AJGA Blog

First-round notes: Thunderbird International Junior

> Named “Aces and Eights,” the eighth hole lived up to its name Saturday. Zecheng Dou’s 6-iron from 177 yards found the bottom of the cup, giving him the ninth hole-in-one of his career. The ace helped him to an even-par 72, which is good for a share of eighth place. Grayhawk Golf Club will give him a commemorative flag and add his name to the “Hole-in-One Club” plaque that hangs in Phil’s Grill.

> Matt Gilchrest of Southlake, Texas, posted a seemingly nondescript 1-over-par round today, but his 73 shots don’t accurately reflect the last 73 hours of his life:

Wednesday, Matt was 1,070 miles from Grayhawk Golf Club and sixth on the alternate list.

Thursday, Matt got a call with an invitation to fill the void left by Shun Yat Hak’s withdrawal.

Friday, Matt and his dad flew from Dallas to Phoenix, but his clubs missed the flight and remained in Dallas overnight.

Saturday, Matt planned on playing with the head pro’s clubs during the first round. After spending hours at the airport, Matt’s dad arrived at the golf course with his clubs 20 minutes before his 8:05 a.m. tee time.

An eagle and a birdie highlighted a bogey-free front nine 33, and Matt even held the lead for portions of the morning. Though he fell to a tie for 15th through 18 holes, Matt’s next three days will certainly be more predictable than the last.

> While an international boy has never won the Thunderbird International Junior, Max Orrin (United Kingdom) and Hannes Ronneblad (Sweden) have put themselves in good position through one round. Max is part of the four-way tie for second after a 2-under-par 70, while Hannes is tied for sixth at 1-under-par.

> Recent success seems to be paving the way for four players in the top seven in the Girls Division. Shannon Aubert won in her last start at the Kathy Whitworth Invitational in March and is one of three co-leaders, while Moriya Jutanugarn won the Scott Robertson Memorial last weekend and is tied for fourth. Alison Lee (T4) also has a win this season, as she opened with a victory at the ANNIKA Invitational, and Ashlan Ramsey (T7) won the Sea Pines Junior Heritage in February.

- Chris Richards, AJGA Communications

Playing for something bigger

Golfers are usually thought of as independent creatures. They practice alone, play for themselves and when they reach the highest levels of the game are working for their own survival. However, if you look closer, you’ll find golfers that are out playing for something much bigger than themselves.

That was the case at the Under Armour® / Vicky Hurst Championship in Choudrant, La., as three juniors were participating in the newest addition to the American Junior Golf Association’s Leadership Links program, Playing for their Future supported by the Nicklaus Children’s Healthcare Foundation.

Emily Campbell of Carrollton, Texas, Thadd Obency II of Wheeling, W. Va., and Philip Barbaree of Shreveport, La., are all working to raise money in honor of a specific child and his or her fight against cancer, as well as the AJGA’s ACE Grant Program, which is designed to provide financial assistance to those juniors with the skill to play a national junior golf schedule, but lack the financial recourse to do so.

“I’ve always tried to be a giving person so I really want to help this boy and his family with their fight against cancer,” said Obency, who has reached out to the entire membership of his home golf club for help in raising money for this worthy cause.

Juniors who participate in this initiative are given an individualized web page with their picture on it, a picture of the child they will be honoring and their own statement asking for support. Campbell said that the first time she saw a picture of her child there was a very emotional response.

“It made me sad when I saw this kid who was struggling with this,” Campbell said. “But at the same time, it made me feel good that I was doing what I could to help them”

Going in to the Under Armour® / Vicky Hurst Championship, Campbell, Obency and Barbaree had combined to raise more than $1,500 for the cause. For more information on the efforts of Campbell, Obency, Barbaree and other juniors involved in Leadership Links, as well as to see how you can get involved, visit ajga.org.

by Teddy Newton, AJGA Staff

Thanking our spring interns

It took us three and half months of searching through countless applications and Skype interviews to select the best 18 candidates to serve as the spring intern class of 2012. But once it was done, a huge weight was lifted off our shoulders as I knew we had a solid group that would start working in March.

On March 19, eighteen smiling faces walked through the doors of the AJGA’s National Headquarters and nervously shook my hand. Not only were they meeting me in person for the first time, but they were meeting each other. I was even a little unsure of how everyone would get along at first. Everyone was so quiet and it was like pulling teeth to get them to laugh at my jokes! However, after being in their shoes once before, even I understood that all the Facebook messages and tweets couldn’t prepare you for what it is like to meet the individuals you are about to spend the next six weeks with. After a few icebreaker activities and more horrible jokes from me, they were able to bond and begin to mold as teammates.

 

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All of them came prepared with a blank notebook and a freshly sharpened pencil ready to take notes and soak up as much information they could about the AJGA. For seven days, they were taught the ins and outs of our organization and how we successfully execute national golf tournaments. The AJGA staff was organized and detailed in their training to make sure everyone was on the same page. By the end of the week, they were ready to put their skills to work at a mock tournament at Chateau Élan. Setting tees, checking hole locations, starting, rules officiating, photography, timing stations, scoring, post-round recaps, interviewing and breaking down the course were all put into action as things started to come together.

Finally, training had come to a close and the day had come for me to feel like a “Mama Bird” sending her young ones off to stretch their wings for the first time. Team 1 set off for North Carolina, Team 2 went south to Savannah, Georgia and Team 3 embarked on the first long road trip to Dallas. When they pulled out of the parking lot I knew it’d be the last time I’d see most of them (I was able to work with Team 2 over Easter) until they pulled back into our parking lot on May 7^th. But thank goodness for technology – I’m able to still communicate with them via Twitter, email and texting.

It’s been 30 days on the road so far and they are in their fifth week of events for the AJGA. And from what I’ve gathered everyone is having a great time so far! Aside from the early morning wake-up calls, meeting the next generation of junior golfers and current PGA TOUR players has really made the experience for some even more memorable. Some have had the chance to meet AJGA National Chairman Hunter Mahan – even I’m jealous!

As the spring season comes to a close in the next two weeks, I am very proud of the work they have all done because without them we cannot run tournaments. They have exceeded my expectations and I’m so happy they’ve been able to be a part of an extraordinary internship.

So now the countdown begins again…. Only 27 days till I become Mama Bird again when 54 of our summer interns show up for training!

- by Lauren Shelly, AJGA Manager of Recruiting and Special Events

Egypt, to IMG, to OCU

The international influence within the membership of the American Junior Golf Association grows year after year, with more and more players who were born abroad competing in the United States’ premier junior golf organization.

That international influence had some noteworthy growth at the Preseason Junior at Sterling as Issa Abou el Ela, a native of Egypt who plays out of Bradenton, Fla., and the IMG Leadbetter Golf Academy, played in his first AJGA event.

The move to the United States came in part because of practice limitations back in Egypt.

“My parents knew that I loved golf, but in Egypt school ends at 4 p.m. and it gets dark at six, so by the time I got to the golf course it was almost dark,” Abou el Ela said. “We had heard of IMG, and once my parents saw in me that I wanted to play seriously, they let me go.”

Abou el Ela has been at the IMG Leadbetter Golf Academy since January of 2011. Since then he has decided to attend Oklahoma City University this coming fall, and this week he finished runner-up in his first AJGA event. All of that has made Abou el Ela very thankful to have the game of golf in his life.

“Golf has given me something that I know I want to do,” Abou el Ela said. “I’m going to play college golf, enjoy it as much as I can. If I get good enough where I can turn pro, I’d be lucky, but if not I’ll still play golf no matter what, so it’s all right.”

- by Jenna Galloway and Teddy Newton, AJGA Communications Interns

The Bangkok Connection

When they were seven years old, KK Limbhasut and Pailin Ruttanasupagid played golf together in Bangkok, Thailand. Nearly one decade later and 9,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean, the two were joined together again as champions of the Under Armour ® / Gary Woodland Championship.

Outside the clubhouse at Diablo Grande Golf & Country Club, the pair gathered for champions’ photos, while sharing with the AJGA staff how long they have been friends. After growing up in Thailand, KK, now 16, moved to the States just two years ago; Pailin about a year and a half ago.

Now residing in southern California, KK and Pailin live about 100 miles apart, with KK in Loma Linda and Pailin in San Diego. Sunday afternoon, as they patiently posed for photos, they stood just inches apart – their golf journey taking them from young kids in Thailand to AJGA champions in Patterson, California.

- by Rob Coleman, AJGA Communications

Q&A with Hunter Mahan

The AJGA is proud to be associated with many of the top golfers in the world, and at the Under Armour® / Hunter Mahan Championship, AJGA juniors had an opportunity to interact and learn from Mahan, the No. 5 ranked golfer in the world.

Mahan arrived at the Gleneagles Country Club in Plano, Texas, by mid-morning on Friday, April 13. During his time at the course, Mahan was involved with each activity of the day. He posed with Junior-Am teams for photos, led a Q&A session with juniors, took photos and signed autographs.

The Q&A session was a highlight for the juniors, where they were able to fire questions, golf, personal, or simply life-related to the AJGA alum. With most of AJGA’s juniors aspiring to play at the collegiate and professional level, Mahan’s presence could be a glimpse into the future for a few of them.

Here are a few highlights from Mahan’s Q&A session at Gleneagles:

Q: What are your memories of the AJGA?

A: I remember I’d play about eight events during the summer, so it was quite a bit of golf. I really remember all of the competition, because it was the best competition in the world for junior golf. Experiences in competitive tournaments are fantastic because you’re going to learn every time you go out there and play…This is a time when you juniors are going to make friends for life. I was just talking with Ryan Hybl, who is head coach at Oklahoma. He is a great guy, and we’ve known each other since we were 16 years old. Golf is a small circle, so you’re going to have these friends for a long time.

Q: What would you recommend for junior golfers going through the recruiting process right now?

A: You have to find out what is important for you in your college experience. I went to Southern Cal my first year and really didn’t have the college experience I was looking for. It was nothing that Southern Cal did, I just wanted a smaller place, so I went to Stillwater, Okla., and Oklahoma State, which is about as small as you can get. You just have to be comfortable and have to have the things you’re looking for. It’s a fun process to go look at all of these schools. College should be the best experience of your life.

Q: Whose idea was the “Golf Boys” music video?

A: It definitely wasn’t mine. Bubba Watson really likes to do stuff like that and be out there as much as he can. Rickie Fowler and I said that we’d be up for doing something like that too and it happened. It’s been a totally freakish thing how popular it was. It was certainly fun to make people laugh and I guess it showed us in a different light.

Q: What was the typical day for you as student-athlete Oklahoma State?

A: We would workout at 6 a.m. three or four days a week. We actually enjoyed that, it was better than working out in the evening. Class for us would go from about 8 a.m. until about 1 p.m. From there we would go out to Karsten Creek and practice. It was our own private facility so it was real easy for us to go out there to practice and play. Once we were done with that at about 6 p.m. some of us would have study hall, then after studying for a couple hours we’d go to bed and do it all over again the next day. It doesn’t sound like it was a whole lot of fun but I can promise you it was. We didn’t have a team full of All-Americans, but we did have eight guys that were committed to winning a National Championship, and that’s what made it most fun.

Q: What were the biggest things you learned when you went from college to the PGA TOUR?

A: Probably the most important thing I learned was to not try and be perfect. When I went from college to pro, I figured all of those guys on TOUR didn’t miss a shot and played great everyday and that’s not the case. Golf is just about getting it in the hole no matter how you are hitting it, chipping it, or putting it. Golf is really a mental exercise in staying patient and focused, and getting the ball in the hole however you can. I played with Phil Mickelson at The Masters, and I would think 80 percent of the field would have missed the cut from where he hit it. He had no idea where it was going half of the time, but he knows how to play the course and has a ridiculous short game. It’s always about the little things. It’s the little things that take a good player to a great player, and that’s what you can learn in competition like with the AJGA.

Written by Jenna Galloway and Teddy Newton, AJGA Communications Interns

Academy Sports Big Break Challenge

Plano, Texas, was the place to be Friday afternoon. Not only was Hunter Mahan on site (who is now No. 1 in points in the FedEx Cup and ranked No. 5 in the world), but juniors also competed in the Academy Sports Big Break Challenge.

Set up on the practice facilities of Gleneagles Country Club, the Academy Sports Big Break Challenge offered five stations for juniors to complete, racking up points based on their performance.

Each station highlighted a different skill:

Flop shot - Juniors were positioned about four feet away from the formidable 7-foot wall and hit blindly trying to land within a marked circle near the pin.

Putting - Juniors had three different putts to make, each a different distance and difficulty level.

Longest Drive - Points were awarded for long and accurate drives.

Chipping - Juniors hit from about 15 yards and were awarded points for shots that finished within the target.

Online Skills Coach/Closest to the Hole presented by Under Armour® - Online Skills Coach drove a truck with a golf simulator where players hit a 157-yard shot and competed in a closest-to-the-hole contest. Scott Kim won for the boys with a shot that landed 7 feet, 2 inches from the pin, while Ali Cowan’s shot rested 16 feet, 4 inches from the pin giving her the top shot for the girls.

Taylor Coleman was named the Girls winner with 12 total points, while Harry Lambert finished on top for the Boys with 15 points. Each winner was awarded a trophy and an Academy Sports gift card.

Check out more photos from the Academy Sports Big Break Challenge at: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150670178513443.385271.47598468442&type=3

Written by Jenna Galloway, AJGA Communications Intern

Quantifying Opportunities

by Kristi Bradley, AJGA Communications

Easter weekend is one of the AJGA’s busiest times of the year. Take a look at some of the numbers…

4 = number of Easter weekend AJGA tournaments

     - TaylorMade-adidas Golf Junior All-Star at Château Élan 

     - TaylorMade-adidas Golf Junior at Innisbrook hosted by Sean O'Hair

     - Goodman Networks Junior at Traditions

     - Winn Grips Heather Farr Classic hosted by Longbow Golf Club

8 = number of newly-crowned AJGA champions

 

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54 = number of juniors who became Fully Exempt after participating in Easter tournaments

1,817 = total number of Performance Stars earned by AJGA players over Easter weekend

132 = number of first-time AJGA members who played over Easter weekend

44 = total number of juniors who earned entry into Easter events via TaylorMade-adidas Golf Qualifiers

40 = number of states represented in Easter tournament fields

79 = total number of AJGA staff members working (The entire AJGA staff works Easter weekend events and all three spring intern teams also assist with the implementation of these large tournaments).

198 = number of volunteers who spent time manning timing stations, driving shuttles and implementing FJ Live Scoring. Thank you to those who took the time to help over a holiday weekend!

1,016 = total number of playing opportunities for junior golfers at AJGA Easter weekend events. A number that speaks for itself and signifies the goal of the AJGA.

News Nuggets from Winn Grips Heather Farr Classic

by Rob Coleman, AJGA Communications

Parting thoughts from Mesa, Ariz., as we wrap up the Winn Grips Heather Farr Classic hosted by Longbow Golf Club:

LOOK OUT BELOW: Records were falling in the final round. The women’s course record was broken by Lindsey Weaver who closed with a 7-under-par 64. The boys’ tournament record was claimed by Beau Hossler, who shot 66-68-64—198 to win by five shots.

SEVEN-LETTER PAIRING: There’s no official record for this category, but when Bethany Wu, Lidia Vu and Minjia Luo were paired together in the final round, there were only seven letters combined in their last names. By contrast, there are 18 letters in the last name of this week’s tournament director Tommy Tangtiphaiboontana.

CLUTCH CHIP: Cha Cha Willhoite made the girls’ 36-hole cut on the number. What the scorecard doesn’t tell us is that she chipped in for par on her 36^th hole to hit that number.

SWEET & LOW: Gordon Neale fired seven birdies and an eagle in the final round en route to a tournament-low 8-under-par 63.

ROUGH START – AMAZING FINISH: Derek Castillo was 6-over-par through five holes in Saturday’s second round. Then he rallied with 10 birdies the rest of the way to shoot a 4-under-par 67, including a back-nine 29.

SISTERLY LOVE: When the Gariepy sisters tied for fourth at Wednesday's TaylorMade-adidas Golf qualifier, they appeared destined for a playoff to claim the final spot in the field. Alexia, an eighth-grader, told big sister Carolane that she'd give the spot to her because Carolane is a junior and needs the exposure for college. Luckily, it never came to that. One player ahead of them couldn't play in the tournament, so they both got in the field.

SHOT OF THE WEEK: Nathan Wunderli aced the 158-yard eighth hole with an 8-iron in the first round. He eventually finished in a tie for 12^th place.

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT: Lindsey Weaver (pictured below) has won an AJGA tournament in seven consecutive years, 2006-2012. Since players can only play in the AJGA from age 12-18, this record might never be broken. Lindsey heads off to Notre Dame this fall, but her name may forever stand in the AJGA record book.

It evened out on No. 11

In the Seinfeld episode “The Opposite”, Jerry had the realization that everything in his life seemed to even out. When one of his friends was doing well, the other would go through a tough time. When he got dumped by a girlfriend, he didn’t get upset because he figured something good would happen soon to even things out.

For Jack Maguire of St. Petersberg, Fla., his fortune at the 11th hole at Savannah Quarters Country Club during the AJGA Junior at Savannah Quarters did seem to even out in the end, and unfortunately for him, that end didn’t mean a much-deserved AJGA victory.

During the first round Saturday, Maguire was looking to get up-and-down from a greenside bunker for a second straight birdie to open his round (he started on No. 10), and after his bunker blast appeared to be headed a few feet right of the hole, that seemed to be a very real possibility. Then the Golfing Gods decided to give him a little boost.

“The kid I was playing with was about two feet to the back right of the pin,” Maguire said. “My bunker shot actually banked off of his ball and into the hole, so that was kind of cool.”

But as it so often does, the game giveth, and the game taketh away.

Maguire found himself on No. 11 for the third time of the tournament on Sunday afternoon, this time in a sudden-death playoff with Ben Dietrich. Maguire, who wowed longtime AJGA Senior Rules Official John Spiroplaus with prodigious length off the tee earlier in the day, attacked the reachable par-4 with a driver. His shot flew left of the green, and bounded into a nearby hazard. A drop, a chip and two putts later, Maguire made bogey and lost the playoff.

The runner-up finish is surely tough for Maguire, who now has five top-10 finishes in AJGA events, but he’ll have a chance to try to even things out this weekend when he plays in the TaylorMade-adidas Golf Junior at Innisbrook hosted by Sean O'Hair.

By Ted Newton, AJGA Communications Intern