A Solid History at the Thunderbird International Junior

Top finishers from the 2005 Thunderbird International Junior headlined by LPGA Tour star Morgan Pressel.

Click here to view photos from the 2006 Thunderbird International Junior.

Click here to see a slide show of past champions from the Thunderbird International Junior.

Past champions of the Thunderbird International Junior have continued their golf careers both on the collegiate and professional levels. They have risen to the top of their sport and continue to add to their list of accomplishments.

Inaugural champions of this event, Chan Song Wongluekiet of Bradenton, Fla., and Virada Nirapathpongporn of Bangkok, Thailand, took home top honors in 2000. Wongluekiet attended Georgia Tech where he was named the 2002 ACC Rookie of the Year.

Nirapathpongporn attended Duke University where she won the 2002 NCAA Individual Championship and 2003 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship. In 2006, she joined the LPGA Tour.

2006 Rolex Junior Player of the Year Esther Choe is hoping to win her first Thunderbird International Junior.

In 2001, the state of Washington produced two winners. Ryan Moore of Puyallup, and Lani Elston of Spokane. Moore set the 54-hole tournament record where his 14-under-par 202 eclipsed the next-best score by four shots. He attended college at UNLV and was named an All-American during his freshman year. Moore won the U.S. Amateur in 2004 and followed that performance with an impressive showing in his second Masters, where he competed with defending champion and Thunderbird Honorary Chairman Phil Mickelson for three tournament rounds and finished as low amateur in a tie for 13th. He turned professional later in 2005 and continues to play on the PGA TOUR.

Elston transferred from the University of Idaho to the University of Arizona. During the 2004-2005 season, Elston was selected as a PAC-10 honorable mention.

Casey Wittenberg of Memphis, Tenn., finished his AJGA career by winning the Thunderbird International Junior in 2002. He then went on to compete at Oklahoma State University before making the 2003 U.S. Walker Cup Team.

Girls Division champion from 2002 Brittany Lang of McKinney, Texas, turned professional during July of 2005 and is currently in her second season on the LPGA Tour. During her college career at Duke University, Lang won two straight individual ACC Championships.

In 2003, Brian Harman of Savannah, Ga., and Ashley Knoll of The Woodlands, Texas, won the event. Harman went on to earn Rolex Junior Player of the Year honors in 2003 and 2004, becoming the first player since Tiger Woods to claim the prestigious award twice. He is also the first Rolex Junior Player of the Year to make the cut at the PGA TOUR’s Buick Championship in 2004. In 2005, Harman entered his freshman year at the University of Georgia where he helped lead the Bulldogs to their 26th team title with his runner-up individual finish.

Knoll competed at Texas A&M beginning in her sophomore year. During her junior year, Knoll was named the Big 12 Player of the Year and helped lead the team to the Big 12 title.

Andrew Yun, ranked No. 3 in the Polo Golf Rankings, is looking for his second victory of the 2007 season.

Rob Grube of Hinsdale, Ill., and Belen Mozo of Cadiz, Spain, won the event in 2004. Grube, a sophomore at Stanford University, earned 2005 PAC-10 Freshman of the Year honors. He was also named the Most Valuable Player for the Cardinal in 2005.

After Mozo’s win in 2004, she earned Rolex Junior All-America honorable mention honors and was a member of the 2005 European PING Junior Solheim Cup team. She signed a National Letter of Intent to continue her golf career at the University of Southern California in the fall.

While neither of last year’s champions will be available to defend their title, they will certainly be busy playing golf.

After winning the 2005 Thunderbird International Junior, Bronson Burgoon of The Woodlands, Texas, was named to the 2005 West Canon Cup Team and earned first-team Rolex Junior All-America honors and now plays at Texas A&M University.

Morgan Pressel of Boca Raton, Fla., went on to have one of the biggest seasons in AJGA history, finishing her AJGA career as a winner of each of the AJGA’s Invitational tournaments. She also won the U.S. Women’s Amateur and tied for second at the U.S. Women’s Open. She is currently in her second season on the LPGA Tour. She won her first event in 2007 at the Kraft Nabisco Championship.

Philip Francis of Scottsdale, Ariz., and Isabelle Lendl of Bradenton, will both be back to defend their titles in 2007. Francis had a successful 2006 season after winning the Thunderbird International Junior. He won the Rolex Tournament of Champions and the U.S. Junior. He later went on to be named the 2006 Rolex Junior Player of the Year.

Lendl also continued down the path of success. She went on to be named a first-team Rolex Junior All-American and hopes to continue her winning ways in 2007.

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