TaylorMade announces field for first world-class AJGA event

The American Junior Golf Association and National Sponsor TaylorMade Golf announced the field of 78 players for the first Team TaylorMade Invitational , a new Memorial Day event hosted by Streamsong Resort’s Blue Course.

Invited exclusively through the Rolex AJGA Rankings , Streamsong Resort’s Blue course will host the top boys in the world and the AJGA for the first time. The 54-hole stroke play event will be held in central Florida on the Tom Doak design, May 28-31, 2021.

The Team TaylorMade Invitational joins a rich history of events including the AJGA Simplify Boys Championship at Carlton Woods, Wyndham Invitational presented by Truist, and The Junior PLAYERS Championship. This event, and the Jack Burke Jr. Invitational set to debut in August 2021, are the first two AJGA boys-only stroke play Invitationals added to the schedule since 2007.

In addition to competition from one of the strongest fields in national junior golf, AJGA National Partner TaylorMade will provide a unique tournament experience with activities hosted at Streamsong’s Roundabout short course and Gauntlet putting course, as well as Team TaylorMade engagement, unique prizes, and social media support.

TaylorMade has been involved with the AJGA as a product supplier and partner for more than 25 years, joining as an Official Partner in 2011 and investing fully as a National Sponsor in 2016. The Official Golf Ball of the AJGA, Team TaylorMade athletes Tiger Woods, Rickie Fowler, Dustin Johnson, Matthew Wolff, Collin Morikawa, Sierra Brooks, Maria Fassi, Sung Hyun Park, and Charley Hull all have ties to the AJGA as player alumni, tournament hosts or program supporters.

Field Highlights
The inaugural Team TaylorMade Invitational field is stout with 42 former AJGA champions, 25 Rolex Junior All-Americans, and 11 of the top 20 boys in the current Rolex AJGA Rankings:

Reigning 2020 Rolex Junior Player of the Year Kelly Chinn of Great Falls, Virginia, will make his 2021 junior golf season debut as the highest-ranked player in the field. Chinn won both the season opening and closing events (2019 Rolex Tournament of Champions and 2020 PING Invitational) to secure top postseason honors. He also finished in the top six at both The Junior PLAYERS Championship and AJGA Invitational at Sedgefield. Chinn signed a National Letter of Intent to play collegiate golf at Duke University this fall.

Caleb Surratt of Indian Trail, N.C., has collected these recent Invitational finishes: T3 – The 2020 PING Invitational, T8 –2020 Rolex Tournament of Champions, and T8 – 2021 AJGA Simplify Boys Championship at Carlton Woods. The Tennessee verbal commit is seeking his first win since 2019 and first Invitational win with the Team TaylorMade Invitational.

John Daly II of Dardanelle, Arkansas, recently won his first event at the Team TaylorMade host Sung Hyun Park’s AJGA event in April by six strokes. He put together a string of top finishes in 2020, including a runner-up and two fifth-place finishes in three Open events. The Arkansas signee finished seventh at the first Invitational of 2021 (AJGA Simplify Boys Championship at Carlton Woods).

Forty players in the field are committed to play collegiate golf with many pairs of future teammates:

• Auburn University – Frankie Harris of Boca Raton, Florida, Cayden Pope of Lexington, Kentucky, and Brendan Valdes of Orlando, Florida

• Duke University – Kelly Chinn of Great Falls, Virginia and William Love of Atlanta, Georgia

• Florida State University – Luke Clanton of Miami Lakes, Florida, and Patrick McCann of Tallahassee, Florida

• University of Arkansas, Fayetteville – John Daly II of Dardanelle, Arkansas, and Kaelen Dulany of Keller, Texas
• University of Texas at Austin – Thomas Morrison of Dallas, Texas, and Jacob Sosa of Austin, Texas

• University of Virginia – Benjamin James of Milford, Connecticut, and Bryan Lee of Fairfax, Virginia

• Virginia Tech – Mehrbaan Singh of Ashburn, Virginia, and David Stanford of Vienna, Virginia

• Wake Forest – Andrew McLauchlan of Neptune Beach, Florida, Marshall Meisel of Chevy Chase, Maryland, Boyd Owens of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Scotty Kennon of Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida

Sixteen players will make their AJGA Invitational debut at the Team TaylorMade Invitational. No. 19 Solomon Petrie of Akron, Ohio, No. 28 Kyo Morishita of (Japan) Bradenton, Florida, and No. 36 Matthew Doyle of Madison, Connecticut, are the highest ranked from this group.

ACE Grant recipient Petrie recently secured a pair of T3 finishes, including sharing the top of the leaderboard with Morishita and Doyle at the 2021 Sung Hyun Park Junior Championship. Petrie, a Kentucky verbal commit, also won the 2020 Imperial Headwear Junior Classic in August.

Morishita has already collected three 2021 top-four AJGA finishes and, in so doing, moved up the Rolex AJGA Rankings by more than 400 positions since fall 2020. The 17-year-old also won the 2019 Stewart Cink Championship by Transamerica.

Doyle represents one of four high school seniors to debut at the Team TaylorMade Invitational. The verbal commit won the 2020 Connecticut Junior Amateur and Connecticut Junior PGA Championship. He has compiled eight top-11 AJGA finishes over the past three seasons.

Chase Kyes of Birmingham, Alabama, will be one of the youngest competitors in the field at age 15 and is already a two-time AJGA champion. The eighth grader recently finished T4 at the April AJGA Junior at 12 Oaks. In 2020, the Kyes won the AJGA Junior All-Star presented by Auburn-Opelika Tourism after qualifying into the field. Two months later, he picked up a second victory at the Vaughn Taylor Championship presented by James Hardie.

2021 Team TaylorMade Invitational Field
Field linked here

TaylorMade and AJGA ties
Team TaylorMade alumni with AJGA ties include: Tiger Woods, Dustin Johnson, Collin Morikawa, Matthew Wolff, Rickie Fowler, Sung Hyun Park, Maria Fassi, Charley Hull, and Sierra Brooks.

Tiger Woods was a two-time Rolex Junior Player of the Year

Collin Morikawa

Woods is one of the most decorated junior golfers of all time. The two-time Rolex Junior Player of the Year remains tied for second in total career individual wins all-time (eight) and most individual wins in a season (four, twice). He and Wolff represent two of the 27 NCAA Division I individual champions in the AJGA’s history. Wolff was recognized as a Rolex Junior All-American (or top 48 boy in the nation) at the end of the season in 2015 when he played in all three of the top boys-only Invitationals.

Fowler, a two-time Rolex Junior All-American won two AJGA events including the February Boys Invitational event, then held at Bay Hill. Over the years, Fowler has supported AJGA’s Leadership Links program, inspiring junior golfers to fundraise more than $4 million for community charities through golf since 2009.

Johnson played in events from 1999-2002 with his best finish at the summer boys-only Invitational (T10). Two-time Rolex Junior All-American Morikawa collected six top-10 AJGA Invitational finishes, including fifth at TPC Sawgrass in 2013.

Brooks was a five-time Rolex Junior All-American. She collected six career victories including two sponsored by TaylorMade: an AJGA Open then hosted at Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead Course, and an Easter Junior All-Star event at Chateau Elan.

Though she did not compete with the AJGA as a junior golfer, Park now supports a tournament with TaylorMade. In 2021, she hosted during the AJGA’s highly competitive Easter weekend slate of events in Florida. In addition to her status as one of the AJGA’s 30 female Division I individual champions since 1978, Fassi played in four events supported by professional golfers and collected four top-six finishes during her AJGA career. Hull, recently the youngest selection for the Solheim Cup’s European team, also competed in the AJGA’s junior event in 2011.

About TaylorMade Golf Company
Headquartered in Carlsbad, California, TaylorMade Golf is a leading manufacturer of high performance golf equipment, golf balls and accessories with industry-leading innovative products like SIM2 metalwoods, SIM2 irons, P Series irons, TP5/TP5X golf balls and Spider putters. A major force across the world's professional tours, TaylorMade has an unrivaled athlete portfolio that includes Tiger Woods, Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood, Rickie Fowler, Matthew Wolff, Collin Morikawa, Harry Higgs, SH Park, Charley Hull, Maria Fassi and Sierra Brooks.