Braselton, GA - The American Junior Golf Association announced the Justin Thomas Junior Championship received the Tournament Fundraising Award and Social Media Award for 2023. The event played at Harmony Landing Country Club in Goshen, Kentucky, has now won 12 AJGA tournament awards since its inception in 2016.
These awards are for all the sponsors and the great committee that we have that make this event possible. Also, special thanks go to the Harmony Landing campus, members, and the AJGA staff that sacrifice to make this event a success! Without so many people involved, we would not be able to elevate the Justin Thomas Junior Championship to what it has become so quickly, so congratulations go to all involved, as we look for ways to improve on future events.
Each year, the AJGA presents awards to the tournaments with the best individual hospitality, Junior-Am fundraising, charitable giving and volunteer base. Awards are also given to the events with engaged media and social media participation. Finally, the AJGA recognizes the year’s most outstanding golf professional, superintendent and golf course executive, as well as the most game-changing event, best new event, best Preview Series tournament, best Ninja Junior All-Star Series tournament, best Invitational and overall tournament of the year. Tournament awards for the 2023 season will be presented on-site at the 2024 tournament.
The Tournament Fundraising Award (formerly known as Junior-Am Fundraising Award) reflects the dedication the tournament committee has to giving back to charity and the support the event garners from the local community. In 2023, the event fundraised from the double shotgun Junior-Am held at Harmony Landing on April 20th. This is the third year in a row the event has won this award and fourth time they have in five years
These awards are very well-deserved. The committee is passionate about the tournament's success and is constantly finding new ways to elevate the event. Justin personally providing $500 stipends for all the players serves as a testament to everyone's effort and commitment to making the tournament not only more accessible but an excellent experience for all involved.
The money raised from the event went to the Justin Thomas Foundation and the AJGA’s Liberty National Achieving Competitive Excellence (ACE) Grant. The Justin Thomas Foundation positively impacts children in need, junior golf, and military families with the intent of helping all achieve their full potential.
The goals of the Justin Thomas Foundation reflect the altruistic aspirations of the Thomas family. By funding programming and fulfilling requests of those in need, they are committed to showing compassion, displaying kindness, and making a difference in the world.
The Liberty National ACE Grant provides financial assistance to junior golfers who have the skills to compete on a national level but not the financial means. The tournament has raised money for the Liberty National ACE Grant since the event began in 2016 and in 2018, Justin Thomas endowed an AJGA Liberty National ACE Grant to provide a junior golfer from Kentucky with financial assistance each year in perpetuity. In 2023, Justin Thomas also committed $40K to provide every player in the field a $500 stipend. Thomas shared how he wanted to bring as much access and availability as possible to the juniors playing in his event.
The event also received the Social Media award for the second year in a row, which was selected based on an event’s success with engaging local media, and overall creativity and interaction on social media. On Instagram, the social posts from the event had 56,974 likes and reached 1,508,089 individuals. On Twitter, the hashtag for the event, #JustinThomasJr, reached 758,723 individuals on the platform.
Justin Thomas was on-site for the event again in 2023 and was available to the players during the Junior-Am to meet and greet, as well as take photos and sign autographs. Justin’s parents, Mike and Jani Thomas, and his wife Jill, were all also on-site to help facilitate the event.
To elevate the experience for the juniors, each player participating in the event received custom Justin Thomas tournament gifts as well as a 59-page full-color tournament program.
The Justin Thomas Junior Championship returns to the AJGA schedule in 2024 and will be played at Harmony Landing Country Club, August 6-9.
For more information about the AJGA Tournament Awards or the tournament, please contact Tim Jackman (tjackman@ajga.org) in the AJGA Communications Department.