The Stacy Lewis Junior All-Star Invitational is set to return to Blessings Golf Club for the sixth time. The 54-hole, stroke play event will showcase 56 of the best junior golfers, ages 12-15. Now in it's eighth year, the invitational will be held in Fayetteville, Arkansas, from June 12-15.
The inception of the Stacy Lewis Junior All-Star Invitational in 2015 was originally held at Fayetteville Country Club and was held there again in 2017 during Blessings Golf Club redesign. In 2016, the invitational was moved to Blessings Golf Club and would continue to be hosted there from 2018-2023.
About host Stacy Lewis
- Began her support of this event in 2015 as the No. 1 ranked American and No. 2 ranked player in the world
- Decorated amateur career – four-time college All-American at Arkansas, where she won 12 times including an NCAA Division I Championship
- On the LPGA TOUR, Lewis has competed as a member of four Solheim Cup teams and won 13 times on tour including two majors
- She captured the 2011 Kraft Nabisco Championship as her first major win
- Lewis competed in eight AJGA events as a junior golfer, her best a T4 finish at the 2002 Abilene Reporter-News Junior
About the event
- The only AJGA stroke play event to feature mixed pairings with boys and girls playing together in each group
- Pairings will be twosomes
- An equal number of boys and girls annually compete in this event (28 boys, 28 girls)
- A boys versus girls team champion is crowned in addition to stroke play champions – the top four boys and four girls scores are combined to determine a Boys Division or Girls Division team victory each year
- To date, the boys and girls divisions are tied at 4-4 after the girls won last year by 20 strokes
- Stacy Lewis and KPMG created this unique event in 2015 to promote equity, friendly competition, and reinforce the importance of ethics, integrity and leadership
- Tyson Foods joined in partnering with KPMG this past year
About the Field
- Three Rolex Junior All-Americans
- Six countries represented
- Eight players in the top-100 of the Rolex AJGA Rankings
- 19 states represented
- 33 AJGA past champions
About the Course
Originally designed by Robert Trent Jones, Jr. in 2004, Blessings Golf Club had a redesign by Kyle Phillips in 2017. Blessings Golf Club is home to the the University of Arkansas Golf teams. With indoor and outdoor practice facilities, Blessings is equipped with a range with multiple teeing areas, short game greens and indoor hitting bays. The 2019 NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Golf Individual and Team Championships were also conducted at Blessings.
AJGA Champion Highlights
Of the 33 players who’ve won an AJGA event, a few highlights:
- Angela Zhang of Bellevue, Washington has 11 top-5 finishes throughout her AJGA career. Of those 11, four of them are first place finishes. She qualified for the 2023 U.S. Women's Open at Pebble Beach.
- Sam Carraher of Crown Point, Indiana is fourteen years old and has competed in 11 AJGA events. He has placed top-25 in every event he has played in.
- Lisa Herman of Jenks, Oklahoma and is currently ranked No. 33 in the AJGA Rolex Ranking. She has seven top-5 finishes and has placed top three in her past two events.
- John Markow of Ridgeland, Mississippi won his first ever AJGA event at the Dallas Junior All-Star in March. He is new to the AJGA scene, having only two tournaments under his belt.
Tournament History
The Stacy Lewis Junior All-Star Invitational has occurred annually since 2015. Last year's champion Alice Ziyi Zhao will be competing again this year.
The AJGA has also hosted three separate events at Blessings prior to the Stacy Lewis Junior All-Star Invitational, making this year the twelfth time the AJGA has held a tournament at Blessings Golf Club. These include the AJGA Arkansas Junior at Blessings in 2008 and 2009, and the 2010 Rolex Tournament of Champions.
About 2023 Player Field
In the 2023 Stacy Lewis Junior All-Star Invitational field, eight juniors are currently ranked in the top-100 of the Rolex AJGA Rankings:
No. 4 Alice Ziyi Zhao of (China) Irvine, California
No. 20 Angela Zhang of Bellevue, Washington
No. 33 Lisa Herman of Jenks, Oklahoma
No. 54 Anna Huang of (Canada) Coto De Caza, California
No. 69 Eliana Saga of Stevenson Ranch, California
No. 90 Amelie Zalsman of St. Petersburg, Florida
No. 91 Amy Lee of (South Korea) Langley British Colombia Canada
No. 96 Sofia Cherif Essakali of (Morocco) Orlando, Florida
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