Fifty-three more players qualified last week for the U.S. Junior Amateur at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, NJ to be played July 16 - 21. Twenty-three sites hosted these players, with the first group of college players advancing. Nick Willis advanced out of the Florence, SC site. He was a freshman last year at Wofford College, playing in 11 events with a top finish of T6 this past spring at the Wofford Invitational. Another college freshman last year moving on to Baltusrol is Division III National Champion's Lynn University's Chandler McDowell, who redshirted. Chandler, from Canada, got the only spot from Coeur D'Alene, ID. Mark Turner is a third player who graduated in 2017 to qualify. Mark is a student at Dartmouth and got one of three spots from Bernardston, MA.
Don't worry, the youth movement established in the first week of qualifying continued last week. Jonathan Griz from the 2022 graduating class moved on from the Florence, SC site. A consensus top 10 player in his graduating class, Griz is committed to Clemson. Another future Tiger (this fall), Jacob Bridgeman also advanced from Florence, SC. Bridgeman was a member of the inaugural U.S. Junior Presidents Cup team. His WAGR ranking of 408 is the highest among week two qualifiers.
The top-ranked junior from the week is the third-ranked player in the 2018 class according to Rolex/AJGA rankings, Logan McAllister. An Oklahoma signee, he is the lone player to advance from the Norman, OK site after shooting a 64. The seventh-ranked player in the 2019 class in the Golfweek rankings in Nicolas Cassidy, a Georgia commit. He played in the Birmingham, AL site, where all 3 players advancing are apart of the 2019 class. He is joined by Alabama commit, Thomas Ponder, ranked as high as 31 in Junior Golf Scoreboard's class rankings. Ken Goforth is ranked 204 in his class by Golfweek.
- Details
The race to the 2019 U.S. Open began last week with the qualifiers for the U.S. Junior Amateur beginning. This summer's big event in junior golf takes place July 16 - 21 at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, NJ.
Last Monday was the start of qualifications and we saw 31 qualifiers from 15 locations. The West Lafayette, IN site provided us with the highest ranked player to qualify so far in Clay Merchent. The 2019 Florida Gator commit is ranked 8th in the nation according to Golfweek and has 3 impressive top 10 finishes this past year in some big-time junior events: the AJGA PING Invitational, the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley and most recently at the AJGA Thunderbird Invitational Junior. The Noblesville, IN native, currently ranks 10th in the Junior Ryder Cup points for Team USA. Clay tied for medalist in his qualifier with Clay Stirsman, a 2020 prospect from Carmel, IN. Also advancing was Oscar Zimmerman, a 2019 prospect from Cincinnati, OH.
Five incoming high school freshman qualified last week. Luke Clanton from Miami Lakes, FL leads the youth charge in the graduating class of 2022. He qualified out the West Palm Beach, FL qualifier, along with 2020 Florida State commit, Brett Roberts. Luke ranks first in his class in the Rolex/AJGA rankings, and 74th overall. He was the youngest to make the cut at last summer's Junior PGA, on his way to a T52 finish.
- Details
Read more: 2018 U.S. Junior Amateur: Week One Qualifying Recap
The 2017 champion of the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley, Joaquin Niemann, not only received the coveted Golden Jacket but soon ascended to the top of the World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR), where he has remained until this week. He will lose the top spot as he is making his professional debut at this weeks PGA Tour stop, the Valero Texas Open. His final event as an amateur was just a few weeks ago when he was playing for a Green Jacket, just 17 miles away. Fifty-four players from around the world will attempt to follow Joaquin and become the 8th champion of the premiere event in boys junior golf, played at the eye-pleasing Sage Valley Golf Club, outside Aiken, SC.
The 2018 edition of the Junior Invitational includes 42 players who have signed and/or committed to play college golf at 25 different institutions. The University of Florida leads the way with 6 participants. Here's the breakdown:
Alabama (3), Frankie Capan, Prescott Butler, Canon Claycomb
Arizona State (1), Cameron Sisk
Arkansas (1), Julian Perico
Auburn (1), Alexander Vogelsong
BYU (1), Cole Ponich
Clemson (1), Jacob Bridgeman
Colorado (1), Kristoffer Max
- Details
The inaugural Major Champions Invitational is a team event consisting of junior (and some college) golfers from around the world, and will be played March 12 - 14 at the Bella Collina Golf Course in Montverde, Florida. Nick Faldo, whose Faldo Series global junior golf events are eligible for players in the age range of 12 to 21, has used his experience in running the Faldo Series to begin this new event. "The event provides major champions an opportunity to mentor and inspire the next generation of players while giving back to the game." Teams are made up of 4 players and will use the top 3 scores in each of 4 rounds (much like the college games "5-count-4") to determine which team wins. Individual male and female winners will be determined on their respective 72-hole scores.
Team Ballesteros is lead by a couple of college players in Paula Neira Garcia (Georgia) and Paz Marfa Sans (Michigan State), along with Alejandro Aguilera Martin - who has signed with TCU and has played in many major junior golf events in Europe and the United States. Paula won the 2017 Spanish Amateur. Alejandro recently placed T25 in the Dustin Johnson World Junior last month in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. He's also played in the Doral-Publix Junior Classic and the prestigious Junior Invitational at Sage Valley.
Perhaps no player has a better resume in the field then Lauren Stephenson, a junior at Alabama. You probably remember the name from last years U.S. Women's Amateur, where she lost in the quarterfinals, after going 12 playoff holes in that match. She was a 2nd-team All-American last year, and will most likely be named to the U.S. Arnold Palmer Cup team this Wednesday. She is also on the ANNIKA Award watch list. The South Carolina native is joined on Team Dustin Johnson by another South Carolinian who's built a pretty solid junior resume himself, in Trent Phillips. Trent has been assaulting the South Carolina junior golf record books (removing his team's namesake, Dustin Johnson, off many of those records). He's won amateur events and was a member of the inaugural Junior Presidents Cup team, last September. He has signed to golf for Georgia. Another member of the team is Grayson Wotnosky, who recently finished 5th in the Dustin Johnson World Junior. The 2020 prospect has many high finishes over the past 6 months.
- Details
Flashback, to 2017, Noah Goodwin had been ranked the top junior golfer for just over a year, and after 2 rounds of the AJGA CB&I/Simplify Boys Championship trailed his good friend (and future teammate at SMU), Ben Wong. Ben shot an impressive 65-67 to lead by 3 following the second round. However, in the final round, Noah Goodwin closed with a 67 to beat Ben by a stroke. Noah was coming off a good year in 2016, having had four top 10 finishes in AJGA Invitationals, and a runner-up in the U.S. Junior Amateur. Those finishes helped him win the 2016 Rolex Junior Player of the Year. Noah's 2017 was even better, as he notched the win in the Boys Championship, as well as came back to not just reach the finals of the U.S. Junior again, but to win it last summer. Those performances helped him repeat as the 2017 Rolex Junior Player of the Year.
Don't feel too bad for Ben. His 2017 wasn't too shabby either, despite the loss at The Club at Carlton Woods, here in The Woodlands, Texas. He followed up with another near-miss at the Haas Family Invitational - again leading heading into the final round, only to come in 3rd. However, he finally broke through with a playoff victory at the Junior PLAYERS Championship. He also partnered with another good friend, Frankie Capan (2018, Alabama signee), to win the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball. He also made the U.S. Junior Amateur for the 4th time in the past 5 years. It was performances like that, which helped propel Ben to the top of the AJGA Rolex rankings heading into this year's Simplify Boys Championship.
- Details
Junior Tour Schedules
USGA Home Page
AJGA
Golfweek
HJGT
Arizona
Junior Golf Association of Arizona
California
Junior Tour of Northern California
Toyota Tour Cup
Florida
Florida Junior Golf Tour
Texas
Texas Legends Junior Tour
Texas Junior Golf Tour
Mid-Atlantic
Peggy Kirk Bell Golf Tour
Mid-West
Golfweek Junior Tour
Northeast
Challenge Cup
Southeast
Southeast Junior Golf Tour
Carolinas
Carolina Golf Association