A Thanksgiving Tradition Continues...
Ginn Reunion Resort Set to Host Polo Golf Junior Classic

Cameron Peck (left) and Cory Whitsett are the top ranked players in the Boys Division

A Thanksgiving tradition since 1978, the Polo Golf Junior Classic is junior golf’s premier event. The 2008 edition will feature 156 players, and each will vie to add their name to the impressive list of past champions that includes Hunter Mahan, Trevor Immelman, Tiger Woods, Stewart Cink, Morgan Pressel, Paula Creamer, Vicky Hurst and Beth Bauer.

This year’s field represents the future of golf. In all, players from 12 foreign countries and 25 states will descend upon Ginn Reunion Resort in hopes of etching their name in this tournament’s storied history.

Rolex Junior Player of the Year Cameron Peck of Olympia, Wash., headlines the 78-player boys field. His breakout season included two wins at AJGA Invitationals and a victory at the U.S. Junior Amateur. In all, he had four wins and six top-five finishes in 2008, which catapulted him to the No. 1 spot in the Polo Golf Rankings. A verbal commitment to Texas A&M, Peck is part of a Boys Division field that will feature 22 of the top 25 players in the Polo Golf Rankings and 37 Rolex Junior All-Americans.

Ranked No. 2 in the Polo Golf Rankings, Cory Whitsett of Houston, won the Western Junior and captured his first AJGA Invitational crown at the Rolex Tournament of Champions. The high school junior earned first-team Rolex Junior All-America honors for the second consecutive year behind the strength of six top-five finishes in national tournaments.

In only his second full season with the AJGA, third-ranked Jordan Spieth of Dallas, continued his steady climb up the junior golf ranks. His career includes top-10 finishes at 10 of his 12 AJGA tournaments. In 2008, he added victories at the AJGA Championship at Traditions and The PING Invitational en route to first-team Rolex Junior All-America accolades.

Brinson Paolini of Virginia Beach, Va., earned both Rolex Junior All-America and HP Scholastic Junior All-America honors for the second year in a row, and was the only boy to do so this season. His junior golf career includes 12 top-10 finishes, including a win at this year’s Horseshoe Bend Junior Classic. Paolini served on the AJGA Board of Directors as a Player Representative in 2008 and has verbally committed to play at Duke University next fall.

Victoria Tanco won three tournaments in her first season competing in the United States

In the Girls Division, the 78-player field will be chasing the 2008 Rolex Junior Player of the Year, Victoria Tanco of Bradenton, Fla. In her first junior golf season in the United States, Tanco racked up three victories – the Rolex Girls Junior Championship, Scott Robertson Memorial, and The PING Invitational. These finishes helped the Buenos Aires, Argentina, native claim the top spot in the Polo Golf Rankings and first-team Rolex Junior All-America honors.

At the age of 13, second-ranked Alexis Thompson of Coral Springs, Fla., claimed first-team Rolex Junior All-America honors for the second year in a row. She carded 12 top-10 finishes this season, including wins at the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship and the AJGA Championship at Traditions. The last time she finished outside the top 10 was at last season’s Polo Golf Junior Classic when she lost her first-round match to Stephanie Kono of Honolulu.

Jennifer Johnson of La Quinta, Calif., earned first-team Rolex Junior All-America honors for the second year in a row. She has at least one win in each of the last four seasons, which totals to seven wins overall. Johnson captured her first AJGA Invitational crown at this year’s Rolex Tournament of Champions, which helped her to the No. 3 spot in the Polo Golf Rankings. She has verbally committed to play for Arizona State next fall.

Two players in the Girls Division earned the distinction of Rolex Junior All-American as well as HP Scholastic Junior All-American: Danielle Frasier of Encinitas, Calif., and Rachel Morris of Carlsbad, Calif. Both Frasier and Morris are three-time Rolex Junior All-Americans, and each has four career AJGA wins on their records.