The CWGA will be represented by one of its youngest teams ever late this month when it competes in the Girls Junior Americas Cup tournament.
When the event is contested July 26-28 in Modesto, Calif., three of the four Colorado players will be age 15 or younger. It’s safe to say that few, if any, of the other 17 teams from the western U.S., Canada and Mexico which will be in the field will feature a younger squad.
The Colorado team will be comprised of 14-year-old Hailey Schalk of Erie, 15-year-olds Caroline Jordaan of Cherry Hills Village and Amy Chitkoksoong of Aurora, and 17-year-old Jaclyn Murray of Grand Junction.
But that doesn’t mean the CWGA squad will be inexperienced. In fact, two of the Coloradans have competed in the Girls Junior Americas Cup previously. Murray played in 2014 and Jordaan last year, when she finished 22nd individually and the CWGA team placed 10th.
Chitkoksoong won the CWGA Junior Match Play last year at age 14. And in May, she finished second individually in the 5A state high school tournament while helping her Grandview squad claim the team title. Chitkoksoong also qualified for the prestigious IMG Academy Junior World Championships this year.
Murray has been on two Regis Jesuit squads that have won state high school team championships. She qualified for the 2014 U.S. Girls’ Junior, was runner-up in the 2015 CGA Junior Match Play, and qualified for the 2016 Optimist International Junior Championships.
Jordaan won the 2015 Colorado PGA Junior Championship and finished second at this year’s 4A state high school meet and third at the Colorado Junior Amateur. Last year at the Optimist International Junior tournament, Jordaan placed 17th in the girls 13-14 age group. She was seventh at this year’s AJGA Hale Irwin Colorado Junior.
Schalk was runner-up in the Colorado Junior Amateur and tied for seventh place at the AJGA Irwin Junior — both last month.
To read about the CGA’s boys JAC team, CLICK HERE.