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Club News
Lizette Salas to host ſ rst AJGA tournament
AJGA alumna to support California event
T
he
American
Junior
Golf
Association is pleased to announce
Lizette Salas as the host of the
Lizette Salas Junior Championship at
Palos Verdes. Palos Verdes Golf Club
will host the 54-hole national junior golf
tournament, August 12-14. Seventy-eight
boys and girls (ages 12-19) will compete
for the title.
“I’m extremely honored to be able to host
the Lizette Salas Junior Championship at
Palos Verdes. Since joining the LPGA Tour
in 2012, it has been a goal of mine to give
back to the next generation of golfers,”
Salas said. “The AJGA continues to give
junior golfers the platform to take their
abilities to the next level and I’m excited to
partner with them. Palos Verdes Golf Club
has become a second home to me and I am
thrilled to team up.”
Salas played with the AJGA from 2005-
07 in a total of 14 AJGA events, including
Lizette Salas
several Invitational tournaments. Her
best ¿ nishes came at the 2006 and 2007
Mission Hills Desert Junior where she
¿ nished second and third respectively. Her
top Invitational ¿ nish came at the 2007
Thunderbird International Junior where
she ¿ nished T12. She was named a Rolex
Junior All-American in 2006 and went on
to play college golf at the University of
Southern California. In college she had
three wins and was named Pac-10 Player
of the Year in 2009 and 2010. She turned
professional in 2011 and won the LPGA
Tour’s Kingsmill Championship in 2014.
The Lizette Salas Junior Championship at
Palos Verdes will provide junior golfers
from around the country the opportunity
to compete in front of college coaches on
a national stage as they try to ful¿ ll their
dream of earning a college golf scholarship.
The tournament will begin Monday,
August 12, with a practice round. First- and
second-round play will take place Tuesday,
August 13, and the ¿ nal round will take
place August 14. The awards ceremony
will take place immediately following play
on August 14.
Thunderbird
International Junior
celebrates 19th year
P
ierceson Coody of Plano, Texas,
won the Thunderbird International
Junior in a two-hole sudd en-death
playoff at 6-under-par 204. In the Girls
Division, Yuka Saso of Manila, Philippines,
claimed her ¿ rst AJGA Invitational win at
7-under-par 209.
The Thunderbird International Junior is
celebrating its 19th year on the AJGA
schedule at Grayhawk Golf Club. Past
champions of the AJGA Invitational have
gone on to successful college, PGA TOUR
and LPGA Tour including Morgan Pressel,
Ariya Jutanugarn, Ryan Moore and
Brian Harman. With the support of The
Thunderbirds, Phil and Amy Mickelson
Foundation, Grayhawk Golf Club and
Under Armour®, the event has become
one of the most competitive and fun-¿ lled
junior golf tournaments in the world.
The 18-year-old earned his second
AJGA win as he previously won the
2016 Under Armour® / Jordan Spieth
Thunderbird International Junior winners
Championship presented by American
Campus Communities. Coody is No. 39 in
the Rolex AJGA Rankings and will attend
the University of Texas in the fall.
“Going into the round I wasn’t necessarily
nervous, but I was ready to get it going,”
Coody said. “Once things started, I hit my
¿ rst two shots perfect and made a 15-foot
birdie putt so it couldn’t have started any
better. The win means a lot because this is
my last stroke play AJGA tournament.”
“This win means a lot to me,” Saso said.
“I’m really happy because I had my dad
beside me the whole time. Everyone here
was so friendly and to win at my second
AJGA event makes me happy.”
Song ¿ nished second. Karl Vilips of
(Australia) Wesley Chapel, Florida, took
third at 4-under-par 206. Jackson Suber
of Tampa, Florida, ¿ nished fourth at
3-under-par 207. William Mouw of Chino,
California, rounded out the top ¿ ve with a
score of 1-under-par 209.
The Girls Division ¿ nished with a four-
way tie for second. Brooke Seay of
Rancho Santa Fe, California, Rachel Heck
of Memphis, Tennessee, Sadie Englemann
of Austin, Texas, and Yealimi Noh of
Concord, California, posted 54-hole totals
of 4-under-par 212.
GolfPlus Junior June-July 2018
13