Columbus, Ohio – The American Junior Golf Association is proud to announce the return of the Memorial Junior in 2024. The four-day event will be hosted at Champions Golf Course for the first time in tournament history. The Memorial Tournament hosted nearby at Muirfield Village Golf Club annually features a strong field of AJGA alumni.
The open event will bring together 96 male and female junior golfers from around the world to the greater Columbus area to compete in the 54-hole stroke play tournament. AJGA Open tournaments make up the largest part of the AJGA schedule. All members may submit tournament applications to Open tournaments. All AJGA Open tournaments are filled using the AJGA’s Performance Based Entry system.
Past champions of the Memorial Junior include LPGA professional Lindsey Weaver, NCAA standouts Julian Perico (Arkansas), Ashley Gilliam (Mississippi State), and Kary Hollenbaugh (Ohio State).
The Jack Elton Snyder Foundation will again serve as the benefitting charity of the Memorial Junior Junior-Am Fundraising Tournament. Jack Elton Snyder was a member of the AJGA until he passed away at the age of seventeen in 2021. Jack played in nationally competitive golf tournaments for three years from 2018 to 2020. His best AJGA finish was solo third in the qualifier for the Natural Resource Partners Bluegrass Junior presented by Encova Insurance.
Beyond the golf course, Jack left behind a legacy of kindness, generosity, and love. Jack’s family started a foundation in his honor to provide financial and educational support to benefit junior golfers who demonstrate the values Jack played with, the importance of God and family, integrity, respect, and perseverance. The foundation awarded their first scholarships in 2021 to three deserving junior golfers because of events like this one. Additionally, since its inception, the foundation has been able to award over $145,000 in scholarship monies to 35 junior golfers throughout central Ohio and beyond.
The AJGA’s Junior-Am is modeled after the PGA TOUR’s Pro-Am in which a junior is paired with three amateurs to raise funds for a local charity and the AJGA’s Liberty National Achieving Competitive Excellence (ACE) Grant.
The Memorial Junior runs June 3rd through 6th at Champions Golf Course in Columbus, Ohio. The official practice round and Junior-Am fundraising tournament will be held June 3rd with the competitive tournament rounds following on the 4th through 6th.
The AJGA is looking for local supporters to help increase the charitable impact associated with the Memorial Junior. If you are interested, please contact Senior Midwest Regional Director, Ryan Flanagan at rflanagan@ajga.org.
We encourage the Columbus community to volunteer at the Memorial Junior. If you are interested in supporting the AJGA through volunteering please contact Tournament Director, Alex Miklinski, amiklinski@ajga.org .
For more information about the Memorial Junior visit ajga.org or check out the AJGA on Facebook , X and Instagram .
Jack Elton Snyder Foundation Mission Statement
The Jack Elton Snyder Foundation , a non-profit 501 (c)(3) organization, provides financial and educational support to benefit Junior Golfers who wish to advance their game of golf while reinforcing the values demonstrated by Jack Elton Snyder: the importance of God and family, integrity, respect, and perseverance.
About the American Junior Golf Association
The American Junior Golf Association is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to the overall growth and development of young men and women who aspire to earn college golf scholarships through competitive junior golf. The AJGA provides valuable exposure for college golf scholarships and has an annual junior membership (boys and girls, ages 12-19) of more than 7,900 members from 50 states and 51 foreign countries. Through initiatives like the Achieving Competitive Excellence (ACE) Grant, a financial assistance program, and Leadership Links, a service-oriented platform that teaches juniors charitable-giving skills, the AJGA fosters the growth of golf’s next generation.
TaylorMade and adidas are the AJGA’s National Sponsors, supporting the AJGA for more than 25 years. TaylorMade has served as the Official Ball of the AJGA since 2016. adidas has been the Official Apparel and Footwear of the AJGA since 2017. Rolex, in its fourth decade of AJGA sponsorship, became the inaugural AJGA Premier Partner in 2004.
AJGA alumni have risen to the top of amateur, collegiate, and professional golf. Former AJGA juniors have compiled more than 1,000 victories on the PGA and LPGA Tours. AJGA alumni include Patrick Cantlay, Billy Horschel, Collin Morikawa, Scottie Scheffler, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Tiger Woods, Paula Creamer, Jessica Korda, Nelly Korda, Cristie Kerr, Stacy Lewis, Inbee Park and Lexi Thompson.