By Chad Tracy
Communications Intern

“Top Guns” may just be an understatement for American Junior Golf Association players Daffodil Sanchez of Mesa, Ariz., and Ryan Sheffer of Tucson, Ariz.

Ryan Sheffer of Tucson, Ariz.

The duo, who combined to form the Top Guns team at the I.R.I./Srixon Mixed Team Championship hosted by Jim Furyk May 4-6 at Arizona National Golf Club in Tucson, have taken that term to a whole new level.

Sheffer and Sanchez have embraced the idea and are planning to auction off their custom-made camouflage golf bags to a charity that benefits a local military troop division in Phoenix this summer.

“I just liked the idea of supporting our troops, giving back to charity and donating our golf bags,” said Sanchez, an eighth grader from Mesa’s Distance Learning Program.

“It sounded really good to do the idea with the bags,” added Sheffer, a graduating senior at Tucson’s Salpointe High School and a Notre Dame de Namur University signee.

As far as coming up with the Top Guns team proposal, Sanchez takes full responsibility.

“I was thinking about an Air Force theme because I like flying and I just liked the sound of it,” Sanchez explained. “I still haven’t even seen the movie, but I’m planning to see it soon.”

The Top Guns squad, who fired a three-round tournament total of 227 to finish tied for 16th place, earned first place in the cart-decorating competition, which was voted on by the AJGA staff in attendance.

Daffodil Sanchez of Mesa, Ariz.

“It was a lot of fun to decorate the cart and play in this neat event,” Sanchez added. “I found Ryan by searching on the AJGA Web site in April for a good player in Tucson to be my partner and it worked out well. We gave each other a hard time, so it was great."

“I had played the course before, but this was the first time I’ve ever played in this tournament,” Sheffer noted. “It was a lot of fun and I liked it a lot. It was a great experience and I really enjoyed playing with Daffodil.”

Sanchez and Sheffer are certainly Top Guns in the AJGA book, but soon they will be Top Guns in the eyes of many, many more!

Check out Daffodil and Ryan in this month's Photo Gallery!