BRASELTON, Ga. -- Seventy-eight premier junior golfers from around the globe will descend upon Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz., when the American Junior Golf Association stages the Thunderbird International Junior May 25-28.
Topping the list of participants this year are Philip Francis of Scottsdale and Isabelle Lendl of Bradenton, Fla., who are the defending champions of this event. In addition to his victory at the Thunderbird International Junior, Francis’ breakthrough 2006 season included victories at the ReBath Heather Farr Classic, the I.R.I./Srixon Mixed Team Championship hosted by Jim Furyk, the Rolex Tournament of Champions and the U.S. Junior Amateur. He later went on to be named the 2006 Rolex Junior Player of the Year. Francis will attend UCLA in the fall to continue his golf career.
Lendl, daughter of tennis legend Ivan Lendl, earned her first AJGA Invitational victory at last year’s Thunderbird International Junior. She won two other national junior golf events in 2006–the Scott Robertson Memorial and the MCI Junior Heritage–on her way to earning the No. 3 spot in the Polo Golf Rankings.
The field is full of others looking to overtake the defending champions. In the Boys Division, Andrew Yun of Tacoma, Wash., No. 3 in the Polo Golf Rankings, is looking for his third AJGA Invitational victory. In 2006, Yun won the FootJoy Boys Invitational and The PING Invitational. In the Girls Division, Esther Choe of Scottsdale, the 2006 Rolex Girls Junior Player of the Year, is hoping to add another victory to her already impressive resume. In 2005, Choe was victorious at the Rolex Tournament of Champions. In 2006, Choe notched an additional three AJGA Invitational victories at the Rolex Girls Junior Championship, The PING Invitational and the Polo Golf Junior Classic.
As in the past, Callaway Golf will lend its support to the event. Other major sponsors are the Phil and Amy Mickelson Charitable Fund and Grayhawk Golf Club.
The Thunderbird International Junior is one of 79 events the AJGA will conduct in 2007. This year, AJGA tournaments will take place in more than 25 states.
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 largest Association of its kind, the AJGA has an annual junior membership (boys and girls ages 12-18) of more than 5,000 junior golfers from 49 states and more than 25 foreign countries.
Titleist, the AJGA’s National Sponsor, has been the catalyst and driving force behind the Association’s success since 1989. Rolex Watch USA, which is in its third decade of AJGA support, became the inaugural AJGA Premier Partner in 2004. In 2007, after 12 years of support, Polo Ralph Lauren became the AJGA’s second Premier Partner.
AJGA alumni have risen to the top of amateur, collegiate and professional golf. More than 160 former AJGA juniors currently play on the PGA and LPGA Tours and have compiled more than 300 wins. AJGA alumni include Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk, Stewart Cink, Davis Love III, Cristie Kerr, Pat Hurst, Paula Creamer, Morgan Pressel and Julieta Granada.
For more information, please contact Drea Braxmeier (dbraxmeier@ajga.org) in the AJGA Communications Department at (678) 425-1789 or visit the AJGA Web site at ajga.org.
Contact: Drea Braxmeier, AJGA
(678) 425-1789
