Farmingdale, NY - The championship match is set at the 46th RLX Ralph Lauren Junior Classic. will take on, for the Girls Division title. On the Boys Division side will face .
Thursday play began with the Quarterfinal matches and concluded with the semifinal matches in the afternoon.
The first match of the Quarterfinals between Wheaton Ennis of Litchfield Park, Arizona, and Pennson Badgett of Pilot Mountain, North Carolina, reached an extra hole. Ennis, the No. 1 seed, trailed Badgett from the very beginning and never gained the upper hand in the match. Ennis won the par-4 No. 18 to force the match into overtime, but Badgett ended it on the 19th hole.
No. 8 seed, Pennson Badgett, upsets the No. 1 seed, Wheaton Ennis, during the Quarterfinal round at the #RLXJrClassic. pic.twitter.com/76iebtMhKa
— AJGA (@AJGAGolf) June 27, 2024
In match two, Jackson Byrd of Saint Simons Island, Georgia, beat Sterling Hurd of Austin, Texas, 3&2. Byrd quickly got up to 3 up by the par-4 No. 5.
In match three, Blades Brown of Nashville, Tennessee, beat Eric Yun of Menlo Park, California, 2 up.
In the fourth match of the Boys Division Quarterfinals, Mason Howell of Thomasville, Georgia, built momentum on Nos. 2, 3 and 4 to go 3 up after four holes against Will Hartman of Marvin, North Carolina. Howell finished out the match on No. 13 and won the match at 5&4.
On the Girls Division side, Clara Ding of White Rock, British Columbia, Canada, played against Lisa Herman of Jenks, Oklahoma. Ding won the first two holes of the day, but Herman won Nos. 3 and 6 to bring the match to all squared. Ding responded by winning Nos. 8, 10 and 11. Herman won the par-5 No. 13 but Ding won back-to-back holes on Nos. 14 and 15 to close out the match at 4&3.
Jude Lee of Walnut, California, played against Yujie Liu of Beijing, China. Lee closed out the match by winning the par-4 No. 18 and finished at 2 up.
Kinsley Ni of Los Angeles, California, beat Lily Peng of San Ramon, California, 4&2. Ni won three consecutive holes starting on No. 14.
Yu-Chu Chen of Allen, Texas, beat Maye Huang of Katy, Texas, battled back and forth all day before Chen won the hole on No. 18 to win at 1 up.
With the field cut down to eight, the semifinal matches commenced. Pennson Badgett played Jackson Byrd in the afternoon. Both players tied the first hole, but Badgett won Nos. 2 and 3 to go 2 up through three holes. Byrd won No. 7 but Badgett answered with another win on No. 8. On the back nine, Badgett won three holes and closed the match on No. 15, 4&3.
In the second match, Blades Brown played Mason Howell. Howell won the first hole but Brown won No. 4 to tie the match. Howell made the turn 1 up with a win on No. 9. Howell fired things up on the back nine by winning hole Nos. 10, 12, 13 and 14 to end the match 5&4.
On the girls side Clara Ding played against Jude Lee. Lee won two holes on the front - No. 5 and No. 8 to make the turn at 2 up. Ding won Nos. 10 and 15 before Lee answered with a win on No. 16. Ding tied the match up on No. 17 with a win and both players kept the match all squared on No. 18 to force a playoff. Only one hole was needed as Ding won her way into the Championship round.
Kinsley Ni played Yu-Chu Chen in the second match. Ni started the round hot with wins on Nos. 1, 3 and 4. Chen won back-to-back holes on Nos. 5 and 6 but Ni dropped two more wins on Nos, 9 and 10. Ni and Chen traded wins on Nos. 11 and 12 which left Ni at 3 up through 12 holes. Both players tied on the remaining holes and Ni won on the sixteenth, 3&2.
Pennson Badgett will face Mason Howell for the Boys Division title, Clara Ding will compete against Kinsley Ni for the Girls Division title.
Championship matches for the 46th RLX Ralph Lauren Junior Classic will begin at 7:00 a.m. off No. 1. The Boys Division match will go first with the Girls Championship match following at 7:09 a.m.
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About Bethpage State Park Golf Courses - Black Course
The move of the RLX Ralph Lauren Junior Classic in 2022 to Bethpage Black marks the first time the event is being played on a public course. The Black Course is rich in tradition having hosted three major championships, two FedEx Cup playoff events and the upcoming 2025 Ryder Cup.
The course which opened in 1936 as part of the Depression Era public-works project that build Bethpage State Park burst onto the scene in 2002 with its first hosting of the U.S. Open. It was this year that a young Tiger Woods, who won the RLX Ralph Lauren Junior Classic in 1991, captured his second U.S. Open title. The Black Course again hosted the U.S. Open in 2009 where AJGA alumnus Lucas Glover took home the title. The ‘extremely difficult course’ recommended ‘only for highly skilled golfers’ also hosted the 2012 and 2016 FedEx Cup playoff event, The Barclays. AJGA alumni Brooks Koepka won the 2019 PGA Championship when the course hosted its first major in ten years.
About Polo Ralph Lauren
Polo Ralph Lauren, a premium lifestyle brand, has been a partner for more than three decades. Since 1995, Polo Ralph Lauren has supported junior golfers who become the next generation of college graduates and business leaders. Every week through AJGA social and digital content, Polo Ralph Lauren celebrates the top performances of AJGA members worldwide, through Polo Ralph Lauren #InspiredPerformances
. Polo Ralph Lauren has hosted the RLX Ralph Lauren Junior Classic, an Invitational dating back to 1978 and one of the longest-running events in AJGA history.