Norman Academy Junior at Barefoot Resort features golfers from 22 countries

Junior golfers from 22 countries are taking part in the second annual Greg Norman Academy Junior Invitational at Barefoot Resort’s Norman Course this week. The 54-hole tournament serves as the grand final of the Global Junior Golf Tour.

The event includes up to the two best boys and best girl from each country competing both individually and as a team, and has a maximum of 72 players with 44 boys and 28 girls.

A practice round Wednesday will be followed by competitive rounds Thursday through Saturday. The tournament is being ranked by the World Amateur Golf Ranking.

All players are between 12 and 18 years old and boys have handicap indexes of 2 or less and girls have handicaps of 5 or less.

Countries represented in the tournament are Russia, Denmark, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Venezuela, Colombia, Iceland, Germany, Chile, Mexico, Zimbabwe, Canada, Spain, Australia, South Africa, Austria, Poland, Sweden, Norway, Slovenia, Netherlands and Finland.

Last year’s girls winner was Leonor Bessa from Portugal, who won by five shots over Azelia Meichtry of Switzerland with a 5-over 218 over three rounds, and Imari Saulo from Finland won the boys title by a stroke over Pedro Lencart of Portugal with a 218.

This story was originally published December 12, 2016 at 5:18 PM with the headline "Norman Academy Junior at Barefoot Resort features golfers from 22 countries."