What a difference a year makes.

Cameron Peck

Take Cameron Peck for example. About 365 days ago, the pride of Olympia, Wash., worked his way into The Junior PLAYERS Championship with a ranking in the mid-70s, earned with the help of a tie for 11th at the HP Boys Junior Championship, his best finish of the 2007 season up to that point. In previous seasons, he had notched six AJGA top-10s, but had yet to fully separate himself as one of the nation’s elite by winning.

Then things changed.

A year later, he has ascended to the top of the Polo Golf Rankings by becoming a dominant player on the grandest of junior golf’s many stages. With wins at the Wellstone Communities Junior at Craig Ranch, FootJoy Invitational, HP Boys Junior Championship and U.S. Junior Amateur, Peck has been a force, posting a combined stroke average of 70.1 in earning the titles. He now stands on the doorstep of Rolex Junior Player of the Year honors with only The Junior PLAYERS Championship and The PING Invitational left to determine junior golf’s top player.

Cory Whitsett

But don’t forget about Cory Whitsett – no slouch himself in 2008. The No. 2-ranked junior has stayed the course throughout the past season, not allowing his ranking to slip worse than fourth. After a victory at the 2007 U.S. Junior Amateur, Whitsett took home top honors at the 2008 Rolex Tournament of Champions and the Western Junior. And while his attempt to repeat as U.S. Junior Amateur champion fell short, he did record additional top 10s at the AJGA Championship at Traditions and three AJGA Invitationals.

Much like Peck, Dallas native Jordan Spieth rose to the top of the rankings the past calendar year. After playing mainly Junior All-Star Series events in 2007, Spieth broke out in 2008, winning the AJGA Championship at Traditions over Easter Weekend. Now ranked No. 3, the 15-year-old has not finished higher than seventh in any of the seven national junior golf events he played this season and finished second at the British Junior Open.

Jordan Spieth

At No. 5, Crawford Reeves of Greenville, S.C., quickly made a name for himself in 2008. He was co-medalist at the Golf World/Medicus Preseason Junior at Furman, won the Scott Robertson Memorial and tied for seventh at the prestigious Rolex Tournament of Champions in July.

A victory at the Verizon Junior Heritage and a third-place finish at the Rolex Tournament of Champions helped bring Andrew Yun of Tacoma, Wash., back to No. 6 in the Polo Golf Rankings in 2008. The three-time Rolex Junior All-American made it to the semifinals of the 2008 U.S. Junior Amateur before being defeated by Spieth.

Austin Cody of North Charleston, S.C., emerged in 2007 as a Rolex Junior All-American and continued to build on his success in 2008. A third-place finish at the HP Boys Junior Championship vaulted Cody up to No. 7 in the Polo Golf Rankings.

Pontus Widegren

After taking the lead early at the 2007 Junior PLAYERS Championship, Pontus Widegren of Danderyd, Sweden, tied for fifth along with Anders Kristiansen of Hafslundsoy, Norway, to become the highest-ranked international players in the field. Both Widegren and Kristiansen went on to make it to the Round of 16 during the Polo Golf Junior Classic and will be back to improve upon their 2007 Junior PLAYERS Championship finishes.

Pedro Figueiredo of Quinta do Conde, Portugal, is another international player to watch out for during this year’s event. Figueiredo has two international championships under his belt in 2008 –  the Irish Amatuer Open and the Portuguese International Amateur.

For all of the players in this week’s field, The Junior PLAYERS Championship is the culmination of a season’s worth of hard work. This end-of-the-summer send-off will again crown a worthy champion who will have bested the top juniors in the world. And while time may change things, this fact remains resolute.