12th Junior Invitational to be contested at Sage Valley Golf Club A world-class boys and girls junior golf field will be competing for the 2023 title
For the press and the standard
Junior Invitational images courtesy of Montana Pritchard Photography.
The Sage Valley Junior Invitational (SVJI) Sports Foundation has announced that the 12th Junior Invitational will be held March 16-18, 2023 at Sage Valley Golf Club with a number of the best boys and girls from around the world already committed to participate.
The first 24-player women’s competition debuted at the 2022 Junior Invitational, with Danish golfer Amalie Leth-Nissen donning the prestigious gold jacket after a playoff win over Bailey Shoemaker (Dade City, Florida). Similarly, in the 36-man men’s competition, Caleb Surratt (Indian Trail, NC) defeated Luke Potter (Encinitas, Calif.) in the event’s first-ever men’s elimination.
The girls’ field will consist of 24 of the best players in the world and as of today, the 2023 field includes the top 10 girls in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings. The 36-man field has long been considered one of the best in junior golf, and 2023 is no exception, with the top 10 boys by Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings entered to date.
“2022 has been such an exciting year for the Junior Invitational with the addition of the highly anticipated women’s competition and incredible finishes for both competitions,” said Pete Davis, President of the SVJI Sports Foundation. “We look forward to creating and continuing new and historic traditions at our 12th tournament in March.
“As we enter our 12th year, we now see many of our former participants excelling at the professional and college levels,” Davis added. “Whether it’s winning majors or being named to the Walker Cup, Palmer Cup and Curtis Cup squads, it’s exciting to see these youngsters benefit from their Junior Invitational experience. .”
Recognized by Golfweek as the #1 junior event in golf, the Junior Invitational welcomes the best golfers from around the world to Sage Valley Golf Club in Graniteville, SC Founded in 2011, the Junior Invitational has become one of the most sought after invitations in the world of competitive junior golf. Past entrants have included some of the biggest names in golf: Scottie Scheffler, Justin Thomas, Colin Morikawa, Viktor Hovland, Cameron Young, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Anna Davis, Megha Ganne and more. Scheffler, the 2014 Junior Invitational champion, continued his appearance at the 2022 Junior Invitational by winning his first major at the Masters.
Each year, the SVJI Sports Foundation – the non-profit entity created to organize the Junior Invitational – supports The First Tee chapters of Augusta and Aiken in their efforts to grow the game in local communities.
Since the tournament’s inception, his charitable efforts have generated over $2 million for these local chapters of The First Tee.
Sage Valley Golf Club, host of the Junior Invitational, is located just minutes from historic Augusta, Georgia and is surrounded by several thousand acres of unspoiled southern pine forest.
For more information, visit JuniorInvitational.com.
––LIST OF FOLLOWING FIELD ENGAGEMENTS TO DATE––
Field girls 2023:
No. 1 Maria Jose Marin, who won the 2022 Orange Bowl International Junior Golf Championship and eight junior tournaments in her native Colombia in 2022.
2 Gianna Clemente, a 14-year-old who qualified for three straight LPGA Tournaments in 2022 on Monday.
Yana Wilson, number 3, winner of the 2022 American Junior Championship.
#4 Bailey Shoemaker, 2022 Junior Invitational runner-up, 2022 Florida Women’s Amateur Championship winner and 2022 U.S. Women’s Amateur semi-finalist.
#5 Kaitlyn Schroeder, 2022 PGA Junior Girls Champion.
Kiara Romero #6, with six top-10 finishes in 2022 counting WAGR events.
· No. 7 Anna Davis, who won the 2022 Augusta National Women’s Amateur.
Katie Li, #8, who finished second at the 2022 Dixie Amateur and advanced to the Round of 16 at the 2022 US Women’s Amateur.
N°9 Jaclyn LaHa, winner of the Under Armour® – Albane Valenzuela Girls Invitational 2022.
No. 10 Alice Ziyi Zhao, who earned co-medalist honors at the 2022 US Women’s Amateur.
Leigh Chien, 2022 Mariah Stackhouse Girls Invitational champion and 2022 US Women’s Amateur quarter-finalist.
· Ting-Hsuan Huang, winner of the 2022 Asia-Pacific Women’s Amateur Championship and the 2022 North and South Junior Amateur Championship and is ranked 44th in the WAGR.
· Meja Örtengren, WAGR n°14 and winner of the 2022 Rolex Tournament of Champions.
Jiyoo Lim, WAGR #15 and 2022 Dream Park Cup winner.
Minsol Kim, WAGR No. 16 and winner of the 2022 Korea Junior Championship – Blue One Cup and the 2022 Song Am Cup.
Andrea Revuelta, ranked 92nd in the WAGR, won the 2022 Toyota Junior World Cup.
· Nika Ito, who qualified for the Round of 16 at the 2022 US Women’s Amateur.
Boys field 2023:
No. 1 Preston Stout, 2022 Junior Champion Byron Nelson and 2022 Junior CT Pan Champion.
No. 2 Eric Lee, 2022 American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) Male Player of the Year.
Number 3 Ethan Fang, who finished in the top five at the 2022 KJ Choi Foundation Texas Junior Championship presented by Mediheal and the 2022 Junior Players Championship.
Ethan Gao, No. 4, 2022 Jack Burke Jr. Invitational and 2022 Junior Boys PGA Championship runner-up.
No. 5 Nicholas Gross, who has eight top-10 junior tournament finishes in 2022.
· No. 6 Jackson Koivun, champion of the 2022 Rolex Tournament of Champions.
No. 7 Carson Kim, with five top-five finishes in 2022.
No. 8 Jay Leng, winner of the 2022 PING Invitational
No. 9 Bryan Kim, an American amateur entrant in 2022.
· Number 10 PJ Maybank III, who notched three wins and eight top-10 finishes during his junior career.
Henry Guan, #17, 2022 Wyndham Invitational Champion.
Jackson Byrd won the 2021 Matthew NeSmith Junior Championship and has four top-10 junior finishes in his career.
Albert Hansson, winner of the R&A Boys Amateur Championship 2022 and the Toyota Junior World Cup 2022.
Max Herendeen, winner of the 2022 PGA Junior Boys Championship and the 2022 Coachella Amateur.
· Jorge Siyuan Hao ranked 131st in the WAGR rankings and has seven career junior wins.
Aldrich Potgieter of South Africa, winner of the 2022 Amateur Championship.
Aaron Pounds ranked #27 by Golfweek/Sagarin and won the 2021 Texas Junior Amateur.
· Dylan Shaw-Radford, who won the 2022 English Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship for boys.
· Jack Roberts, winner of the Southern Junior 2021 and finalist of the Dustin Johnson World Junior 2022.
· Harley Smith, who has two junior titles and ten top-10 finishes.
· Frank Kennedy, winner of the 2022 Portuguese International Amateur Championship.