AJGA Blog

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

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.

Fourth time’s a charm for Hak

The Club at Carlton Woods has hosted the HP Boys Championship since 2009, and Shun Yat Hak has been a part of all four. He’s the only player that can make that claim, and he capped his final appearance Monday with a tournament-clinching 69.

He is the third straight high school senior to capture the title (Bobby Wyatt, 2010; Jordan Spieth, 2011), and reminisced about what he learned from playing with so many great players over the years.

“With the way Jordan hit it last year, he also made a lot of putts. I was inside of him every time, but he always made it first and I missed mine,” said Hak, who played with Spieth in the final pairing of 2011. “This year what I did great was I made a couple more putts, maybe more than other people, and I hit some good iron shots and managed myself really well.”

Hak compiled a scoring average of 72.58 in 12 rounds at The Club at Carlton Woods, with his 3-under-par 69 being a career best.

“I wish I could never graduate high school because I really want to play this tournament every year. Thank you to the volunteers and all the sponsors because I think this is the best tournament on the AJGA,” he said.

- Written by Chris Richards, AJGA Communications

HP Boys champ Spieth lands at top of college rankings

On Feb. 21, 2011, Jordan Spieth concluded his AJGA career with a win at the HP Boys Championship at Carlton Woods.  On Feb. 6, 2012, less than one year after his final AJGA appearance, Spieth moved into the No. 1 spot in the Men’s Collegiate Individual Golfweek / Sagarin Rankings.

For those counting, that’s 350 days.

Pretty quick turnaround for the Dallas native and University of Texas freshman, I’d say. With the collegiate season in full swing, Spieth has quickly cemented his place in college golf, and that place is at the top.

With his 2011 win at the HP Boys Championship
at Carlton Woods, Spieth added his name -
and a banner - to an illustrious list of past champions
including Tiger Woods, Kyle Stanley and Rickie Fowler.

As a junior, Spieth saw the top of the charts as well. He was named the Rolex Junior Player of the Year in 2009 and was a first-team Rolex Junior All-America selection three consecutive years (2008-2010), in part due to his strong play at the HP Boys Championship at Carlton Woods during that time.

Spieth is also ranked No. 2 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, second to UCLA’s Patrick Cantlay, another AJGA alum who had success at the HP Boys Championship at Carlton Woods. Cantlay finished fourth at the event in 2010, his final AJGA tournament.

Both Spieth and Cantlay are teeing it up at the PGA TOUR’s Northern Trust Open this week. Next year, that could be any of the 78 juniors competing at Carlton Woods this week. For those 78, the future is bright and the sky is limit. The road to success, however, winds through The Club at Carlton Woods’ Fazio Championship Course, or at least it did for Jordan Spieth.

-Written by Ashley O'Dell, AJGA Communications

King of the Island

“Whenever you see Jack Nicklaus in the airport, you say ‘Hi Mr. Nicklaus,’ never ‘Hi Jack.’ Unless you want to be arrested.” This was just one small bit of the inspired wisdom provided by Chi Chi Rodriguez to the 79 boys playing this week at the Puerto Rico Junior Open.

The Puerto Rico native took some time to come out to Trump International Golf Club this week to speak to the field and put on a clinic following the first round. Rodriguez entertained the crowd with stories about his idols Ben Hogan and Mother Teresa and reliving his biggest thrill in golf; winning the Denver Open Invitational.

With his brilliant charisma we have come to love and adore, Chi Chi emphasized the importance of honesty and integrity while always believing in yourself. Rodriguez reminded the players that “a hero dies only once, but a coward dies every single day,” as they prepared to tee it up this week in search of the coveted exemption into the Puerto Rico Open that will be awarded to the champion.

Each and every junior was able to soak up guidance and advice from the legend that won eight times on the PGA TOUR and 22 times on the Champions Tour, something they will never forget. Thanks to Chi Chi for being a great role model for all of us and an even better ambassador for the game of golf!

-Photo and blog by Casey Ceman, AJGA Tournament Director

PRGA girls, Clark win Junior-Am

The Puerto Rico Junior Open is an all-boys tournament this year, but the second-year event crowned three girl champions Friday afternoon.

Gabriella Cidras, Valeria Llovet and Paola Diaz, all 16-year-olds from Puerto Rico, teamed with Wyndham Clark and won the Junior-Am Fundraising Tournament with a 10-under-par 62.

Each player is part of the Puerto Rico Golf Association’s junior program, which is dedicated to the overall growth and development of junior golf in Puerto Rico.

“I think it’s the most challenging sport, both mentally and physically,” said Cidras, who is currently No. 2 in the PRGA’s junior rankings.

The girls said that playing with the ninth-ranked player in the Polo Golf Rankings was a bit nerve-wracking, but they learned from the Oklahoma State-bound senior.

“He’s very into his game and he didn’t get mad after one shot, he just tried another one,” Diaz said. “His attitude was really good. I think my attitude can change a little bit and that’s going to help me with my game.”

-Written by Chris Richards, AJGA Communications

Friendly foes

Twelve of the opening-round matchups at the Polo Golf Junior Classic pitted Rolex Junior All-Americans against each other. In two of the matches, a pair of First-Teamers squared off.

The significance of these first-round matches, Emma Talley vs. Jaye Marie Green and Matthew NeSmith vs. Motin Yeung, weighed heavy on the outcome of the tournament, but also on the friendships between the players.

NeSmith and Yeung were Wyndham Cup teammates, while Talley and Green represented Team USA at this year’s PING Junior Solheim Cup. For the girls, the gravity of the pairing led the two to agree on silence during the round.

“We text each other every morning, so on the first tee I just acted like I didn’t know her because you don’t want to beat someone that you love,” said Green, who was the defending champion.

Predictably, the match went 19 holes, finally ending with a birdie by Talley. And almost as predictably, Talley said the win was bittersweet.

“It was weird, but I was really happy to pull out the win but it was also bittersweet because I didn’t want to play her, especially in the first round,” said Talley, who advanced to the quarterfinals before losing to Nicole Morales, the eventual champion. “We’ve been friends and teammates and it was really difficult.”

Above: Talley holed her bunker shot for birdie on No. 15 to bring her first-round match to all square versus Green.

-- Written by Chris Richards, AJGA Communications

College Coaches Converge on Polo Golf Junior Classic

College coaches spent time watching players on No. 17 of the Champion today.

There are 156 juniors teeing it up at the Polo Golf Junior Classic, 78 boys and 78 girls. Of the AJGA’s 60-person staff, 36 are on site at PGA National.

The number that stands out the most to everyone on the Champion and Haig courses, however, is 105. There are 105 college golf coaches roaming PGA National scouting the student-athletes that will call their school home in a couple of years.

If you're out on the course tomorrow, take a look at the galleries and notice how many school logos you see. Then, take a look at the AJGA mission statement banner near the practice putting green. Mission accomplished.

 

 

Trendsetter

Webb Simpson, Adam Scott, and Keegan Bradley have all won with it, and Vincent Martino of Southlake, Texas, sees no reason why he can’t do the same this week at The PING Invitational.

In March, Vincent made the switch to the belly putter after his future college coach noticed he lifted his left shoulder through impact. The proposed solution: ditch the traditional short stick for the slightly longer short stick.

“I was always a good putter from inside five feet, so I almost use this for the opposite reason,” said Vincent, who has verbally committed to the University of Houston. “With a regular-sized putter, I don’t make good contact on lag putts and this has helped me with my speed and making more consistent putts.”

Since making the switch, Martino has notched three AJGA top 10s, including a win at the Signsational Signs Junior at The Woodlands in June. Vincent said he is one of only three players using a belly putter this week at Karsten Creek, but he expects it to gain popularity among his peers.

“You see a couple more, but not a lot have switched. A lot of kids in my area have seen how much better I’ve gotten since I switched and are starting to think about it,” he said. “I think people are going to try it out more (because of its popularity), not so much stick with it but just to try it. It used to be something only older guys would use to help with short putts, but it really helps all of your putting.”

-Chris Richards, AJGA Communications