| By
Steve Ethun
Director of Media Relations
Brian
Harman of Savannah, Ga., and Julieta Granada of Asuncion,
Paraguay, were named the 2004 Rolex Junior Players of the
Year by the American Junior Golf Association Oct. 5.
After garnering Rolex Junior Player of the Year honors in
2003, Harman, 17, becomes the fourth boy in the AJGA’s
27-year history to win the award more than once. Only Tracy
Phillips (1979-80), Phil Mickelson (1986-88) and Tiger Woods
(1991-92) can boast such an accomplishment.
Granada becomes the second player from South America to be
named Rolex Junior Player of the Year. LPGA Tour player Jenny
Lidback, who was born in Lima, Peru, was crowned Rolex Player
of the Year in 1981. Including Lidback, Granada now joins
Pearl Sinn (1985), Grace Park (1994, ‘96), Candie Kung
(1999), Aree Song (2000) and In-Bee Park (2002) on the list
of award winners born outside the United States.
 |
Julieta
Granada |
By earning this honor, Harman and Granada secured a spot on
their respective Rolex Junior All-America first teams. Their
esteemed accomplishments during the 2004 season will be heralded
Nov. 21 during the Rolex Junior All-America Awards Banquet held
at Sea Island Golf Club in Sea Island, Ga. The awards ceremony,
dubbed “The Greatest Night in Junior Golf,” will
also trumpet the achievements of the rest of golf’s next
generation, the Rolex Junior All-America Teams and the HP Scholastic
Junior All-America Team.
Harman started his 2004 season with a win at the Polo Golf Junior
Classic last November, the same week he was honored as the 2003
Rolex Junior Player of the Year. In doing so, he became only
the fourth player to win the award and that event during the
same week (Tracy Phillips, 1979; Brian Watts, 1984; Tiger Woods,
1991).
After finishing tied for fourth at the MCI Junior Heritage in
February, Harman shot 75-70-69–214 at the Thunderbird
International Junior during Memorial Day Weekend, good for a
tie for 10th.
 |
Brian
Harman |
His second victory of the 2004 season came at the FootJoy Boys
Invitational. He successfully defended the title he won there
in 2003 by posting a 68-70-74-70–282 tournament total.
Harman avoided a four-way playoff by holing a 50-foot putt for
birdie on the final hole of the championship. Add to this a
T-9 finish at the Rolex Tournament of Champions and a run to
the quarterfinals of the U.S. Junior Amateur and it is evident
how successful Harman was during 2004.
The sport began to take notice of Harman outside of junior golf
as the year progressed, as he participated in two PGA TOUR events
and the U.S. Amateur. Although he missed the cut at the MCI
Heritage, he made the cut at the Buick Championship (73-67-71-73–284)
and advanced to the match play portion of the U.S. Amateur.
The Buick Championship annually awards a sponsor’s exemption
to the previous year’s Rolex Junior Player of the Year.
To put Granada’s tremendous 2004 in perspective, one needs
to look no further than her stroke play finishes. She never
finished outside the top three in nine events, racking up three
victories along the way. She was equally impressive in match
play, as she won the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship by
defeating Curtis Cup team member Jane Park in the finals. She
also advanced to the round of 16 in both the 2003 Polo Golf
Junior Classic and the U.S. Women’s Amateur.
Along with her victory at the U.S. Girls’, Granada also
took home the titles at the Rolex Girls Junior Championship,
Randall Parker Shootout at Fieldstone and the AJGA Richmond
Junior.
She amassed a 71.1 stroke average during junior stroke play
events, a number that was lowered by a final-round 8-under-par
64 at the Rolex Girls Junior Championship. At this event alone,
she worked her way into the AJGA record book twice. Her 64 placed
her tied for fourth all time for low 18-hole total. Her 68-69-64–201
tournament total placed her alone in third for low 54-hole score,
bested only by Virada Nirapathpongporn (1999 PING Myrtle Beach
Junior) and In-Bee Park (2003 PING Junior at the Peninsula Club)
at 200.
Introduced by the AJGA in 1978, Rolex Junior Players of the
Year are annually honored at the Rolex Junior All-America Awards
Banquet, which officially ends the AJGA’s season. Past
recipients have gone on to become some of the most esteemed
players on the PGA and LPGA Tours, including Tiger Woods, Phil
Mickelson, Grace Park, Cristie Kerr and many others.
None of this would be possible without the support of Rolex
Watch USA, the AJGA’s Premier Partner and supporter of
the Association since 1983.
Along with the sponsorship of the Rolex Junior Players of the
Year, Rolex Junior All-America Teams and Rolex Junior All-America
Awards Banquet, the distinguished timepiece maker also continues
to support two of the AJGA’s most competitive major championships:
the Rolex Tournament of Champions and Rolex Girls Junior Championship.
In January, Rolex was also named the inaugural Founding Partner
of the Achieving Competitive Excellence Grant. The ACE Grant
is designed to give top-flight junior golfers the ability to
play a national junior golf schedule despite their financial
resources. In 2004, with the help of Rolex and various individual
donors, 37 junior golfers were able to compete in events they
otherwise could not afford.
Rolex is also the Official Partner to the PING Junior Solheim
Cup, an international team match play event that pits the best
junior girls from the United States against their European counterparts.
This biennial event will take place Sept. 5-8, 2005, at The
Bridgewater Club in Noblesville, Ind. |
