KPMG and LPGA Tour professional Stacy Lewis are working together with the AJGA to put on the KPMG Stacy Lewis Junior All-Star Invitational, June 24-27. This will be the fifth straight year for the KPMG and Stacy Lewis partnership with the AJGA.
About the field
· Two current Rolex Junior All-Americans
· Twenty-five AJGA Champions
· Seven total players committed to play college golf
· Eighteen total states and six countries represented in the field
· All aged 12-15 years old
About the course
The Blessings Golf Club is a four-time host of the KPMG Stacy Lewis Junior All-Star Invitational. The golf course is located in Johnson, Arkansas, and is the home to the University of Arkansas Men’s and Women’s Golf Teams. The 7,900 yard course was originally designed by architect Robert Trent Jones Jr. with a redesign recently completed by noted architect Kyle Phillips. The Blessings was also recently host to the Men’s and Women’s DI NCAA Golf Championships.
Players to watch
Of the 56 players in the event, a few top-ranked juniors to watch:
Boys Division
· Ian Maspat of San Diego, California, has started 2019 off strong finishing in the top-10 at the PING Heather Farr and adding a recent win at the ClubCorp Mission Hills Desert Junior.
· Nicklas Staub of Boynton Beach, Florida, will be competing in his fourth KPMG Stacy Lewis Junior All-Star Invitational. Staub is a current Rolex Junior All-American with one top-three finish in 2019.
Girls Division
· Taylor Kehoe of Strathroy, Ontario, recorded a top-five finish at last year’s KPMG Stacy Lewis Junior All-Star Invitational. Kehoe was a member of the 2018 AJGA Junior All-Star Team.
· Angela (Yilin) Liu of Irvine, California, is coming off a top-15 finish at the Rolex Girls Junior Championship. Last year she won the Billy Horschel Junior Championship presented by Zurich.
Tournament History
The KPMG Stacy Lewis Junior All-Star Invitational has occurred annually since 2014, hosted by the Blessing Golf Club four of the past five years. Notable past champions include:
· 2015
o Noah Goodwin of Corinth, Texas
o Hailee Cooper of Montgomery, Texas
· 2016
o Harmi Constantino of Taguig, Phillipines
o Karl Vilips of (Australia) Wesley Chapel, Florida
· 2017
o Zoe Campos of Valencia, California
o Jackson Rivera of Rancho Santa Fe, California
· 2018
o Xin (Cindy) Kou of (China) Windermere, Florida
o Kuangyu Chen of (Australia) Shenzhen, China
Format
This AJGA “major” is formatted differently than any other AJGA tournament. Pairings for this event will be mixed with boys vs. girls – Stacy Lewis wanted to create an event where boys and girls could play together to promote equality. One boy and one girl will be paired together in each group. The low four scores each day will count toward team competition (boys vs. girls).
Another strong field
Many of the juniors in the field will be transitioning into high school and begin their search for college golf scholarships. Ranked players from each class according to the Rolex AJGA Rankings are below:
Boys
· Class of 2024: No. 1 ranked Sihan Sandhu
· Class of 2023: six of the top 15
· Class of 2022: nine of the top 20
· Class of 2021: No. 9 ranked Ian Maspat
Girls
· Class of 2024: three of the top five
· Class of 2023: six of the top 10
· Class of 2022: eight of the top 20
· Class of 2021: two of the top 50
Stacy Lewis will be in attendance
AJGA Alumna and LPGA professional Stacy Lewis will be in attendance at the Blessings Golf Club this week to talk to the players and hand out awards on the final day. Lewis is on the AJGA Foundation Board of Directors and is an asset to the organization. She is the only professional golfer to host an Invitational event and instill the format that will be played this week.
TaylorMade-Adidas Golf Live Scoring and Tournament Results
The AJGA website, www.ajga.org
, provides live scoring during the KPMG Stacy Lewis Junior All-Star Invitational. In addition, after play is complete each day, full-field results, a tournament recap and pairings for the next round are posted on the website.
Tournament on Social Media
In addition to the tournament’s live scoring, additional tournament coverage is available through Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Follow the KPMG Stacy Lewis Junior All-Star Invitational on Twitter and Instagram via @AJGAGolf with the hashtag, #StacyLewisInv.
Schedule of events
Monday, June 24 –
· 7:45 am – Practice Round
· 5:00 pm – Player Registration
· 6:00 pm – Welcome Dinner
· 7:00 pm – Stacy Lewis Q&A
Tuesday, June 25 –
· 8 – 9:57 am – First Round off Nos. 1 & 10 tees
Wednesday, June 26 –
· 8 – 9:57 am – Second Round off Nos. 1 & 10 tees
· 3:00 pm – Skills Challenge
Thursday, June 27 –
· 8 – 9:57 am – Final Round off Nos. 1 & 10 tees
· 2:30 pm – Awards Ceremony
About the AJGA
The American Junior Golf Association is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to the overall growth and development of young men and women who aspire to earn college golf scholarships through competitive junior golf. The AJGA provides valuable exposure for college golf scholarships, and has an annual junior membership (boys and girls, ages 12-19) of more than 7,000 members from 50 states and 60 foreign countries. Through initiatives like the Achieving Competitive Excellence (ACE) Grant, a financial assistance program, and Leadership Links, a service-oriented platform that teaches juniors charitable-giving skills, the AJGA fosters the growth of golf’s next generation.
TaylorMade and adidas are the AJGA’s National Sponsors, supporting the AJGA for more than 25 years. TaylorMade has served as the Official Ball of the AJGA since 2016. adidas has been the Official Apparel and Footwear of the AJGA since 2017. Rolex, in its fourth decade of AJGA sponsorship, became the inaugural AJGA Premier Partner in 2004.
AJGA alumni have risen to the top of amateur, collegiate and professional golf. Former AJGA juniors have compiled more than 900 victories on the PGA and LPGA Tours. AJGA alumni include Rickie Fowler, Sergio Garcia, Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Patrick Reed, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Tiger Woods, Paula Creamer, Ariya Jutanugarn, Cristie Kerr, Stacy Lewis, Brittany Lincicome, Anna Nordqvist, Inbee Park and Lexi Thompson.
AJGA Communications Contact:
Mackenzie Perez, AJGA Communications
(310) 245-8747 | mperez@ajga.org