By Drea Braxmeier
Manager of Media Relations

In the lunchroom today, someone mentioned that there is the possibility of Barry Bonds hitting homerun No. 755, Tom Glavine winning his 300th game and A-Rod hitting No. 500. That’s a lot of records for one day. It made me start thinking about all the records that have been set this summer in junior golf…

Alexis Thompson becomes the second-youngest player to ever win an AJGA event.

At 12 years old, Thompson of Coral Springs, Fla., took home top honors at the Aldila Junior Classic after shooting a 4-over-par 148. She beat out kids who are six years older than her! Later in the year, she went on the become the youngest player to ever qualify for the U.S. Women’s Open, beating out Morgan Pressel’s previous record by seven months. All this and she just finished the sixth grade.

Mr. James “61” White

White of Acworth, Ga., shot the round of his life during the first round of the Ringgold Telephone Company Junior Classic. His 9-under-par 61 gives him the new AJGA record low for 18 holes. A stretch of six birdies in seven holes helped White on his way to a back nine 29!  I’m pretty sure I can’t make 29 on the back nine of a miniature golf course.

Water, water everywhere and no chance for golf.

For the first time in AJGA history, three rounds of golf were condensed into one at the EFW’s Defense for America Classic. After trying desparately to get some golf in, the Boys Division was able to only fight in 18 holes over the three-day period. The Girls Division was a little luckier. They managed 27. What are the odds that Dallas was going to get more rain in that three-day stretch than they had the entire previous year?

Sihwan Kim makes it a three-peat.

Kim of Buena Park, Calif., finished his junior golf career on some very high notes. The eight-time winner of AJGA events took home two of his top titles in back-to-back weeks. Kim earned his third consecutive victory at the Mission Hills Desert Junior June 28. The prestigious event has seen the likes of Tiger Woods earn the title twice, but three times!?!

“This tournament is very special to me,” Kim said. “This is my last AJGA Open Tournament and no one has won this event three times in a row. It feels really great to know my name is above some of the great players in golf like Tiger Woods.”

Kim followed up this win with one at the oldest and most prestigious event on the AJGA schedule, the Rolex Tournament of Champions. It was Kim’s first AJGA Invitational victory. It also helped to rocket him to No. 2 in the Polo Golf Rankings. Too bad he’s going to Stanford in the fall. Wait, isn’t that where Tiger went too?

Those were just a few highlights from the past two months. There is still plenty of golf to be played and plenty more ground-breaking developments to come. Be sure to continue checking ajga.org and The AJGA Link for more!