Champions Report: October 17

Keaton Vo of Austin, captured his second title of the year at the AJGA Junior All-Star Invitational at Reynolds Lake Oconee after carding a tournament-total of 13-under-par 203. At T59 in the Rolex AJGA Rankings, Vo capped off his final round with a bogey-free 6-under-par 66 to hold off Ethan Gao of Alpharetta, Georgia. Vo won the 2019 AJGA Junior All-Star at Wigwam in May and then had two runner-up finishes at the Cameron McCormick Junior All-Star and Fold of Honor Junior Championship hosted by Bob Estes. In the Girls Division, Lynn Lim of Gallatin, Tennessee, secured her first victory with a tournament total of 7-under-par 209. Lim now has 13 top-10 finishes in national junior golf since 2017. Lim had twelve birdies for the tournament, and she is a verbal commit to Vanderbilt University. In her 2019 season, Lim finished tied for third at the KPMG Stacy Lewis Junior All-Star Invitational.

Caroline Hwang of Orlando, and Zikang Zhan of Beijing, China, earned their first AJGA victories at the Billy Horschel Junior Championship presented by Zurich. The tournament, held at Eagle Harbor Golf Club, is the only Stableford format event on the American Junior Golf Association’s annual schedule. Created in 2017 with the support of Billy and Brittany Horschel, both accomplished AJGA alumni, the modified format rewards risk-taking because birdies are two points while bogeys are punitive (-1). The worst score possible is double bogey (-3). Hwang ran away from the Girls Division field to earn her first AJGA victory. She earned her most points of the tournament in the first round where she posted 16. Hwang followed the first round with 10 points in the second and five in the final round to finish with 31 total. Hwang entered the week No. 133 in the Rolex AJGA Rankings with her previous best 2019 finish being fifth at the Arnold Palmer Invitational Junior honoring Jim Bell. In the Boys Division, Zhan started the final round just one-stroke back of leaders Jackson Rivera of Rancho Santa Fe, California, and Brendan Valdes of Orlando. Zhan opened the final round with six-consecutive pars before making his first birdie of the day on the par-4 No. 7. Zhan came to No. 18 tied with Valdes at 32 points. Both Zhan and Valdes reached the par-4 in two, but Zhan’s putt was away. Knowing this could lead to the victory, Zhan poured in the 10-foot putt to put the pressure on Valdes. Despite the pressure, Valdes made his putt to force a playoff at 34 points. The pair then went to the par-4 No. 10, where Zhan secured his first AJGA title with a par.