in a sports competition. That’s particularly timely as the Olympic Games approach next week (Games that have already been postponed a year, no less). The Junior Ryder Cup stands as one of those big opportunities for junior golfers, but in light of lingering COVID-19 concerns, the PGA of America has canceled that competition for this fall.
The PGA of America and Ryder Cup Europe made the joint announcement on Tuesday morning, citing “ongoing travel issues for the European Junior Ryder Cup party.”
The match would have taken place at Blue Mound Golf & Country Club in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, from Sept. 20-21. The Ryder Cup is still scheduled for Sept. 24-26 at Whistling Straits in nearby Kohler, Wisconsin. According to a PGA of America statement, plans remain in place for a full spectator presence “under the guidance of public health authorities.”
Last week, Caleb Surratt earned his spot on the team by winning the PGA Junior Championship and Bryan Lee, who was part of a three-way tie for second, won a playoff for a second spot.
While there won’t be an official competition against their counterparts from Europe, U.S. Junior Ryder Cup team members still will play an exhibition match at Whistling Straits on Sept. 22. The team will also be introduced at the Ryder Cup Opening Ceremony and invited to watch Friday’s Ryder Cup competition.
Traditionally, Junior Ryder Cuppers have had quite a bit of face time with Ryder Cup members. The junior squad – which includes six girls and six boys – is also a pretty accurate indicator of who might be selected to future Ryder Cup and Solheim Cup teams. Past junior players who later appeared on those teams include Lexi Thompson, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas and Tony Finau.
Chinn is one of two players in the field making a third U.S. Junior appearance this week.
Kelly Chinn has been thinking about this one for two years. It’s the last hurrah.
Chinn, 18, is one of only two players in this week’s U.S. Junior Amateur field at the Country Club of North Carolina in Pinehurst, North Carolina, making a third U.S. Junior appearance. In 2018, he was medalist at this event. In 2019, he lost in the semifinals.
“There was no doubt I would play this,” he said. “Probably the biggest junior event in the world and the most prestigious. No chance I’d miss this one.”
The close calls give Chinn, the AJGA’s Rolex Player of the Year in 2020, a little extra motivation, and a little extra experience – not that he needs it. So far this summer, Chinn has played the Sunnehanna Amateur, the Northeast and the North & South. He and partner David Ford were stroke-medalists at the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball at Chambers Bay in May.
“I think also my past experience gives me a lot of confidence going into this event,” he said. “I think out of all the top players, I think I’ve had a lot more experience than them. I think, especially going into match play, I’ll have a lot more experience and confidence going into that.”
“I think kind of just play your own game, not really focus on — obviously you’re playing match play against one person but the worst thing you can do it get ahead of yourself and start thinking about the outcomes of what you did before, in the previous match,” he said.
“You really just have to play your own game and really just avoid outside of what you can control. That’s something I’ve worked on over the years and something I’ve gotten a lot better at.”
If there’s one area that’s really improved since that 2019 semifinal run, it’s mental game. That, Chinn says wisely, just comes from the experience of playing more events and at a higher level.
The Pinehurst area has been a constant for many juniors. That starts with the U.S. Kids Golf World Championship. Pinehurst Resort hosts the North & South Junior and many players eventually graduate to the amateur version of that championship. Chinn has seen success there, too, and just last month made it to the Round of 16.
Chinn has also bounced around more than most, which adds considerable experience to his golf toolkit. Chinn’s father Colin retired as an admiral in the U.S. Navy in August 2019. Before that, the Chinn family moved frequently – Hawaii, California, Washington and then to Great Falls, Virginia, where they’ve been based the past four years.
Chinn has a familiar caddie on the bag this week in Danel Neben, his swing coach at TPC Potomac, a club just northeast of Washington D.C. Neben has caddied in Chinn’s last two U.S. Junior runs.
What’s perhaps a little unfamiliar? The courses. Chinn has seen them plenty before, having played a fair amount of golf in Pinehurst in general, but not in a USGA setup.
“They grew up the rough a little more – I think they’re trying to get to 3 inches – which is pretty long for Bermuda,” he said. “I know the greens are a lot firmer. So I think the setup, USGA usually always makes the courses really tough.”
In four years at Wake Forest, Emilia Migliaccio was a two-time All-American and won five tournaments.
CHEVY CHASE, Md. – Two months ago Emilia Migliaccio was competing for a national championship alongside her Wake Forest teammates at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona.
On Friday, she’ll make her on-course reporting debut for Golf Channel during the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds of the U.S. Girls’ Junior at Columbia Country Club in Maryland.
“I’m most excited for how everything’s live,” Migliaccio said while walking the hilly course just outside the nation’s capital during the Round of 64 on Wednesday. “I’m excited to challenge myself to commentate right away. You can’t really do much preparing so I’m excited to take my skills to the next level.
“I feel like I’m good at answering interview questions, but when it comes to commentating on a shot, I’ve done a lot of listening. I’ve watched a lot of golf, but it’ll be really interesting to just see how I do and I’m really excited for it.”
It came as a surprise to most who follow college golf when the Cary, North Carolina, native announced she wouldn’t be pursuing a professional career. Migliaccio was a two-time All-American and won five events in her four years at Wake Forest, including the 2019 ACC Championship. She was a gold medalist both as an individual and in the team event at the 2019 Pan American Games. This year Migliaccio became the only American to be selected to four Arnold Palmer Cup teams.
Instead of chasing the LPGA, she’s been covering the tour as an intern for Golf Channel.
“When I’m writing I feel a really strong connection to the players,” said Migliaccio, “even though they don’t necessarily know me.”
The 22-year-old is living out her dream, and working hard to do so. She’s going to grad school at Wake Forest and will be a teacher’s assistant, working 20 hours per week. On top of that, she’s going to intern in the athletic department, all while still writing for Golf Channel.
This time last year Migliaccio made a run to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Women’s Amateur, just up the road at Woodmont Country Club in Rockville, Maryland. When the pressure was on, she delivered. With an infectious personality and impressive work ethic riding shotgun, expect that game to travel to the broadcast.
Preston Summerhays, 18, is making his second PGA Tour start with eyes wide open.
Preston Summerhays’ first PGA Tour start came in a major when he was 18 years old. Last fall at Winged Foot in Mamaroneck, New York, Summerhays reaped the benefits of his first U.S. Golf Association championship. He gained entry into the 2020 U.S. Open when he won the 2019 U.S. Junior, but missed the cut at Winged Foot.
Last summer, the opportunity to defend that junior title slipped away when the championship was one of 10 USGA championships canceled because of COVID-19. By the time the U.S. Junior returns next week at the Country Club of North Carolina in Pinehurst, North Carolina, Summerhays will be too old to defend. He turns 19 on July 22, which is two days ahead of the deadline and thus makes him ineligible.
This week’s start at the Barbasol Championship seems like a nice consolation. Summerhays played his way into this event by winning the inaugural Barbasol Junior Championship last month. He was 11 under after 36 holes at Keene Trace Golf Club in Nicholasville, Kentucky, and a had a six-shot lead when the final round was canceled because of heavy rain. He was declared the winner.
On Thursday at Keene Trace, Summerhays came out of the gate with an even-par 72. He was 3 under after three birdies on the front nine, but a double-bogey at No. 11 and a closing bogey at No. 18 set him back.
“I played decent today,” Summerhays said. “I got off to a really good start, 3 under through nine. Then hit a couple bad shots on the back side, but I feel really good about my game. Like you said, it was my second start, so I’ve been able to take some experience from the past Open and put it into this event and it’s been really fun so far.”
Summerhays is watching closely this week at how Tour players score and how they handle themselves – not that he doesn’t have an inside track on that kind of thing anyway. The Summerhays family is deep in golf, from Preston dad’s Boyd (also his caddie this week), who is a well-known instructor and former PGA Tour player, to his great uncle Bruce, a three-time winner on the PGA Tour Champions.
As for how Preston plans to improve for the next round?
“I’ll probably just need to work on my wedges,” he said. “I probably could have hit it a little closer today. I hit a lot of great putts that just didn’t fall, but I feel pretty good overall, just need to make sure I keep hitting fairways, hit it close and make some putts.”
Meet Kendall Jackson, who is making her first USGA championship start in her new home of Washington D.C. before starting at Howard.
In a matter of weeks, Washington D.C. will be Kendall Jackson’s new home. The 18-year-old from Houston is picking up first impressions this week in nearby Chevy Chase, Maryland, where she can’t believe the severity of the terrain beneath her feet. Columbia Country Club represents a crash course in downhill and sidehill lies.
Then again, when you grow up in South Texas, as Jackson did, everything feels hilly.
“Everywhere in South Texas is flat,” she said, “this area is not flat at all, oh my goodness.”
In the fall, Jackson joins the inaugural women’s golf class at Howard University. Thanks to COVID-19, she hasn’t even seen the campus yet, but she hopes to check that box across town later this week. Her first USGA championship start, this week’s U.S. Girls’ Junior, already brought a memento for her dorm wall. Every competitor received a signed letter from former president Barack Obama, a member at Columbia Country Club.
Embedded in his uplifting message was some sage advice: Keep it below the hole on No. 13.
“As soon as we get home, it’s going to be framed on the wall,” Jackson said, before thinking better of the placement. It belongs with her at Howard.
It’s the first practice round today at Columbia Country Club ahead of the 72nd #USGirlsJunior.
All the players were greeted by this letter in their lockers from one of the club’s more recognizable members 👀 pic.twitter.com/88eDYHmHBW
At first, Jackson thought this golf stuff was way too slow. She was 6 years old when she started with the First Tee of Greater Houston. Eleven years later, as a First Tee member she received various tee gifts from the U.S. Women’s Open staged at Champions Golf Club in Houston in December 2020. She wasn’t able to attend, but she perched a visor with the Champions logo on her head during her U.S. Girls’ Junior qualifier in Lafayette, Louisiana, last month.
Jackson fired a 73 at Oakbourne Country Club to take the only qualifying spot. Now that visor might just be good luck.
In those in-between years, Jackson slowly learned to love the game. Karate and martial arts initially competed for her attention, but then she saw the opportunities that golf could bring.
“At first, I’m going to be honest, I did not like golf at all,” she said. “First Tee itself was great, golf itself, I did not like it. It was boring, it was slow and I would rather be at home watching TV.”
In the transition from 8th to 9th grade, Jackson started going to the golf course every week. She was playing in a junior league and moving up through the levels. She kept playing tournament after tournament.
“Each time you get to the next level, more and more doors and more and more opportunities opened up,” she said. “When I got into high school, I was 100 percent focused. I knew I eventually wanted to go into golf wanted to go to college on a golf scholarship.”
Howard wasn’t always the school, though. Jackson fell in an awkward recruiting class. Many coaches weren’t sure how much room they’d have for Class of 2021 players like her because their schedule had taken COVID hits and older players were lingering with extra eligibility. The NCAA’s in-person recruiting ban also made it impossible for coaches to watch her in person.
“I knew I was a good player and had the ability and opportunity play Division 1 but it seemed like every time I reached out to somebody they either were full or they didn’t know how their schedule was going to look like because of 2020 or seniors coming back,” she said.
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Once she learned about Howard, and that the university was reviving its golf programs in the fall of 2020 with funding from NBA star Steph Curry, it seemed like all she heard about was Howard.
“Either a friend went there, somebody had a family member that just graduated, it was – we were hearing it very consistently,” she said.
Jackson liked head coach Sam Puryear’s thinking of recruiting talented but overlooked players. She didn’t get to meet him in person until he came to watch her compete in Dallas on June 1, but by then she had already read his book, “Diamonds in the Rough.”
“That allowed me to view him not only as a coach but as a person as well,” she said.
Jackson loves to conduct an interview or be interviewed. Family friends say she’s just got to write a children’s book someday based on her love of creative writing – everything from short stories to poems. So far she hasn’t been published, it’s just something she enjoys in her free time.
The plan for now, however, is to study business finance at Howard. She’s interested in learning about money and how to manage it.
Jackson goes back to two ladies she plays with locally, who are 78 and 80 years old. They’re proof you can play golf your whole life, and that’s one thing that inspired Jackson not only to stick with the game but draw others in – particularly young Black women. Tiffany Mack Fitzgerald, founder of Black Girls Golf, was another source of inspiration for Jackson. She had the opportunity to meet Fitzgerald two summers ago and has since taken it upon herself to mentor younger girls in the game – whether they’re just a few years behind her or as little as 5 or 6 years old.
“There’s not that many of us so I want to be able to show people and inspire people that you don’t have to just take this volleyball or basketball,” Jackson said, “that you can play golf as well.”
The U.S. Girls’ Junior is back, and the best of the best are turning up in Maryland next week.
The U.S. Girls’ Junior is back.
After a year-long hiatus because of the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the most-coveted events on the junior schedule returns at Columbia Country Club in Chevy Chase, Maryland. Beginning in 2017, the U.S. Golf Association put a U.S. Women’s Open exemption on the line for the winner of the event so there’s much to play for this week. The 156-player field will be whittled down to 64 players after two rounds of stroke play, and from there five rounds of match-play commence to decide a champion.
Most conspicuously missing from the field is Megha Ganne, Golfweek’s top-ranked junior and practically a household name after her 14th-place finish at last month’s U.S. Women’s Open, which earned her low-amateur honors.
Despite Ganne’s absence, there are plenty of names to watch in the field, including the following women:
The college kids
When the U.S. Girls’ Junior was canceled last summer, it meant players in the class of 2020 wouldn’t get their last-ditch effort at a title in this event. Players are eligible to compete in the Girls’ Junior provided they do not turn 19 before July 17, so nine current collegians were able to qualify into the event and can still play. That group of nine brings some pretty stout college resumes to Maryland, too.
The cross-over stars
Will this be the year that Alexa Pano finally gets her U.S. Girls’ Junior title? Back in 2018, Pano finished runner-up to Yealimi Noh after a marathon day at Poppy Hills Golf Course in Pebble Beach, California. The 16-year-old has appeared everywhere from the junior-golf documentary “The Short Game” to Symetra Tour and LPGA tour events to the U.S. Women’s Open, and now plays the Girls’ Junior for a fourth time.
Rose Zhang, the No. 1-ranked amateur in the world and the reigning U.S. Women’s Amateur champion, seems another easy favorite for this title.
Rose Zhang during the final round of The PING Invitational – 2020. (AJGA photo)
The 12-year-olds
In women’s golf, a 12-year-old (or 11-year-old or 10-year-old) in the field at a USGA championship is hardly even cause for a second glance. There’s been a long line of such players in recent years. This year, Anna Huang represent is the youngest player in the field at 12 years old. The average age of competitors this week, by the way, is 16.42.
The champs
Two women in the field have already won a USGA title this year. That would be U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball champions Savannah Barber and Alex Saldana. The two Texas residents are roommates at the Crown Golf Academy in Arlington and earned their spot in this week’s field with their Four-Ball win.
Savannah Barber and Alexa Saldana hold the trophy after winning the 2021 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball at Maridoe Golf Club in Carrollton, Texas on April 28, 2021. (Darren Carroll/USGA)
The (young) veteran
For a 14-year-old, Avery Zweig has made an impressive number of USGA starts. This week marks her sixth championship but her second Girls’ Junior, and she’s coming off a start in last week’s Volunteers of America Classic on the LPGA.
Schedule
Monday, July 12 (Hole No. 1), Tuesday, July 13 (Hole No. 11)
7 a.m. / 12:30 p.m. – Faith Choi, Frederick, Md.; Julia Misemer, Overland Park, Kan.; Sophie Thai, Los Altos, Calif.
7:10 a.m. / 12:40 p.m. – Isabella McCauley, Inver Grove Heights, Minn.; Teal Matsueda, Honolulu, Hawaii; Thitaporn Saithip, Thailand
7:21 a.m. / 12:51 p.m. – Xin Kou, People’s Republic of China; Kiera Bartholomew, Wake Forest, N.C.; Alexia Siehl, Fort Mill, S.C.
In the wake of this year’s cancellation, officials announced the Sage Valley Junior Invitational will return in March 17-19, 2022.
The cancellation of this spring’s Sage Valley Junior Invitational because of the COVID-19 pandemic was doubly depressing for top juniors around the world. This would have been the year that a girls field competed at Sage Valley Golf Club, a private gem just minutes from Augusta, Georgia, for the first time.
In the wake of the cancellation, however, tournament organizers have announced that the 2022 event will be played March 17-19.
“While we were disappointed to cancel the 2021 Junior Invitational, we’re looking forward to an incredibly strong return in 2022 and a high-caliber event featuring the world’s top junior players,” said Pete Davis, chairman of the SVJI Sports Foundation. “The addition of a girl’s competition has been a long-term goal, and we’re thrilled to see it materialize next year. We will return better than ever.”
The Sage Valley Junior Invitational has been played since 2011, and has become one of the most coveted starts in junior golf.
Past participants have included some of the top names in golf: Justin Thomas, Colin Morikawa, Joaquin Niemann, Scottie Scheffler, Matthew Wolff and more. The event benefits local charities, with more than $1 million donated to The First Tee Chapters of Aiken, South Carolina, and Augusta, Georgia, since 2015.
By the 2022 version of the Sage Valley event, defending champion Jackson Van Paris will be a freshman at Vanderbilt and won’t have the chance to defend his title.
Nicholas Dunlap and Jacqueline Putrino both overcame final-round deficits to win the Dustin Johnson World Junior title.
Nicholas Dunlap made an ill-timed double-bogey with three holes to go at the Dustin Johnson World Junior Championship, but the 17-year-old from Huntsville, Alabama, was able to overcome the big number on TPC Myrtle Beach’s par-4 16th and still finish two shots clear of a worthy list of chasers.
Dunlap, ranked No. 14 in Golfweek’s Junior Rankings, was 3 under for 54 holes at the sixth playing of the Dustin Johnson World Junior. All three players who finished tied for second are also ranked inside Golfweek’s top 15: No. 7 Brendan Valdes, No. 11 Maxwell Ford and No. 13 Luke Clanton.
At the start of the final round, Dunlap was a shot off the lead. He opened with two birdies but gave them back with bogeys at Nos. 5, 7 and 8.
Clanton briefly took the lead after a birdie on No. 10 pushed him to 7 under but double bogeys on Nos. 15 and 17 derailed his hopes of winning the event. Dunlap had built enough of a cushion with birdies at Nos. 11 and 14 to survive his big number at No. 16.
Last year, Dunlap scored top-10 finishes at the Maridoe Junior Invitational, the Alabama State Junior, the Justin Thomas Junior, the Southern Junior and the Junior Players Championship. He was runner-up at the inaugural Notah Begay III Junior Golf National Championship.
In the girls division, Jacqueline Putrino of Sarasota, Florida, closed out a one-shot win over Hyo Joon Jang.
Putrino, ranked No. 55 by Golfweek, entered the final round trailing Andie Smith by three shots, but Smith doubled the opening hole and never found her rhythm on a difficult scoring day.
Putrino was 4 over in her final round and tied for first with Jang when she made a clutch 18-foot birdie putt on TPC Myrtle Beach’s par-5 18th hole to win the event. Behind Jang at 7 over, Savannah Hylton and Catherine Park tied for third at 8 over.
Looking to keep up with all the news in the junior golf world? Keep an eye Golfweek’s running junior golf blog.
Junior golf is a proving ground for the next level of competition, and a place where the next star is often identified early.
Looking to keep up with names you should know, tournaments you should follow and news of the junior golf world? Golfweek is here to help. Keep an eye our running junior blog.
We’ll compile newsy nuggets about venues, junior tours, players, significant wins and more here so you can easily follow the game at the junior level. Keep an eye on the “junior” tab on Golfweek.com for all other junior-related news.
Also make sure you keep an eye on Golfweek’s Junior Rankings:
The sixth annual Dustin Johnson World Junior will feature 74 players ranked inside Golfweek’s top 100
March 1
The Dustin Johnson World Junior will be played for the sixth time next month at TPC Myrtle Beach, and with a field fitting for a tournament named after the reigning Masters champion. The event features a boys and girls division, and 74 of the 90 total players (60 boys, 30 girls) are ranked among the top 100 players in the Golfweek Junior Rankings.
The boys field is highlighted by Brendan Valdes of Orlando, Florida, No. 6 in Golfweek’s rankings. No. 3 Hyo Joon Jang of Howey in the Hills, Florida, highlights the girls field.
Neither of last year’s winners will be around to defend as boys champion Tyler Wilkes is playing at the University of Florida girls winner Taylor Roberts is teeing it up at Florida State.
“Dustin’s goal was to make this the best junior tournament in America, and this year represents another big step in that direction,” Tournament Director Scott Tomasello said. “This year’s event will feature one of the three strongest fields in all of junior golf, TPC Myrtle Beach is an elite facility, and with Dustin’s support, the tournament will deliver on the experiential side as well. We can’t wait for the sixth annual Dustin Johnson World Junior Golf Championship to tee off.”
New junior event selected for Symetra Tour MVP Invite
Feb. 18
The Mack Champ Invitational, a new junior golf event, has been selected by the Symetra Tour as one of three tournaments showcasing minority golfers that will receive a “Symetra Tour MVP Invite” for the 2021 season. Invitees will be selected by the respective tournament’s committee and earn exemption into a designated Symetra Tour event.
The Mack Champ Invitational is named after PGA Tour player Cameron Champ’s late grandfather Mack. It honors his legacy by identifying talented, diverse players. The inaugural event was supposed to be played in 2020 at Memorial Park Golf Course in Houston, Texas, but was postponed to 2021 because of COVID. The 2021 event will take place from March 19-21, and the corresponding Symetra MVP Invite will provide an exemption into the Garden City Charity Classic at Buffalo Dunes Golf Club in Garden City, Kansas, from April 30-May 2.
“We are incredibly excited and grateful for the Symetra Tour’s enthusiasm in supporting our mission with the establishment of the Symetra Tour MVP Invite. Having the ability to award a player in our field with an exemption to compete in the Garden City Classic is huge,” said Cameron Champ. “That will be a fantastic experience for one of these young players and could also lead them to many more opportunities, which is exactly what we’ve set out to accomplish with the Mack Champ Invitational – opening more doors for golfers of diverse backgrounds to have the chance to succeed in this great sport.”
The National Women’s Collegiate Golf Championship will also receive a Symetra Tour MVP Invite, with a third event yet to be determined.
-Julie Williams
Tournament opportunity: Dye Invitational
Feb. 18
The Dye Junior Invitational debuted in 2020 at Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel, Indiana. The 54-hole event includes a boys and girls field of 33 players each. The 2021 event will be played June 6-8.
Last call for all top junior players seeking an invitation to play in the 2021 Dye Junior Championship!!
A new name enters the realm of AJGA tournament hosts
Feb. 18
If it feels like Albane Valenzuela isn’t all that far removed from junior golf, it’s because there’s something to that thought. At 23, Valenzuela has added her name to a stacked lineup of PGA Tour and LPGA pros lending their support to AJGA events.
Valenzuela, who played collegiately for Stanford from 2016 to 2019, competed in the 2016 Olympic Games for Switzerland and was runner-up at the U.S. Women’s Amateur in 2017 and 2019. She earned her LPGA card in the fall of 2019 and is embarking on a “do-over” rookie season afforded by the pandemic.
As a junior golfer, Valenzuela competed for Team Europe on the 2015 Ping Junior Solheim Cup, won the 2015 Doral Publix Junior Classic and 2015 Junior Orange Bowl, and competed in the Evian Masters Junior Cup in 2012.
Now, Valenzuela’s name will remain in the junior game through the Under Armour / Albane Valenzuela Girls Championship. The inaugural event will be played at Longbow Golf Club near Phoenix, May 27-30, a day after the conclusion of the NCAA Women’s Championship across town at Grayhawk Golf Club.
The 54-hole stroke play event will feature 78 girls selected by Performance Based Entry. The tournament joins the AJGA’s all-girls lineup of the Diamond Resorts ANNIKA Invitational presented by Rolex (January), Rolex Girls Junior Championship (June), and Ping Junior Solheim Cup (August).
-Julie Williams
NCAA extends recruiting dead period
Feb. 17
In a bit of bad news for hopeful college golfers – particularly those in the Class of 2022 – the Division I Council extended the recruiting dead period for all sports through May 31, continuing the ban on in-person recruiting activities that began when the pandemic hit last spring.
“After careful consideration of all available information, the Council agreed that an extension of the dead period through May 31 was necessary,” said Council chair M. Grace Calhoun, athletics director at Pennsylvania. “However, there is a strong commitment to use the next several weeks to outline the transition plan back to recruiting activities post June 1 and to provide those plans to prospective student-athletes, their families and the NCAA membership no later than April 15.”
2022s, keep up your communication with coaches. You can still call, text, tiktok and zoom coaches. Send them emails with your schedule and recent results. Swing videos. It's less than ideal, but I do think opportunities will be available this summer. Keep those grades up!
Ping becomes AJGA’s first Legacy Partner, extending contract through 2030
Feb. 16
In the AJGA’s more than 40-year history, Ping has become a name synonymous with the junior golf organization. The equipment company has become the AJGA’s first Legacy Partner, which is a new level of partnership that recognizes longtime support to junior golf. The announcement, and a new contract extension, mean the AJGA and Ping will continue their relationship through 2030.
Ping first appeared as an AJGA sponsor when it hosted the Ping Myrtle Beach Junior Classic at Quail Creek Country Club in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina – an event that ran for more than 10 years. Ping was soon supporting as many as six events per year, including the Ping Phoenix Junior which ran from 1991-2016. Its support in that area continues has continued to date with the Ping Heather Farr Classic.
“It’s a tremendous honor to become the first AJGA Legacy Partner,” said Ping Chairman & CEO John A. Solheim. “We both share a common goal of helping develop highly-skilled young golfers who aspire to compete at the college level and beyond. Our 40-year relationship includes many highlights, but I’m especially proud of the success of the Ping Junior Solheim Cup and its impact on girls’ golf.
“Its stature is elevated with each event and to see many of those participants go on to star in the Solheim Cup brings me great satisfaction and pride. With the growing popularity of golf, it’s more important than ever that we promote the values golf has to offer while bringing the game to the next generation of competitive junior golfers. We’re excited to continue that mission with our friends at the AJGA.”
