41st Junior PGA Championship draws elite field to Rhode Island's Wannamoisett Country Club

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – The 41st Junior PGA Championship presented by Under Armour and Genesis Networks – one of the elite events in junior golf – visits New England for the first time and will be contested at venerable Wannamoisett Country Club in Rumford, R.I., Aug. 9-12.

An elite field of 156 players – 78 boys vying for the Jack Nicklaus Trophy and 78 girls competing for the Patty Berg Trophy – will tee it up at Wannamoisett, a distinct Donald Ross par-69 layout (par-71 for the girls in the field) that is steeped in amateur golf heritage.

Wannamoisett’s storied past includes the 1931 PGA Championship – contested in a match-play format – and won by 20-year-old Tom Creavy, who edged Hall-of-Famer Denny Shute, 2 and 1, in the final.

Wannamoisett, since 1962, has also hosted the prestigious Northeast Amateur, whose champions include recent U.S. Open Champion Dustin Johnson, who won at Wannamoisett in 2007, along with other PGA Tour notables John Cook, Ben Crenshaw, Luke Donald, David Duval, Scott Hoch and Hal Sutton.

While the 2015 boys’ Junior PGA Champion, Brad Dalke, is ineligible to defend his title (he now studies and competes collegiately at the University of Oklahoma), Elizabeth Wang of San Marino, Calif., will be at Wannamoisett with the hope of repeating in the girls division.

Wang edged Mariel Galdiano in a playoff last year at Miramont Country Club in Bryan, Texas. The spoils of Wang’s win at Miramont last year included an exemption in June’s ShopRite LPGA Classic, where she not only made the cut, but finished in a tie for 31st place (73-66-69 - 208) at 5-under par.

The Junior PGA Championship’s field includes eight PGA Junior Series event champions, players from all 41 PGA Sections, many of the top players from the Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings and Polo Golf Rankings, as well as select national junior tournament winners. Nine of the juniors (six boys, three girls) playing in the Junior PGA Championship hail from New England.

The boys’ field is headlined by Noah Goodwin of Corinth, Texas, who finished runner-up in last month’s U.S. Junior Amateur. Goodwin is Golfweek’s top-ranked junior and is committed to play college golf at Southern Methodist University.

Joining Goodwin in the boys’ division will be Davis Shore of Knoxville, Tenn. and Eugene Hong of Sanford, Florida. Shore (University of Alabama commitment) and Hong (University of Florida commitment) are ranked second and third, respectively, in the boys rankings by Golfweek.

Yujeong Son of Norman, Okla., leads the 78-player girls’ division. Son, the top-ranked girls’ player per Golfweek, recently won her third straight Women’s Oklahoma Golf Association State Amateur. In last year’s Junior PGA Championship, Son matched the lowest girls round (64, Round 1) in Championship history en route to a third-place finish.

Kaitlyn Papp of Austin, Texas, and Alyaa Abdulghany of Newport Beach, Calif., join Son as headliners. Papp – a University of Texas commitment – is the No. 3 ranked junior girl by Golfweek, while Abdulghany occupies the No. 6 slot. Abdulghany is slated to play collegiately at the University of Southern California.

Eight of the top-10 girl finishers last year return to the Junior PGA Championship, while 12 of the leaderboard’s top 20 boys are scheduled to be at Wannamoisett.

The Junior PGA Championship also provides a final opportunity for junior boys and girls to earn exemptions or points for September’s Junior Ryder Cup, which will feature a 12-player United States of America team that will compete against a European squad at Interlachen Country Club in Edina, Minn.

The U.S. Junior Ryder Cup Team, which is seeking its fifth consecutive victory, will consist of six boys and six girls who are United States citizens and are in the high school graduating class of 2017, or younger.

The U.S. Junior Ryder Cup team will be announced by the PGA of America on Aug. 16, 2016. The team will depart for the Junior Ryder Cup at Interlachen and a Friendship Match at Hazeltine National, both to be played in conjunction with the 41st Ryder Cup, on Sept. 22.

The complete field for the 41st Junior PGA Championship, as of Wednesday, August 3:

GIRLS DIVISION
Alyaa Abdulghany	Newport Beach, Calif.
Ty Akabane	Danville, Calif.
Whitney Banz	Salt Lake City, Utah
Kenlie Barrett	The Woodlands, Texas
Lauren Beaudreau	Lemont, Ill.
Madison Braman	Loudonville, N.Y.
Jennifer Chang	Cary, N.C.
Jayna Choi	Collierville, Tenn.
Youngin Chun	Gainesville, Fla.
Jennifer Cleary	Wilmington, Del.
Maria Connelly	Waterville, Ohio
Hailee Cooper	Montgomery, Texas
Caitlin Cotterill	NEW ZEALAND
Kyra Cox	South Salem, N.Y.
Caroline Curtis	Richmond, Va.
Maria Davis	Vallejo, Calif.
Madison DeRousse	Sainte Genevieve, Mo.
Sadie Englemann	Austin, Texas
Caroline Farber	Providence, R.I.
Payton Fehringer	American Falls, Idaho
Sarah Fite	Maysville, Ky.
Lauren Freyvogel	Gibsonia, Pa.
Megan Furtney	South Elgin, Ill.
Victoria Gailey	Tigard, Ore.
Mariel Galdiano	Pearl City, Hawaii
Dominique Galloway	Rio Rancho, N.M.
Angela Garvin	Feeding Hills, Mass.
Melanie Green	Medina, N.Y.
Virginia Green	Point Clear, Ala.
Katie Hallinan	Loveland, Ohio
Anni Heck	Eagan, Minn.
Cailyn Henderson	Carmel, Ind.
Stephanie Herzog	Red Wing, Minn.
Sabrina Iqbal	San Jose, Calif.
Julia Johnson	St. Gabriel, La.
Auston Kim	St. Augustine, Fla.
Gina Kim	Chapel Hill, N.C.
Caroline Klemp	Lansing, Kan.
Smith Knaffle	Murrells Inlet, S.C.
Alyssa Lamoureux	Seminole, Fla.
Lucy Li	Redwood Shores, Calif.
Mika Liu	Beverly Hills, Calif.
Lindsay May	Auburn, N.Y.
Taylor McCorkle	Oregon, Wis.
Emilia Migliaccio	Cary, N.C.
Alyssa Montgomery	Knoxville, Tenn.
Katherine Muzi	Walnut, Calif.
Malia Nam	Kailua, Hawaii
Grace Ni	Cypress, Texas
Yealimi Noh	Concord, Calif.
Allison Olberding	West Des Moines, Iowa
Valeria Sofia Pacheco	Hallandale Beach, Fla.
Kaitlyn Papp	Austin, Texas
Elizabeth Reedy	Marietta, Ga.
Ariana Saenz	Porter, Texas
Karah Sanford	Escondito, Calif.
Aneka Seumanutafa	Emmitburg, Md.
Christine Shao	Green Brook, N.J.
Erica Shepherd	Greenwood, Ind.
Sarah Shipley	Hastings, Mich.
Kelly Sim	Edgewater, N.J.
Ellie Slama	Salem, Ore.
Yujeong Son	Norman, Okla.
Kelly Su	Scottsdale, Ariz.
Kennedy Swann	Austin, Texas
Lauren Thibodeau	Hampstead, N.H.
Hannah Thiele	Wahoo, Neb.
Sophia Trombetta	Independence, Ohio
Brooke Tyree	Sulphur, La.
Kailie Vongsaga	Walnut, Calif.
Shani Waite	El Segundo, Calif.
Crystal Wang	Diamond Bar, Calif.
Elizabeth Wang	San Marino, Calif.
Mary Weinstein	Highlands Ranch, Colo.
Waverly Whiston	San Diego, Calif.
Kenzie Wright	McKinney, Texas
Caroline Wrigley	Wexford, Pa.
Sydney Youngblood	Durant, Okla.

BOYS DIVISION
Gray Albright	Ocala, Fla.
Ashwin Arasu	San Diego, Calif.
Luke Armbrust	Wheaton, Ill.
Philip Barbaree	Shreveport, La.
Garrett Barber	Stuart, Fla.
Finn Boynton	Milford, Conn.
Cole Bradley	West Lafayette, Ind.
Eric Brown	Lake Charles, La.
Joe Bultman	Shawnee, Kan.
Frankie Capan	North Oaks, Minn.
Davis Chatfield	Attleboro, Mass.
Parker Coody	Plano, Texas
Andrew Cortez	American Falls, Idaho
Dylan Davidson	O'Fallon Ill.
Ryan Davis	Berkeley Heights, N.J.
Will Dickson	Providence, R.I.
Chandler Eaton	Alpharetta, Ga.
Austin Eckroat	Edmond, Okla.
Dan Erickson	Whittier, Calif.
Ben Fuller	Birmingham, Ala.
Wilson Furr	Jackson, Miss.
Matthew Garside	Vadnais Heights, Minn.
Ryan Gerard	Raleigh, N.C.
Brandon Gillis	Nashua, N.H.
Noah Goodwin	Corinth, Texas
Zack Gordon	Gaffney, S.C.
Crosby Guercio	Frisco, Texas
Allen Hamilton	Louisville, Ky.
Cole Hammer	Houston, Texas
Kevin Hara	Honolulu, Hawaii
Kyle Hogan	Cypress, Texas
Eugene Hong	Sanford, Fla.
Brendan Hy	San Ramon, Calif.
James Imai	Brookline, Mass.
Brent Ito	Ardsley, N.Y.
Palmer Jackson	Murrysville, Pa.
Trevor Johnson	Brentwood, Tenn.
Luke Kluver	Norfolk, Neb.
Bennett Knapek	Hartland, Wis.
Andrew Kozan	Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
Justin Lane	Woodstock, N.Y.
Walker Lee	Houston, Texas
Frank Lindwall	Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Zach Mandry	Solon, Ohio
Garrett Martin	San Antonio, Texas
Sean Maruyama	Encino, Calif.
Nate Menon	Wyomissing, Pa.
Daisuke Nakano	JAPAN
Mason Nome	Houston, Texas
Noah Norton	Chico, Calif.
Noah Nuez	Laveen, Ariz.
A.J. Ott	Fort Collins, Colo.
John Pak	Scotch Plains, N.J.
Trueman Park	Chandler, Ariz.
Jack Parker	Columbia, Mo.
James Piot	Canton, Mich.
Cole Ponich	Farmington, Utah
Reese Ramsey	Austin, Texas
Brett Roberts	Coral Springs, Fla.
Alex Schaake	Omaha, Neb.
Davis Shore	Knoxville, Tenn.
Jeremy Sisson	Skaneateles, N.Y.
Jack Snyder	Phoenix, Ariz.
Luke Stanley	South Wales, N.Y.
Nate Stember	Portland, Ore.
Troy Taylor II	Westerville, Ohio
Will Thomson	Naples, Fla.
Spencer Tibbits	Vancouver, Wash.
Jordan Tieman	West Portsmouth, Ohio
Trent Tipton	Orient, Ohio
Kyle Vance	Audubon, Pa.
Travis Vick	Houston, Texas
Lane Wallace	Yukon, Okla.
Patrick Welch	Providence, R.I.
Vince Wheeler	Roanoke, Va.
Matthew Wolff	Agoura Hills, Calif.
Norman Xiong	Canyon Lake, Calif.
Greg Yellin	El Paso, Texas