FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - The final round of the KPMG Stacy Lewis Junior All-Star Invitational concluded with two first-time Invitational Champions. You Seong Choi of (South Korea) Hacienda Heights, California, and Leigh Chien of Irvine, California, both climbed their way up the leaderboard to each win their first AJGA tournament.
The girls also came out on top in the boys vs. girls challenge firing a tournament total of 14-under-par and defeating the boys by seven strokes. This is the second win in a row for the girls.
This is the 5th anniversary of the KPMG Stacy Lewis Junior All-Star Invitational, an event that has been hosted at the Blessings Golf Club. The Blessings Golf Club was most recently host to the 2019 NCAA DI Men’s and Women’s Golf Championship. This is the only AJGA tournament to have mixed pairings with one boy and one girl in every group. Stacy Lewis wanted to create an event where boys and girls could play together to promote equality.
Choi carded 1-over-par 73 in his final round that included three birdies on the day. He finished the tournament at even-par 216. This is Choi’s first AJGA Invitational appearance and first career AJGA win. In his AJGA career, Choi has recorded a total of two top-10 finishes including most recently at 10th place finish at the ClubCorp Mission Hills Desert Junior.
“This win means a lot to me because this is my first AJGA win,” Choi said. “It definitely boosted my confidence.”
Wells Williams of West Point, Mississippi, finished in solo second after carding a final round score of 2-under-par 70. Williams carded six birdies on the day and ended the tournament at 2-over-par 218. The rising sophomore has one win in 2019 at the TaylorMade Junior All-Star Championship and four top-10 AJGA career finishes.
Ian Maspat of San Diego, California, finished in third at 3-over-par 219. Maspat carded a final round even-par 72 with six birdies on the day. The University of Oregon commit already has two wins in 2019 with one most recently at the ClubCorp Mission Hills Desert Junior.
Matthew Comegys of Plano, Texas, finished in solo fourth at 5-over-par 221. Comegys recorded a final-round of 1-under-par 71 with four birdies on the day. This is Comegys’s fifth top-five AJGA career finish.
Abhay Gupta of Concord, North Carolina, and Eric Lee of Fullerton, California, both tied for fifth at 6-over-par 222. Gupta stayed consistent throughout the week shooting 2-over-par 74 in each round. Lee carded his lowest round of the week at even-par 72 on the final day.
Leigh Chien started the day two strokes off the lead, but quickly got off to a strong start. Leigh birdied two holes on the front-nine to shoot a bogey-free 2-under-par 34. She ended the day carding even-par 72, which put her at 1-under-par 215 for the tournament. This is Chien’s first AJGA win and seventh top-10 career finish.
“It means a lot to me to win this event because I haven’t won in a long time so it boosts my confidence and it feels good to win,” Chien said.
Mackenzie Lee of North Little Rock, Arkansas finished in solo second at 3-over-par 219. Lee recorded six birdies on the day to finish at even-par 72. This is Lee’s second top-three finish of 2019 and third overall in her AJGA career.
Emily Zhu of (Canada) Richmond Hill, Ontario, Lynn Lim of Gallatin, Tennessee, and Michelle Zhang of (China) Plano, Texas all finished tied for third at 6-over-par 222. Zhu carded four birdies and one eagle on the day to shoot 5-over-par 77. Lim steadily climbed up the leaderboard after recording one birdie in the final round to shoot 3-over-par 75. Zhang shot a 7-over-par 79 in the final round.