WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Babygrande D.C. Classic was recognized as the 2023 Newcomer of the Year by the American Junior Golf Association.
Each year, the AJGA presents awards to the tournaments with the best individual hospitality, Junior-Am fundraising, charitable giving and volunteer base. Awards are also given to the events with engaged media and social media participation. Finally, the AJGA recognizes the year’s most outstanding golf professional, superintendent and golf course executive, as well as the most game-changing event, best new event, best Neuropeak Pro™ Preview Series tournament, best Ninja Junior All-Star Series tournament, best Invitational and overall tournament of the year. Tournament awards for the 2023 season will be presented on-site at the 2024 tournament.
The Newcomer of the Year Award distinguishes the efforts of a tournament to create a quality experience for juniors and their families in its first year.
This award is an amazing honor and it was really a total team effort that started with Patrick Plank at the AJGA. He saw the potential in our collaboration before we saw it and it lead to a beautiful long term collaboration with the AJGA and the National Links Trust for the DC Classic and many other events. We are thrilled about the future of our partnership and to be associated with such an amazing organization
Babygrande Golf, the tournament sponsor, took tremendous steps to support the new event. They hosted an extensive welcome reception for players and their families and provided custom tournament logo hats for all players. Additionally, Babygrande Records produced and released a tournament soundtrack on Spotify; they also brought a video crew on-site to create social content of the entire field.
After the first round of the tournament, the Outpost Club Foundation conducted a College Coaches Q&A hosted by Rich Brazeau, one of the AJGA’s College Golf Advisors. Four Division I golf coaches gave insights into the recruiting process and college golf life to juniors and their families.
The tournament has a remarkable commitment to expanding the reach of golf. It offered 12 exemptions to minority players and conducted a shadowing program with the local First Tee organization, allowing young golfers to experience a day in the life of AJGA tournament staff.
The host course, East Potomac Golf Links, was utilized at a discounted rate through a three-year partnership with the National Links Trust. These efforts, along with Babygrande’s generous sponsorship, reduced the AJGA’s tournament expenses, leading to over $5,000 in proceeds from the event supporting the AJGA’s Liberty National Achieving Competitive Excellence (ACE) Grant program.
We were so pleased with the first edition of the Babygrande D.C. Classic. This tournament’s commitment to providing an amazing experience for our juniors and their families is unmatched and we’re grateful for its continuing support of junior golf.
The AJGA returned to East Potomac Golf Links for the second Babygrande D.C. Classic
from July 15 – July 18.