The new junior golf collaboration that was announced earlier this fall continues to bear fruit with this week’s release of the 2016 Colorado junior golf schedule, including the four junior major championships.
The CGA, Colorado PGA and the CWGA joined forces to set up a schedule intended to appeal to kids of all abilities and ages.
Multi-day Junior Tour events are designed for players who aspire to be college golfers and who hold handicap indexes of 8.1 or lower for boys and 14.1 or lower for girls. The developmental Junior Series events are for “up and coming” players who hope to take the next step with their golf games.
The 2016 Junior Tour lineup will be highlighted by the four majors, tournaments that in several cases have longstanding roots with the CGA, Colorado PGA or CWGA. All of the majors will have competitions for both boys and girls. In the cases of the Colorado Junior Amateur Championship and the Colorado Junior Match Play Championship, 2016 will mark the first time boys and girls have competed at the same venues simultaneously.
Here’s the major schedule for next year:
— Colorado Junior Amateur Championship: June 13-15, Eisenhower Golf Club at the Air Force Academy.
— Colorado PGA Junior Championship: July 13-15, Indian Tree Golf Club in Arvada.
— Colorado Junior Match Play Championship: Aug. 1-3, The Ridge at Castle Pines North.
— Junior Tour Championship: Oct. 8-9, Cherry Hills Country Club in Cherry Hills Village.
The Colorado Junior Amateur Championship is an outgrowth of the CGA and CWGA Junior Stroke Play Championships, which date back to 1977 and 1979, respectively. Exemptions will be based on a player’s previous year’s finish in the event or position on the 2015 official points list. A qualifying tournament will be held June 9 at Eisenhower GC.
The Colorado PGA Junior Championship, which also serves as a qualifier for the national PGA Junior Championship, will continue to be held at its traditional venue of Indian Tree. The 2016 national championship is set for Aug. 2-5 in Rumford, R.I. As with the Colorado Junior Amateur, exemptions will be based on a player’s previous year’s finish in the event or position on the 2015 official points list. A qualifying tournament will be held July 10 at Indian Tree.
The Colorado Junior Match Play Championship is the new incarnation of the CGA and CWGA Junior Match Play Championships, which were first contested in 1951 and 1953, respectively. The Junior Tour’s top 32 boys and girls, based on the official points list following the previous week’s Junior Tour event, will make up the field.
The inaugural Junior Tour Championship will take place at Cherry Hills, which has hosted three U.S. Opens and two PGA Championships over the years. The top 40 boys and 20 girls from the season-ending official points list will qualify for the tournament.
Qualifying tournaments are open to players of all ages, including those who compete on the Junior Series.
Among the other notable events on the 2016 Colorado Junior Tour:
— May 30-31: IMG 15-17 Junior World Qualifier, Thorncreek GC
— June 6-9: AJGA Hale Irwin Colorado Junior, Highlands Ranch GC
— June 9: IMG 11-12 & 13-14 Junior World Qualifier, Flatirons GC
— June 16: Optimist International Qualifier, Flatirons GC
— June 23-24: Trusted Choice Big I Qualifier, Highlands Hills GC
— June 27: U.S. Junior Amateur Qualifier, Heritage at Westmoor
— Date TBD: U.S. Girls’ Junior Qualifier, site TBD
— June 29-July 1: PGA Junior Series, Eisenhower GC.
The boys and girls state high school championships also will be key events on the Junior Tour.
For the full junior schedule, CLICK HERE.
Membership registration for the 2016 season will begin on Jan. 15, with tournament registration opening in mid-February.
To receive further updates, follow @CPGAJuniorGolf and @ColoJrGolf on Twitter and the CGA and Colorado PGA Facebook pages.
For an earlier story about the junior golf collaboration between the CGA and the Colorado PGA, CLICK HERE.
