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First Junior Presidents Cup Qualifiers Announced

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BRASELTON, Ga. — Twenty-two players, 11 international and 11 from the United States, have qualified for the inaugural Junior Presidents Cup hosted by the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) and PGA TOUR. The final member for each team will be announced in conjunction with the Presidents Cup Captain’s selections on September 6.

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 seven states including California, Florida, Kentucky, New York, South Carolina, Texas and Washington. Six 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.

Noah Goodwin of Corinth, Texas, headlines the U.S. Team qualifiers as the AJGA’s reigning Rolex Junior Player of the Year. Goodwin has never trailed in the Junior Presidents Cup U.S. Team Standings and recently won the 2017 U.S. Junior Amateur in his second finals appearance in as many years.

Trent Phillips and Jacob Bridgeman, both of Inman, South Carolina, will represent the U.S. Team as friends and neighbors. The two have competed against each other at the high school, local and national level, but will compete together for the first time at the international level during the Junior Presidents Cup. 

Canon Claycomb of Bowling Green, Kentucky, and Prescott Butler of Old Westbury, New York, made their Wyndham Cup debuts for the victorious East Team in 2017. The pair went a combined 6-1-1, including a four-ball win in their first match together.

Also competing for the U.S. Team is Cole Hammer of Houston, Texas, who made headlines in 2015 as the third-youngest player to compete in the U.S. Open.

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.

Rayhan Thomas of India was the top qualifier for the International Team at No. 58 in WAGR. Thomas is the No. 1 amateur in the United Arab Emirates and has competed in the U.S. twice this year, advancing to the semifinals of the U.S. Junior Amateur and finishing T13 at the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley.

In addition to Thomas, International Team members Garrick Higgo of South Africa, and Joshua Armstrong of Australia, competed in the 2017 U.S. Junior Amateur. Higgo advanced to the semifinals, while Armstrong advanced to the Round of 32.

Japan’s Sean Maruyama is a second-generation participant in the Presidents Cup family of events, as his father Shigeki Maruyama competed for the International Team in 1998 and 2000. In 1998, Maruyama became the first player in Presidents Cup history to finish with a 5-0-0 record in leading the International Team to victory. Sean will look to his father’s Presidents Cup experience in the hopes of creating a similar outcome.

Four active AJGA members who have qualified for the International Team are Karl Vilips of Australia, Wocheng Ye of China, Maruyama and Armstrong. Vilips, Maruyama and Ye are Rolex Junior All-Americans who competed at the 2017 Wyndham Cup where the trio went a combined 7-3-2. Armstrong finished T23 in his AJGA debut at the 2017 Thunderbird International Junior.

Fifteen qualifiers, six from the International Team and nine from the U.S. Team, will compete at The Junior PLAYERS Championship presented by TaylorMade-adidas Golf, Aug. 31 – Sept. 3 on THE PLAYERS Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass. All three South African representatives, Luca Filippi, Christo Lamprecht and Higgo, will make their AJGA debut at the event just weeks before the Junior Presidents Cup.

For more information on the first 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)

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)

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.