Eric Lee of Fullerton, California, won the 44th edition of the Rolex Tournament of Champions with a total score of 8-under-par 278. In the Girls Division, Meja Ortengren of Stockholm, Sweden, won wire-to-wire with a total of 11-under-par 277.
The Rolex Tournament of Champions hosted at PGA National Resort & Spa featured 144 of the best junior golfers in the world from 14 countries on both the Fazio and Champion Courses. The tournament assembles the Rolex Junior All-Americans with the past year’s champions to create The Greatest Week in Junior Golf. There are 69 current or former Rolex Junior All-Americans in the field, with a total of 93 AJGA champions competing.
Lee, No. 5 in the Rolex AJGA Rankings, won his first event and AJGA Invitational with a come-from-behind victory in a one-hole playoff against Jackson Koivun of San Jose, California. Lee held steady through his final round with a score of even-par 71 and had two birdies and two bogeys.
The Bear Trap put the Boys Division to the test, giving Lee a chance to move up the leaderboard after Koivun, the 54-hole leader, had a triple bogey on No. 15. Lee had a par, and finished his last three holes with one bogey and two pars.
Lee won in his Rolex Tournament of Champions debut and is a 2021 First Team Rolex Junior All-American and a verbal commit to the University of California, Berkeley. In 2021, he had three top-10 finishes at Invitationals and was a member of the Wyndham Cup West Team.
Rounding out the top ten in the Boys Division, Virginia signee and No. 2 in the Rolex AJGA Rankings, Ben James of Milford, Connecticut, finished in third with a 6-under-par 280. Caleb Surratt of Indian Trail, North Carolina, had his sixth top-10 finish of the season in AJGA Invitationals at 5-under-par 281. Following in fifth place, Michael La Sasso of Raleigh, North Carolina, finished at 3-under-par 283.
Boyd Owens of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, ended the tournament in solo-sixth place at 2-under-par 284. Matthew Comegys of Van Alstyne, Texas, came in seventh at 1-under-par 285. With a 2-under-par 69, Luke Clanton of Miami Lakes, Florida, had the low final-round and finished T8 with Jack Turner of Orlando, Florida, at 1-over-par 287. Bryan Lee of Fairfax, Virginia, rounded out the top ten at 2-over-par 288.
In the Girls Division, Ortengren led all 72 holes of the Rolex Tournament of Champions. The 2024 grad opened the tournament with a 4-under-par 68 to take the early lead. She cruised to victory with an even-par 72 in her final round, six strokes ahead of the field.
Ortengren is No. 27 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings and was a member of the 2021 PING Junior Solheim Cup representing Team Europe. She also won the Annika Invitational Europe earlier this year.
Also playing in her Rolex Tournament of Champions debut, Ortengren competed in her first AJGA stroke-play event this week.
Rounding out the top finishers, Alexa Pano of Lake Worth, Florida, made her fifth appearance and fourth top-ten finish at the Rolex Tournament of Champions in second place at 5-under-par 283. At No. 2 in the Rolex AJGA Rankings, Anna Davis of Spring Valley, California, finished in third at 1-over-par 289.
The 2021 Rolex Junior Player of the Year, Megha Ganne of Holmdel, New Jersey, finished in a tie for fourth at 2-over-par 290 shared with Kelly Xu of Claremont, California, Kaitlyn Schroeder of Jacksonville, Florida, and Yurang Li of Fullerton, California.
Tied for eighth place, Cayetana Fernandez of Madrid, Spain, and Maelynn Kim of Katy, Texas, ended at 3-over-par 291. To finish off the top ten in a four-way tie, Charissa Shang of Calabasas, California, Kiara Romero of San Jose, California, Rianne Malixi of (Phillippines) San Bernardino, California, and Bridget Ma of Orlando, Florida, finished at 4-over-par 292.