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AJGA Girls Championship looks to add 2016 chapter

The AJGA Girls Championship has retained its title as the premier Girls Open tournament on the AJGA schedule since the inaugural Labor Day tournament in September of 2009. Hosted by The Furman Golf Club, the AJGA Girls Championship has included a star-studded lineup since initiation and champions have emerged from all corners of the United States.

Conducted by the American Junior Golf Association, the AJGA Girls Championship is a 54-hole stroke play event featuring 78 girls, ages 12-18.

“The AJGA Girls Championship is a fantastic opportunity for the best girls in the AJGA to wrap up their summer on a high note and gain some momentum going into next year,” said Tournament Director Julie Greenfield.

Beginning with current University of Southern California senior Karen Chung in 2009, past champions have gone on to compete at universities like Vanderbilt, Alabama and Wake Forest. Last year’s champion Kaitlyn Papp currently sits at No. 3 in the Polo Golf Rankings and is verbally committed to become a Texas Longhorn in the fall of 2017.

The tournament has been marked by dramatic moments in the past. In 2013, Sierra Brooks hit a 25-foot birdie putt at No. 18 on the third playoff hole to clinch her fourth AJGA victory. Emma Talley, the 2015 NCAA Division I champion, held off future Stanford standouts Mariah Stackhouse and Andrea Lee for her final AJGA victory in 2011 before attending Alabama. 

Given the tournament’s rich history, every year is a challenge to top the previous year’s prestige. But the 2016 edition is already setting up to add an impressive chapter to the record books. Twenty-seven members of the field have previously delivered a Champions Speech, while 16 of them have already done it this year. Seven Rolex Junior All-Americans will also tee it up at The Furman Golf Club with 25 states and four foreign countries represented.