The top-ranked players coming to the Dustin Johnson World Junior, and a new title sponsor
The Dustin Johnson World Junior Golf Championship again has an impressive field of top juniors from around the world, and the tournament has gained a title sponsor for its fifth playing later this month.
Tournament director Scott Tomasello of Golf Tourism Solutions expects 65 of the 90 participants in the Feb. 28-March 1 tournament at TPC Myrtle Beach to have a junior ranking in the top 100 nationally by either Junior Golf Scoreboard or Golfweek Magazine.
A pair of past champions are the highest ranked players in the field. Two-time defending girls champion Alex Pano of Lake Worth, Florida, is ranked second in Golfweek’s girls rankings and 2018 boys champion Michael Brennan of Leesburg, Virginia, is ranked third in the magazine’s boys rankings.
Reigning boys champion Akshay Bhatia, who receives instruction from Allen Terrell, director of the Dustin Johnson Golf School at the TPC, turned professional last summer.
In addition to players ages 13-18 throughout the United States, participants are also natives of China (including Macau), Mexico, Singapore, Japan, Korea, Sweden, Portugal, Canada and the Cayman Islands.
Thirty-one of the 87 confirmed players have signed national letters of intent with college golf programs. Six are signed with ACC schools and five with SEC programs, and the colleges include Florida, North Carolina, Southern Cal, South Carolina, Notre Dame, Wake Forest, Texas, Virginia, Auburn, LSU, Georgia and Kentucky.
Several top players from the Carolinas are participating. Gene Zeigler of Florence is No. 1 in the South Carolina Junior Golf Association boys rankings, Mary Katherine Talledo of Spartanburg is No. 1 in the SCJGA girls rankings, and Nicole Adam of Pinehurst is No. 1 in the North Carolina junior girls rankings as well as No. 32 in Golfweek’s national rankings.
Other top-ranked boys include Maxwell Ford (Golfweek No. 7) and David Ford (No. 22) of Peachtree Corners, Georgia, Tyler Wilkes of Tampa, Florida (No. 15) and Luke Clanton of Miami Lakes, Florida (No. 17).
Other Golfweek Top-50 girls include Ashley Menne of Surprise, Arizona, Jacqueline Putrino of Sarasota, Florida, Melanie Green of Medina, New York and Taylor Roberts of Parkland, Florida.
A qualifier that includes local players will be held Saturday at the TPC, and it has a full field of 84 players vying for two boys and one girls spot in the DJ World Junior.
Johnson has attended the tournament or a tournament function in each of the past three years, though Tomasello has not received confirmation that the 20-time PGA Tour winner and Coastal Carolina alumnus will make an appearance this year.
The event coincides this year with the PGA Tour’s Honda Classic. Though Johnson lives near host course PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, he hasn’t played the tournament since posting rounds of 77 and 75 and missing the cut by eight shots in 2015.
Fujikura, a leader in performance golf shafts, has signed on as title sponsor this year.
“Dustin has always played their products throughout his career so it was kind of a no-brainer in terms of a partnership,” Tomasello said.
In addition to providing funding, Fujikura tour reps will be on the driving range during tournament week, providing product demos and tour-level fittings with launch monitors to the juniors in the field.
The tournament is operated through the Dustin Johnson Foundation and the Golf Tourism Solutions marketing and technology agency that promotes the Myrtle Beach market.
It attempts to provide participants a pro-like experience including top competition, a championship golf course and perks such as names on their lockers, named placards on the practice range and live scoring throughout the course.
“[Fujikura] is going to be a big part of the tournament experience,” Tomasello said. “It means we’re able to provide a further PGA Tour-like experience. We want to give the participants the experience that Dustin gets on a weekly basis “
Pebble Beach calls
The First Tee of Coastal Carolinas is giving away a trip for two to Pebble Beach as a fundraiser to help provide life skill and character education classes for area youth.
Only 300 tickets are being sold for $100 each. The grand prize includes rounds of golf for two at Pebble Beach, The Links at Spanish Bay and Spyglass Hill, three nights at The Inn at Spanish Bay in an ocean view room and $1,500 towards travel expenses. Second place is $500 and third is $250.
The drawing will be held Feb. 14 live on The First Tee of Coastal Carolinas Facebook page. Visit www.firstteecoastalcarolinas.org to enter.
