BRASELTON, Ga. —Akshay Bhatia of Wake Forest, North Carolina, and Jayden Schaper of Benoni, South Africa, have qualified for the last United States Team and International Team spots for the inaugural Junior Presidents Cup, hosted by the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) and PGA TOUR.
U.S. Team qualification was determined by the Rolex AJGA Rankings, while International Team selection was based on the World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR).
Set to take place at Plainfield Country Club in Edison, New Jersey, host of THE NORTHERN TRUST, the first event of the FedExCup Playoffs in 2011 and 2015, the Junior Presidents Cup will kick off Presidents Cup week on Monday and Tuesday, Sept. 25-26. The two-day competition between the two teams of 12 will take place just days before the Presidents Cup matches get underway at Liberty National. Following the conclusion of the Junior Presidents Cup, both teams will be invited to witness the Presidents Cup firsthand, a prelude to potential future Presidents Cup participation for those who move on to play the game professionally.
Led by 13-time PGA TOUR winner and the 2001 PGA Championship victor, David Toms and honorary captain Jack Nicklaus, the U.S. Team is represented by eight states including California, Florida, Kentucky, New York, South Carolina, Texas and Washington. Seven of the U.S. Team members are Rolex Junior All-Americans, 10 have given a verbal commitment to play college golf and eight have competed in the AJGA’s annual East vs. West match play competition, the Wyndham Cup.
Bhatia, No. 8 in the Rolex AJGA Rankings, competed in 13 national junior golf events to qualify for the Junior Presidents Cup. During the 2017 season, the 15-year-old recorded three wins including the Junior PGA Championship. The Rolex Junior All-American finished T34 at The Junior PLAYERS Championship presented by TaylorMade-adidas Golf Sept. 5 to earn his spot on the United States Team.
The International Team will be led by Trevor Immelman, whose 11 worldwide wins includes the 2008 Masters. Immelman will be joined by fellow South African and honorary captain Gary Player. The International Team is composed of representatives from seven countries including Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Africa and Thailand. Naraajie Emerald Ramadhan of Indonesia, and Wocheng Ye of China, are the first representatives from China and Indonesia to qualify for a Presidents Cup event.
Schaper, No. 341 in WAGR, joins fellow South Africans Garrick Higgo, Christo Lamprecht and Luca Filippi, on the International Team. The 16-year-old finished T24 in his AJGA debut at The Junior PLAYERS Championship presented by TaylorMade-adidas Golf. All four South African representatives on the Junior Presidents Cup International Team competed together at the Toyota Junior World Cup in Japan where Schaper placed T15 individually.
For more information on the Junior Presidents Cup qualifiers, click here .
U.S. Team – Captain David Toms
For more information on the U.S. Team, click here .
Noah Goodwin, Corinth, Texas (2018)
Trent Phillips, Inman, S.C. (2018)
William Mouw, Chino, Calif. (2019)
Garrett Barber, Stuart, Fla. (2018)
Cole Hammer, Houston, Texas (2018)
Prescott Butler, Old Westbury, N.Y. (2018)
Canon Claycomb, Bowling Green, Ky. (2020)
Turner Hosch, Dallas, Texas (2019)
Joe Highsmith, Lakewood, Wash. (2018)
Eugene Hong, Orlando, Fla. (2018)
Jacob Bridgeman, Inman, S.C. (2018)
Akshay Bhatia, Wake Forest, N.C. (2020)
International Team – Captain Trevor Immelman
For more information on the International Team, click here .
Rayhan Thomas, India (2019)
Karl Vilips, Australia (2020)
Fred Lee, Australia (2017)
Garrick Higgo, South Africa (2017)
Sean Maruyama, Japan (2018)
Atiruj Winaicharoenchai, Thailand (2018)
Christo Lamprecht, South Africa (2019)
Naraajie Emerald Ramadhan, Indonesia (2018)
Joshua Armstrong, Australia (2017)
Wocheng Ye, China (2018)
Luca Filippi, South Africa (2017)
Jayden Schaper, South Africa (2019)
About the Presidents Cup
The Presidents Cup, a team match play competition featuring 24 of the world’s top golfers – 12 from the United States and 12 from around the world, excluding Europe – is held every two years, and since 1996 has alternated between United States and international venues. The Presidents Cup was developed to give the world’s best non-European players an opportunity to compete in international team match-play competition. The U.S. Team has won nine of the 11 previous Presidents Cups, and the only outright win by the International Team came at the 1998 event in Melbourne. A historic 17-17 tie came in 2003 when the event was held in South Africa.
The Presidents Cup is a unique golf event in that there is no purse or prize money; instead, each player, captain and captain’s assistant allocates an equal portion of the funds generated to charities of his choice. Since the inception of the Presidents Cup in 1994, more than $38.4 million has been raised for charity from event proceeds. Over the past 21 years, the Presidents Cup has impacted more than 450 charities in 15 countries worldwide and 35 states in the U.S.
Citi, Alfa Romeo and Rolex are the exclusive Global Partners of the Presidents Cup.
For updates on the Presidents Cup, check www.presidentscup.com, join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/thepresidentscup, Twitter and Instagram at @presidentscup and sign up for the Presidents Cup e-newsletter.