The last few weeks have been full of significant junior golf tournaments in the state. The girls played their state high school tourneys. There was the qualifying for the IMG Academy Junior World Championships, one of the top international events in junior golf. And then there was arguably the top junior tourney of the year in Colorado, the AJGA Hale Irwin Colorado Junior by Transamerica, which concluded on Thursday.
And the run will continue next week as the first major of the 2017 Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado season takes place Monday through Wednesday (June 12-14) at Eisenhower Golf Club’s Blue Course at the Air Force Academy just north of Colorado Springs.
About 90 players — boys and girls combined — are expected to compete in the 54-hole Colorado Junior PGA Championship, one of four JGAC majors.
Arguably the state’s hottest junior player this spring, 15-year-old Hailey Schalk of Erie, is entered. In the last three weeks, she’s won the 3A state high school title as a freshman, she qualified for the Junior Worlds, and she became the first Coloradan to win the AJGA Hale Irwin.
Also entered in the girls field at Eisenhower are Charlotte Hillary of Cherry Hills Village, runner-up to Schalk in both the 3A tourney and the AJGA event, and winner of the 2016 JGAC Tour Championship; 4A champ Lauren Lehigh of Loveland; and Caroline Jordaan of Denver, winner of the North American Junior Amateur in January.
On the boys side, all three reigning state high school champions are in the field: Kyle Pearson of Highlands Ranch (5A), Luke Trujillo of Colorado Springs (4A) and Oliver Jack of Denver (3A). Also entered are Davis Bryant of Aurora, a 2015 U.S. Junior Amateur qualifier and 2016 Colorado Junior America’s Cup team member; and Daniel Pearson of Longmont, who recently competed in U.S. Open Sectional Qualifying.
The top two finishers in both the boys and girls fields will qualify for the national Junior PGA Championships at the the Country Club of St. Albans near St. Louis, set for July 18-21 (girls) and July 31-Aug. 3 (boys).
For the not-yet-finalized pairings for Monday at Eisenhower, CLICK HERE.
