NEWS

35th Junior PGA Championship to Feature Elite Field Competing for Jack Nicklaus and Patty Berg Trophies

By PGA of America
Published on
An elite field of junior golfers in both the girls' and boys' divisions will converge on Syacmore Hills Golf Club in Fort Wayne, Ind., Aug. 2-5, for the 35th Junior PGA Championship. "The 35th Junior PGA Championship will once again feature an extremely strong field in both the boys' and girls' divisions," said Allen Wronowski, Vice President of The PGA of America and Chairman of the Junior PGA Championship. "Sycamore Hills Golf Club in Fort Wayne will provide a great test of golf and we will crown two very deserving champions." Anthony Paolucci of Del Mar, Calif., leads a boys' field that includes seven of the top-15 players in the Polo Golf Junior Rankings. Oliver Schniederjans of Powder Springs, Ga.; Patrick Rodgers of Avon, Ind.; and Denny McCarthy of Burtonsville, Md., ranked 4th, 5th and 6th respectively, join Paolucci in the star-studded boys’ division. Justin Thomas of Goshen, Ky., ranked 10th in the Polo Golf Junior Rankings became the third-youngest player to make a cut in PGA Tour history at the 2009 Wyndham Championship and finished runner-up in the 2010 U.S. Junior Amateur. Other top-15 players include Tanner Kesterson of Plano, Texas (No. 11) and Jay Hwang of San Diego, Calif. (No. 14). Kristen Park of Buena Park, Calif., winner of the 2010 Rolex Tournament of Champions in June, headlines a girls’ division that features six of the top 15 players in the Polo Golf Junior Rankings. Joining the red-hot playing Park are Alison Lee of Valencia, Calif., ranked 6th, Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand, ranked 7th, and Karen Chung of Livingston, N.J., who is ranked 11th. Lee has won twice in 2010. Additional players in the top-15 include Erynne Lee (Ranked 12th) of Silverdale, Wash., who tallied two points for the winning U.S. Junior Ryder Cup Team in 2008; and A.J. Newell (Ranked 13th) of Tampa, Fla. The 156-player field for the 35th Junior PGA Championship is comprised of one boy and one girl champion from each of the 41 PGA Sections, one boy and one girl champion from all nine of the PGA Junior Series events, winners of selected national junior events conducted earlier in the year, many of the top-ranked players in the Junior Golf Scoreboard, Polo Golf and Golfweek Rankings, and all past Junior PGA Championship winners. All players must be under 19-years-old and have not yet started college to compete. 35th Junior PGA Championship Sycamore Hills Golf Club in Fort Wayne, Ind., will host the 2010 Junior PGA Championship, Aug. 2-5. The PGA of America founded the Junior PGA Championship 35 years ago to attract the finest junior golfers. Since 1976, more than 300,000 juniors have competed on the PGA Section level, in the PGA Junior Series and in select national tournaments to earn a berth in the Championship. Sycamore Hills Golf Club One of the finest golf club's in the Midwest, Sycamore Hills opened its doors in 1989. The course, first deeded by Andrew Jackson in 1835, is marked by generous fairways, peninsula greens, waste bunkers and white sand. Sycamore Hills is ranked No. 93 in Golf Digest's "America's 100 Greatest Golf Courses for 2009-10," and also ranks No. 63 on Golf Digest's "Top 100 Greatest Practice Facilities for 2009-10."