U.S. Junior Amateur – Page 2 – Syndication Server

Luke Clanton’s magical U.S. Junior run ends as Cohen Trolio, Nicholas Dunlap advance to final

Luke Clanton was the breakout star of the week at the U.S. Junior, but Cohen Trolio and Nicholas Dunlap will play for the title.

At USGA amateur championships, there’s always the realization that good things must come to an end. On Friday afternoon at the Country Club of North Carolina in Pinehurst, North Carolina, Luke Clanton met his end short of a trophy but with a big bag of wins regardless.

Clanton, the 17-year-old from Miami Lakes, Florida, tore through the match-play bracket mid-week and downed three top players to score a semifinal pairing opposite Cohen Trolio, himself a semifinalist from the U.S. Amateur at Pinehurst in 2019. Trolio proved to be the buzzsaw that Clanton couldn’t get past.

“It just didn’t go my way today,” said Clanton, who at No. 33 had the highest seed of any semifinalist. “I can’t really say anything else. I just didn’t perform nearly good enough. Congrats to Cohen; Cohen played really well. I hope he pulls through and wins the championship match. He deserves it, as good as he played today.”

Scores: U.S. Junior Amateur

Clanton, who has committed to Florida State, birdied the first hole but found the tables turning when Trolio, who will play for LSU, birdied Nos. 3 and 5. Trolio extended his lead by winning Nos. 7-9 then 11 and 12. The match was over by No. 14.

Still, for Clanton, head-to-head victories over top-seeded Kelly Chinn, CCNC member Jackson Van Paris and two-time Alabama State Amateur champion Gordon Sargent made him arguably the breakout star of the week on a bracket loaded with talent.

“It was an awesome learning experience, but it’s a tough one to really handle,” Clanton said. “I really wanted to win this one.”

Luke Clanton reacts to a missed putt on hole seven during the quarterfinals at the 2021 U.S. Junior at The Country Club of North in Village of Pinehurst, N.C. on Friday, July 23, 2021. (Chris Keane/USGA)

As for Trolio, the 18-year-old seems to find his flow in Pinehurst. His breakout performance came two years ago at the U.S. Amateur. He played the Southern Amateur at Old Waverly Country Club in West Point, Mississippi, where his dad V.J. is the head of instruction, last weekend before immediately hopping a plane to play this event, which started Monday.

“Yeah, I’ve been playing super solid golf for the last couple months. This week just kind of hit the flow. I finished fourth round at the Southern, kind of literally hopped on a plane, flew here, played a practice round on Dogwood the next day. It was just kind of the same flow.”

Junior golf is a small world, and it’s not often a player catches a man on the other side of the bracket with whom he’s unfamiliar. Trolio admitted to knowing both Luke Potter and Nicholas Dunlap – the other two semifinalists – and will ultimately meet Dunlap in Saturday’s 36-hole final after the Huntsville, Alabama, native dispatched Potter, of Encintas, California, by a 3-and-2 margin.

Potter had the upper hand for much of the front nine, with Dunlap 2 down entering the back nine. But Dunlap fought back and ultimately closed out Potter when he birdied Nos. 14 and 15 then won No. 16 with a par.

“It’s unreal,” Dunlap said of his spot in Saturday’s final. “I’ve played the last six or seven weeks on the road, and I want to win everything I play in, obviously, but I’ve been trying to get my game ready for this week and for the next week for the U.S. Am. To be able to do it, it feels great.”

The winner of Saturday’s final will earn, among other things, an exemption into the 2022 U.S. Open.

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U.S. Junior Amateur: Luke Clanton takes down the No. 1 seed, then a local Pinehurst favorite

Get to know the player who took down the two U.S. Junior Amateur favorites in the same day.

Welcome to the Luke Clanton show.

If you’re unfamiliar with the 17-year-old from Miami Lakes, Florida, let me hit you with some knowledge. He’s committed to Florida State, has won the Class 2A state title in two of the last three years and is off to a blistering start at this year’s U.S. Junior Amateur at The Country Club of North Carolina in the Village of Pinehurst.

“It was kind of funny because me and Ben were talking on the first tee and we kind of knew the whole day was going to be one-sided with the crowd,” explained Clanton.

Clanton took down top-seed Kelly Chinn in the morning Round of 32 on Thursday, 1 up, and then defeated Pinehurst local favorite Jackson Van Paris, 2 and 1, in the Round of 16.

U.S. Junior: Match results

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“But it was an unbelievable experience with everyone out here. I can’t even think – I was looking down an iron shot and I saw like a bunch of people surrounding the green, so that’s kind of cool,” he continued. “I just said, ‘one shot at a time,’ and I played really well today. I think I only had one bogey and five birdies. It was just kind of one of those days where I took it one shot at a time, and Jackson is a great opponent, great player, known him for a while. It was fun today, and I just played a little bit better today. That’s it.”

Already this year, Clanton has three top-5 finishes, including a T-2 at the Dustin Johnson Junior Worlds. Last year he won the Arnold Palmer Invitational Junior and posted three top-10 finishes.

“He’s a great player, and he’s definitely a guy that you go into the match knowing you have to play good to beat,” said Van Paris after the match. “He’s not going to lay over. He’s a great competitor. I have no doubt that he’ll continue playing well and keep it going for the rest of the week.”

Awaiting Clanton in the quarterfinals is Vanderbilt-bound Gordon Sargent, a two-time defending Alabama State Amateur champion and three-time Rolex Junior All-American.

For Clanton, he believes in himself just as much as Van Paris.

“My goal is to win,” he said.

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There may be no hotter player in junior golf than Caleb Surratt, the recent PGA Junior champ now cruising through the U.S. Junior

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.

Scores: U.S. Junior Amateur

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.

Take a bow, @calebsurratt1 .#JuniorPGA pic.twitter.com/IQzEUgMt6f

— 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.”

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Local player Jackson Van Paris scraps his way through opening match at U.S. Junior

The U.S. Junior marks two weeks out of the last four that Jackson Van Paris has entered a major tournament as the local favorite.

Fifteen players in the starting U.S. Junior field hail from North Carolina, but only one man calls this week’s host site, the Country Club of North Carolina, his home course. That puts a target on Pinehurst native Jackson Van Paris’s back, if not for his peers then at least for fans – especially local ones.

This marks two weeks out of the last four being the local hero. Over the Fourth of July weekend, Van Paris played his way into the final match at the North & South Amateur at Pinehurst (thanks in large part to a dramatic semifinal victory) before finishing runner-up to Australian Louis Dobbelaar.

Van Paris won the last AJGA Invitational he played in February, the Simplify Boys Championship at Carlton Woods, but this is likely to be the last real hurrah. That story would write itself.

Van Paris hit the first tee shot off the first tee at CCNC’s Dogwood Course on Monday morning to start the championship. He had rounds of 72-70 (the 70 on CCNC’s Cardinal Course) to land the No. 17 seed on the bracket. On Thursday, Van Paris took out another of the Carolina guys – Spencer Turtz – in 15 holes to start match play. Now there are only three remaining.

U.S. Junior: LEADERBOARD

“The course was playing tough,” Van Paris said of a day he made only three birdies. “Neither Spencer nor I played our best. But it was just a grind. It’s one of those matches that neither of us played the way we wanted to, but you’ve just kind of got to grind it out. I got fortunate, I made a few really important putts for par and kind of kept momentum on my side for the most part, which was great, and then ended up making some birdies coming in, which was nice.”

Van Paris noted it was “weird” playing someone from North Carolina. You never want to meet a friend so early in the bracket, he said, but he may keep running into that problem. The 18-year-old has to get past Dutch buzzsaw Benjamin Reuter, who is playing his first USGA championship, in the next round and assuming that good friend Kelly Chinn makes it through another round, too, at the top of the bracket, the two would meet in the Round of 16.

“I mean, if you want to win the event you’ve got to beat them all anyways, so that’s kind of the way I look at it,” van Paris said. “So yeah, I don’t look at it any differently than even if I was playing a bunch of guys I’ve never heard of. I wouldn’t look at it any differently. You’ve just got to go out and try to play your game and play a little better than the guy you’re playing against.”

Van Paris got his edge over Turtz in the Round of 64 when he won three consecutive holes at Nos. 8-10. It was the little things that kept him in the match – like on the par-3 third when Van Paris got up-and-down from a drop zone for bogey and Turtz three-putted from 40 feet. They tied that hole.

“Stuff like that kind of needs to happen if you want to win matches when both guys are playing very well,” he said. “It was by no means a birdie fest out there.

“It’s really nice when you know you’re kind of grinding and you can kind of steal a few.”

Spoken like a guy with a little local knowledge on his side.

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Amateurs, elevated: USGA will bring 13 championships to iconic Bandon Dunes through 2045

Bandon Dunes owner Mike Keiser has long been on a mission to introduce American amateurs to links golf. Now it aligns with a USGA mission.

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Mike Keiser, owner of Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, has long been on a mission to introduce American amateur golfers to links golf. Given that goal – and the overwhelming success of his iconic resort on the Oregon coast – it’s a bit surprising that Keiser felt, well, surprise when Bandon Dunes first appeared on the USGA championship schedule as host site of the 2006 Curtis Cup and players raved about the experience. Keiser looked at that week as a trial. Would players want to make the trek? Would they like the venue?

“The contestants wanting to come is quite a pleasant surprise for (recently retired USGA CEO) Mike Davis, the USGA and us,” he said. “We didn’t know that early on.”

Fifteen years later, Bandon Dunes’ dedication to amateur golf aligns even closer with the USGA’s. Golf’s governing body announced Tuesday it will bring 13 of its amateur championships to the iconic resort over the next 24 years. That starts with the U.S. Junior in 2022 and runs through 2045, when Bandon Dunes will again host the U.S. Junior plus the U.S. Girls’ Junior.

The full list looks like this:

2022: U.S. Junior Amateur
2025: U.S. Women’s Amateur
2029: Walker Cup
2032: U.S. Amateur and U.S. Women’s Amateur
2035: U.S. Girls’ Junior
2037: U.S. Amateur Four-Ball and U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball
2038: Curtis Cup
2041: U.S. Amateur and U.S. Women’s Amateur
2045: U.S. Junior Amateur and U.S. Girls’ Junior

Bandon Dunes Bandon Dunes course — Bandon Dunes at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Oregon (Courtesy of Evan Schiller)

Since the 2006 Curtis Cup, Bandon Dunes – home to five of the top 10 resort courses in the U.S. – has hosted six other USGA championships, including the 2020 U.S. Amateur. John Bodenhamer, the USGA’s senior managing director of championships, goes back to Keiser’s often-expressed support of USGA amateur championships and his comment that he’d host one every year.

Eventually, Bodenhamer decided to explore that sentiment a little further.

“We came together on a list of championships that were important to him and to us – all of our championships are important but there are some reasons we chose the current rota that we have and it just all came together,” Bodenhamer said.

To announce a single site as host of such a large chunk of championships – and extend that schedule so far into the future – is an unprecedented move by the USGA. The organization did something similar in 2020 by announcing Pinehurst as a U.S. Open anchor site (with championships scheduled for 2029, 2035, 2041 and 2047) and home to a second, smaller USGA headquarters.

The USGA’s big-picture thinking with Bandon Dunes encompassed several elements, not the least of which is player experience. Bodenhamer echoed a thought that has crossed many USGA champions’ lips through the years: It matters where you win your USGA title.

It’s also not a coincidence that Bandon’s long list of championships starts with the U.S. Junior in 2022. It’s the start of a player’s journey through the USGA.

“Jordan Spieth won two Juniors and the next Jordan Spieth, to be able to say that he or she won at Bandon Dunes will be pretty special,” Bodenhamer said. “We think that elevates our relationship with the players.”

Keiser is particularly excited at the prospect of introducing junior players to links golf.

“I think it’s a great opportunity,” he said, calling Bandon an educational tool in this sense.

A venue with all the magic (not to mention the name recognition) of Bandon Dunes and its seaside green complexes, golden gorse and expansive views has the power to elevate a championship that doesn’t end with the word “open.”

After Bandon Dunes appeared on Golf Channel in primetime as host of the 2020 U.S. Amateur, Keiser said resort phones rang off the hook for a month. Keiser hopes to see the junior events as well as future U.S. Amateur and U.S. Women’s Amateur broadcasts treated the same.

Bodenhamer confirmed it’s too early to know what kind of network coverage future championships might receive (on NBC, say, versus Golf Channel in an NBC television contract that runs through 2026). In any event, viewers who remember watching the U.S. Amateur unfold last summer are likely to tune in to see juniors against that same backdrop.

“It will be nice to know that they will be televised with the ocean and the dunes and the links golf story as part of it,” Keiser said.

The upcoming Bandon championship schedule brings the U.S. Amateur back twice and the U.S. Women’s Amateur to the resort three times. Both will be played there in 2032 and 2041. Yet to be determined is whether those championships will run concurrently (as the now-retired U.S. Amateur Public Links and U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links did in 2011), or back-to-back, as the USGA treated the U.S. Open and U.S. Women’s Open at Pinehurst in 2014. Either way, both demographics are elevated.

“We think that’s a very positive message for the game, men and women being together, boys and girls being together – juniors,” Bodenhamer said. “We’ve done that before and we think this can carry that forward too.”

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For many USGA championship venues, hosting an amateur championship starts a relationship that may eventually lead to a U.S. Open or a U.S. Women’s Open. Chambers Bay hosted the U.S. Amateur in 2010 before the U.S. Open arrived in 2015, and Erin Hills hosted two amateur championships before debuting as an Open venue in 2017.

Bandon Dunes’ remote location presents an entirely unique set of obstacles for the USGA’s largest events, not to mention the fact that Keiser’s priority remains amateur golf.

“I would never say never but I think for the next 25 years, we’re going to be focused on amateur golf,” Bodenhamer said. “The next set of decision makers will talk about Opens.”

For his part, Keiser, 76, doesn’t think it will happen in his lifetime.

Last summer, Bandon Dunes, the resort’s original 18-hole course, shone on a U.S. Amateur broadcast that came at the end of a summer light on televised golf. Bodenhamer expects to see several, if not all, of the other four courses – Pacific Dunes, Old Macdonald, Bandon Trails and Sheep Ranch – used in future championships depending on the demographic of the event. In all, the resorts’ courses are ranked Nos. 1-5 as the best public-access layouts in Oregon, and each of them is in the top 15 on Golfweek’s Best ranking of modern courses built since 1960 in the U.S.

Asked his opinion on which course sets up best for match play, Keiser went right to Bandon Dunes’ closing stretch on the ocean.

“We have to give David Kidd credit for the 16th hole, the drivable par 4, with 15 being a very tough par 3, usually into the wind, being the warm-up,” he said. “You play this really long par 3 and then you have a short par 4 – those two right there, because that’s where most match-play competitions are concluded on the 15^th, 16^th before they get to the 18^th. David Kidd, it’s as if he knew that he would be hosting the U.S. Amateur etc., when he designed the 16^th hole.”

But Keiser is confident the Sheep Ranch, the newest course opened in 2020 and one that features nine greens on the ocean, will figure prominently for future championships.

“Have to say it’s a tie which is more photogenic, Sheep Ranch or Bandon Dunes,” Keiser said. “Let’s call it a tie.”

He could also easily call it a can’t-lose.

Bandon Dunes Sheep Ranch — Sheep Ranch at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Oregon (Courtesy of Bandon Dunes)

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Amateurs, elevated: USGA will bring 13 championships to iconic Bandon Dunes through 2045

Bandon Dunes owner Mike Keiser has long been on a mission to introduce American amateurs to links golf. Now it aligns with a USGA mission.

“The contestants wanting to come is quite a pleasant surprise for (recently retired USGA CEO) Mike Davis, the USGA and us,” he said. “We didn’t know that early on.”

The full list looks like this:

2022: U.S. Junior Amateur
2025: U.S. Women’s Amateur
2029: Walker Cup
2032: U.S. Amateur and U.S. Women’s Amateur
2035: U.S. Girls’ Junior
2037: U.S. Amateur Four-Ball and U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball
2038: Curtis Cup
2041: U.S. Amateur and U.S. Women’s Amateur
2045: U.S. Junior Amateur and U.S. Girls’ Junior

Eventually, Bodenhamer decided to explore that sentiment a little further.

It’s also not a coincidence that Bandon’s long list of championships starts with the U.S. Junior in 2022. It’s the start of a player’s journey through the USGA.

Keiser is particularly excited at the prospect of introducing junior players to links golf.

“I think it’s a great opportunity,” he said, calling Bandon an educational tool in this sense.

“It will be nice to know that they will be televised with the ocean and the dunes and the links golf story as part of it,” Keiser said.

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Bandon Dunes’ remote location presents an entirely unique set of obstacles for the USGA’s largest events, not to mention the fact that Keiser’s priority remains amateur golf.

“I would never say never but I think for the next 25 years, we’re going to be focused on amateur golf,” Bodenhamer said. “The next set of decision makers will talk about Opens.”

For his part, Keiser, 76, doesn’t think it will happen in his lifetime.

Asked his opinion on which course sets up best for match play, Keiser went right to Bandon Dunes’ closing stretch on the ocean.

But Keiser is confident the Sheep Ranch, the newest course opened in 2020 and one that features nine greens on the ocean, will figure prominently for future championships.

“Have to say it’s a tie which is more photogenic, Sheep Ranch or Bandon Dunes,” Keiser said. “Let’s call it a tie.”

He could also easily call it a can’t-lose.

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With his older sister on the bag, 12-year-old Davis Wotnosky becomes second-youngest competitor in U.S. Junior Amateur history

Wotnosky shot a 2-over 74 and is within striking distance of match play.

The Wotnosky name is starting to carry some weight in the amateur golf world.

Haeley is a rising senior at Virginia and has played in one U.S. Women’s Amateur and three U.S. Girls’ Junior championships. Grayson is entering his sophomore year for the Cavaliers.

And then there’s Davis. At 12 years, 6 months, 16 days old, he is now the second-youngest player to compete in U.S. Junior Amateur history. Wotnosky began the week at The Country Club of North Carolina with a 2-over 74 on the Dogwood Course with Haeley on the bag.

“It’s really fun. I’ve always been really good friends with my brother and sister,” Wotnosky said of his family support. “She keeps me loose and it’s always awesome to have another eye from someone who is a golfer and has played in tournaments.”

Wotnosky began the day on the par-4 10th with a bogey then settled in with a pair of pars followed by a pair of birdies on Nos. 13 and 14, his only two of the day.

“On No. 13, I hit an OK tee shot to about 50 feet. I hit the putt way too hard and it hit the back of the hole and bounced up and went down. So, I got really lucky there,” explained Wotnosky. “On 14 it’s a tough hole. I hit it center of fairway and then hit it to 30 feet. I had it lip in and that is always nice to have.”

Playing about 90 minutes down the road from his Wake Forest, North Carolina, home, Wotnosky remarked special it is to make his Junior Amateur debut in North Carolina.

“I wanted to play in this event, especially here, for a long time,” said Wotnosky. “I was pretty nervous on the first tee. I usually do not get nervous. I certainly felt it there.

“It’s been fun. I know this golf course and I have played it a few times. And to have all the people I know here is great.”

The youngest to ever play the event is Matthew Pierce Jr., who competed in the Junior Am in 2001 at the age of 12 years, two months, 15 days. In 1996, Kevin Na was 12 years, 10 months and 13 days old. He’s now fourth on the list of youngest competitors in the event.

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Kelly Chinn tees it up in final U.S. Junior hoping to finish the job

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.”

U.S. Junior: Tee times, players to watch

His best advice in that format?

“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.”

Chinn has never been bothered by the challenge.

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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.

USGA announces U.S. Junior, U.S. Girls’ Junior cancellations

The U.S. Junior and U.S. Girls’ Junior are the latest events to come off the 2020 competition calendar in light of coronavirus pandemic.

The U.S. Junior and U.S. Girls’ Junior are the latest events to come off the 2020 competition calendar in light of the coronavirus pandemic. The USGA announced that neither would be played this summer, and the tournaments will not be rescheduled.

The U.S. Junior was slated for July 20-25 at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota, while the U.S. Girls’ Junior would have been played at the U.S. Air Force Academy Eisenhower Golf Course in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on July 13-18.

“Our primary focus when making determinations around championships continues to be the safety and well-being of everyone involved,” said John Bodenhamer, senior managing director of Championships for the USGA. “While we are incredibly disappointed to have to make the decision to cancel our two junior championships, we know it is the right one.”

Current and proposed federal, state and local guidelines regarding gatherings would make qualifying for both championships particularly difficult for Allied Golf Associations, which were scheduled to hold 100 qualifiers in 41 states between late May and early July.

“Given that juniors in most parts of the country are not physically attending school at this time, we did not feel comfortable asking them to compete in qualifying events,” Bodenhamer said. “We considered postponement but knowing that school will restart in many places around the country in August, we did not believe it was a viable option.”

Both events carried milestones. The U.S. Junior was set to expand from a field of 156 to field of 264 players for the first time this year. Chaska Town Course had been added as a companion course to handle the bulked-up stroke-play field.

The U.S. Girls’ Junior, meanwhile, would have been the first-ever USGA championship conducted on a military base, as Eisenhower G.C. resides on the property of the United States Air Force Academy.

The USGA had already delayed entries for both championships, in addition to the U.S. Amateur and U.S. Women’s Amateur. The latter two events are still on the calendar for the first part of August.

Entries for those amateur championships will not open until May 18, the USGA also announced on Friday. Entries have also been delayed until that date for the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur, U.S. Senior Amateur, U.S. Mid-Amateur and U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur. All four of those championships are to be played between Aug. 29 and Sept. 17

In addition to the U.S. Girls’ Junior and U.S. Junior Amateur Championships, the USGA previously canceled four 2020 championships: the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball and U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball on March 17, and the U.S. Senior Open and U.S. Senior Women’s Open on April 6.

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