The upcoming AJGA Invitational at Sedgefield signals the American Junior Golf Association’s return to play, along with many national junior golfers’ 2020 goals.
The Rolex AJGA Rankings , widely regarded as a look at the best players in junior golf, will also resume after going dormant in March because of the national suspension of play. The AJGA’s proprietary system was created to objectively identify and rank top junior golfers to fill its invitation-only events and select postseason Rolex Junior All-America honors.
Because of the pandemic, eight of the top national junior golf events, typically recognized by the Rolex AJGA Rankings, were cancelled.
One of our goals is to best meet the needs of our members during a difficult year. We’ve added many new initiatives to safely return to competitive golf this summer and fall. We have also heard from many of our members looking for opportunities to earn Rolex AJGA Rankings points, and we agree there’s a need to add more.
In response to challenges for the 2019-20 Rolex AJGA Rankings year, the AJGA announced several changes to previously published operations for the current year only:
1. Annual competitive minimums required for 2020 Rolex Junior All-America teams and Rolex Junior Player of the Year honors will be reduced from six events. Boys must compete in at least five Rolex AJGA Rankings-recognized events and girls in four by October 12, 2020.
2. Select AJGA events will have additional Rolex AJGA Rankings points available:
All 200-point events will be increased to 250-point events (including retroactive additional points awarded for events already played during the current rankings year).
3. Multiple minimum point values were elevated for boys and girls for the following AJGA Open events:
- Arnold Palmer Invitational Junior honoring Jim Bell – 100 Points
- Justin Thomas Junior Championship – 100 points
- KJ Choi Foundation Junior Championship by SK Telecom – 75 points
- Kyle Stanley Championship by Transamerica – 60 points
- PING Heather Farr Classic – 150 points
4. Two national junior golf events will be added to the list of non-AJGA events to receive Rolex AJGA Rankings retroactive points, for 2020 only, including:
- Dustin Johnson World Junior (boys and girls) held February 28-March 1, 2020 – 100 points
- Maridoe Junior Invitational (boys) scheduled for June 9-11 – 100 points
The first update to the Rolex AJGA Rankings will be made on Tuesday, June 16 with results from the AJGA’s first event at Sedgefield.
The system typically operates on a yearly rolling period with weekly updates from the start of the Rolex AJGA Rankings year, defined by the AJGA for the current year as October 20, after 2019 Rolex Junior All-America selections were made.
After the Rolex AJGA Rankings initial restart, events from the oldest three-week period outside the current 52-week cycle will be removed beginning on June 30.
This process will continue weekly through August 11 when the Rolex AJGA Rankings will be considered fully updated. At that point, normal operations will resume, with only events in the most recent 52 weeks considered. This process will help normalize the overall impact on player rankings that may result from removing all expired events at one time.
All players are ranked through a calculation that considers points earned in AJGA events and select national junior golf events run by other partner organizations. A player’s ranking is based on the total points they earn in recognized tournaments, divided by a minimum of six events. The system rewards players who compete against the strongest fields which are annually recognized with the greatest number of points at stake.
Visit the FAQ to learn more about the Rolex AJGA Rankings.