Four AJGA Opens and an ACDS Junior All-Star Series event highlighted the 2017 Easter weekend. The five events, concluding on April 16, were held in Arizona, Florida, Georgia and Texas.
AJGA Girls Junior at Disney – Emilia Migliaccio of Cary, North Carolina, held off a late charge from Alexa Pano of Lake Worth, Florida, to win the inaugural AJGA Girls Junior at Disney. The tournament, a 78-player, all-girls field, was held on Disney’s Palm Course in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Migliaccio, a three-time Rolex Junior All-American, tallied her fifth AJGA victory and will attend Wake Forest University starting in the fall.
AJGA Junior All-Star presented by Greg Norman Champions Golf Academy – The AJGA has hosted an Easter weekend tournament near its National Headquarters in Braselton, Georgia, every year since 2001. That tradition continued in 2017 at Château Élan Golf Club’s Château Course with a 132-player field. In a week that saw four aces from the field, Michaela Morard of Huntsville, Alabama, topped the Girls Division for her second win at Château Élan Golf Club in four tournaments. The two-time Rolex Junior All-American is verbally committed to the University of Alabama. Austin Liu of Oak Park, California, won the Boys Division with a 5-under-par 208 in just his second AJGA event.
Bishops Gate Golf Academy Junior at Horseshoe Bay – The Bishops Gate Golf Academy Junior at Horseshoe Bay saw Turner Hosch of Dallas, come from behind to win the Boys Division with a final-round 5-under-par 67. The University of Oklahoma verbal commit went birdie-eagle-birdie on Nos. 10-12 to pull away and earn his first AJGA victory. Two-time ACDS Junior All-Star Sadie Englemann of Austin, Texas, went wire-to-wire to win her second AJGA tournament. The 14-year-old birdied five holes on the back nine to hold off Gurleen Kaur of Houston for the one-stroke win.
PING Heather Farr Classic – Nicole Whiston of San Diego earned entry into the PING Heather Farr Classic field as the medalist in the AJGA Qualifier and carried over that momentum into the three-day tournament. Whiston used an opening-round 5-under-par 66 and 19 birdies across 54 holes to claim the six-stroke win in the Girls Division. Frankie Capan of North Oaks, Minnesota, earned his third AJGA victory with a 5-under-par 208 in the Boys Division. The 17-year-old is verbally committed to the University of Alabama.
TaylorMade-adidas Golf Junior at Innisbrook – Joaquin Niemann of Santiago, Chile, topped a strong 132-player, all-boys field on Innisbrook Resort & Golf Club’s Copperhead Course. Niemann, the No. 3 player in the AJGA Rankings, ran away with an eight-stroke victory after carding a 5-under-par 208 tournament total. Niemann is verbally committed to the University of South Florida and was a 2016 First Team Rolex Junior All-American.