Stanford, CA - The AJGA Girls Invitational at Stanford kicks off Friday, September 7 at Stanford Golf Course in Stanford, California. The 54-hole stroke play event features 78 of the top junior girls in golf. The entire field is ranked within the top 350 of the Rolex AJGA Rankings, including 35 from the top 100.
About the Field
- Eight current Rolex Junior All-Americans, including First-Team Member, Xin (Cindy) Kou of Whittier, California
- 40 AJGA Champions, including 17 with wins in 2020
- 16 verbal college commitments
- 17 states and 7 countries represented
About the Course
Stanford Golf Course, home of the Stanford University Men’s and Women’s golf programs, is 2-time invitational host of the AJGA. Stanford hosted the 1993 Canon Cup, now known as the Wyndham Cup and the 2019 Swinging Skirts AJGA Invitational.
Stanford Golf Course designed by George C. Thomas and Billy Bell Jr. opened in 1930 and is owned and operated by Stanford University. In 2015, GolfWeek rated Stanford the No. 6 college course in the country.
Stanford University and AJGA History
The AJGA and Stanford University have a long-standing alumni pipeline. The most noteworthy being two-time AJGA Rolex Junior Player of the Year, Tiger Woods. Woods tied for second in all-time AJGA wins at 8. He attended Stanford from 1994-1996 before turning professional after his sophomore year. In his time there he won 11 times and claimed the 1996 NCAA Individual Championship.
Dating back to 2002, more than 70 AJGA alumni have competed for or plan to play college golf at Stanford. Some noteworthy individuals include 2014 Rolex Junior Player of the Year, Andrea Lee, who just wrapped up an illustrious golf career at Stanford. Lee tied the university’s women’s win record with eight individual victories. Mariah Stackhouse was a four-time All-American in her time at Stanford from 2012-2016. She won four times with the AJGA and served as the AJGA Player Representative in 2011.
The 2019-2020 Stanford Women’s Golf roster was made up completely of AJGA alumnae including Rolex Junior All-Americans Lei (Angelina) Ye of Bradenton, Florida, and Brooke Seay of Rancho Santa Fe, California.
Current AJGA members committed to Stanford include Karl Vilips of Perth, Australia, 2018 AJGA Player Representative Michael Thorbjornsen of Wellesley, Massachusetts, 2019 Rolex Junior Player of the Year Rose Zhang of Irvine, California, 2018 Rolex Junior Player of the Year Rachel Heck of Memphis, Tennessee, and four-time Rolex Junior All-American Sadie Englemann of Austin, Texas.
AJGA Champion Highlights
Of the 39 players who’ve won an AJGA event, a few highlights:
- Leigh Chien of Irvine, California, is a two-time AJGA invitational champion. The No. 13 player in the Rolex AJGA Rankings went back-to-back claiming the 2019 and 2020 KPMG Stacy Lewis Junior All-Star Invitational. These two wins got her two starts on the Symetra Tour.
- Sophie Zhang-Murphy of Saratoga, California, is on a hot streak this summer. The 2022 grad has two wins and two top-10 finishes in her 2020 season. Zhang-Murphy took home the Under Armour ® / Alison Lee Championship presented by Irvine Technology Corporation and the UHY / The First Tee of Greater Baltimore Junior Championship earlier this summer.
- Xin (Cindy) Kou of Whittier, California, is three-time AJGA invitational champion. The University of Southern California commit claimed the 2019 ANA Junior Inspiration, the 2018 KPMG Stacy Lewis Junior All-Star Invitational and the 2018 AJGA Junior All-Star Invitational at Reynolds Lake Oconee.
- Caiyi (Flora) Zhang of Bradenton, Florida, Symran Shah of Carrollton, Texas, Varsha Ramachandran of San Jose, California, Lauren Nguyen of Seattle, Washington, Jaclyn LaHa of Pleasanton, California, Jasmine Koo of Cerritos, California, Kaila Elsayegh of Pacific Palisades, California, Natalie Cao of Sugar Land, Texas, Mimi Burton of Austin, Texas, and Elyssa Abdullah of Hinsdale, Illinois, each claimed their first AJGA titles in 2020.
7 of the Top 25 Players in the Rolex AJGA Rankings
7 – Zoe Antoinette Campos of Valencia, California
8 – Michelle Zhang of Plano, Texas
11 – Sophie Zhang-Murphy of Saratoga, California
13- Leigh Chien of Irvine, California
19 – Katie Li of Basking Ridge, New Jersey
21 – Caroline Hwang of Orlando, Florida
23 – Catherine Rao of Camarillo, California
Future College Teammates
As a part of the 20 total players committed to play college golf, two sets of future college teammates are in the field:
- University of Southern California (USC) - Amari Avery of Riverside, California, and Xin (Cindy) Kou of Whittier, California
- Pepperdine University - Lauren Gomez of San Diego, California and Caroline Hwang of Orlando, Florida
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