The Westfield Group Country Club in Westfield Center, Ohio, will host the summer's premier junior Championship, the 2006 Westfield Junior PGA Championship, Aug. 10-13, 2006. The PGA of America is celebrating the 31st year of the Junior PGA Championship, which began at the Walt Disney Resort near Orlando, Fla. Since 1976, more than 200,000 juniors have competed on the PGA Section level to earn a berth in the Championship.

The Junior PGA Championship has traditionally been a stepping stone for many of today's PGA and LPGA Tour professionals, as well as current collegiate stars.

In the 1994 Junior PGA Championship, lightning and rain interrupted play during 54 of the 72 holes, but Beth Bauer of Brandon, Fla., and Joel Kribel of Pleasanton, Calif., left indelible marks in the final major junior event of the year. They captured the respective girls' and boys' titles at PGA National Resort & Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. Bauer, 14, became the youngest champion since Vicki Goetze in 1987. As a result, Bauer earned her fifth national Championship victory of the summer. Kribel, 17, capped his wire-to-wire win and fourth national Championship of the summer, with four birdies on the back nine. Bauer, whose impressive performance included a third-round 66, dedicated her victory to her father, PGA Professional John Bauer, of Summerfield Golf Club in Riverview, Fla. The elder Bauer died three days after the Championship from a rare neurological disorder, Guillain Barre Syndrome.

Beth Bauer went on to win the 1997 Junior PGA Championship and then the 1999-2000 North and South Amateur, becoming the first player to repeat as Champion in 16 years. Bauer played for Duke University's women's golf team, which won the 1999 NCAA Championship and the 2000 Atlantic Coast Conference Championship. She turned professional in 2000. One year later, she earned exempt status for the 2002 LPGA Tour by placing among the Top-3 on the 2001 SBC FUTURES Tour money list and first overall. Bauer won the 2002 Louise Suggs Rolex LPGA Tour Rookie of the Year award with a second-place finish at the Jamie Farr Kroger Classic and an eighth-place finish at the Weetabix Women's British Open.

In 2003, she recorded her season-best finish at the Giant Eagle LPGA Classic, where she tied for fifth place. She posted a career-low 62 during the third round of the Welch's/Fry's Championship, tying the LPGA record for the lowest third round in history. In 2004, she posted her season-best finish in a tie for 24th. Her best finish of the 2005 season was a tie for 19th at the MasterCard Classic. Bauer's best finish to date in 2006 is a tie for 11th place at the Sybase Classic.

Kribel attended Stanford University and went on to win four-consecutive All-American honors. He was also named 1999 Pac-10 Conference Player of the Year. He finished that collegiate regular season ranked No. 2 nationally, and his 70.12 stroke average broke Tiger Woods' 1996 mark of 70.9. Kribel was runner-up in the 1998 NCAA Championship, and he also competed in the 1997 and 1998 U.S. Open. He finished runner-up in the 1997 U.S. Amateur to Matt Kuchar, earned a berth in the Masters and made the cut. He competed on the 1997 Walker Cup Team and also earned a berth on the 1998 World Amateur Team.

In June 1999, Kribel turned professional. He then joined the BUY.com Tour in 2000. Because of a recurring back problem, Kribel took a medical extension in June 2001. He returned to playing golf on the 2002 BUY.com Tour, with his best finish of the season a tie for second place at the Hershey Open.

Kribel went on to finish 11th at PGA Tour Qualifying School, allowing him to play the 2003 season on the PGA Tour, where his best finish was a tie for 37th at the Buick Invitational. He suffered a fractured finger in his right hand and did not play after the Greater Milwaukee Open in mid-July. Kribel received a Major Medical Extension for 2004, and made the cut in six of 13 starts on the PGA Tour, with his best finish a tie for fourth place at the John Deere Classic.

During 2005, Kribel played in one PGA Tour and six Nationwide Tour events, with his best finish at the ING New Zealand PGA Championship, where he tied for 13th. This year, Kribel plays on both the PGA Tour and the Nationwide Tour. His best finishes are a tie for 11th place at the Knoxville Open on the Nationwide Tour and a tie for 68th place at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am on the PGA Tour.

The 2006 Westfield Junior PGA Championship will be contested for the sixth consecutive year at Westfield Group Country Club. The field has been increased from 120 to 156 players and will be comprised of one boy and one girl champion from each of the 41 PGA Sections; winners of selected national junior tournaments conducted earlier in the year; and past Junior PGA Championship winners who have not reached their 19th birthdays and have not started college.