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Chowchilla resident Asterisk Talley already had an impressive list of accomplishments.
Among them, a title at the U.S. Kids Championship and an appearance at Augusta National for the Drive, Chip and Putt Finals.
Now, Talley also boasts a JTNC Girls’ Player of the Year title.
And she’s still only 13 years old.
Talley, who began playing golf at age 3, won Girls’ Player of the Year honors by racking up 4,318 points over the season. Second place went to Cathy Zhang with 2,133 points.
How good was Talley’s year? She set a record for wins in a season with nine. The previous mark was eight, set by Sabrina Iqbal in 2013-14. Talley’s victories also moved her to No.4 on the all-time JTNC Girls’ win list.
“It’s all pretty cool,” said Talley, whose first name means “Little Star” according to her mom. “It means a lot being so young.”
Along with her victories, Talley was also runner-up five times. She also reached the Round of 16 at the U.S. Girls’ Junior, which featured players as old as 18.
“My game is a lot better from where it was a year ago,” Talley said. “It takes a lot of practice. But I also have a lot of fun.”
When he was a junior, Tiger Woods had a list of goals taped next to a poster of Jack Nicklaus.
We don’t know where 16-year-old Turlock resident Clark Van Gaalen keeps his list of goals, but he has one. And one more thing is now scratched off.
Van Gaalen won 2021-2022 Boys’ Player of the Year honors, finishing the season with 2,748 points. Jaden Dumdumaya, who won POY honors in 2021, placed second with 1,863 points.
“It’s a good accomplishment. It was on my checklist,” said Van Gaalen, a junior at Turlock High. “JTNC Player of the Year is something I’ve wanted.”
Van Gaalen would collect five wins, including a cherry-on-top win at the Tour Championship in July in a playoff. He also had four runner-up finishes. His five victories tied Dumdumaya’s JTNC record for most wins in a season.
“I feel pretty successful. I scored the way I wanted to during the season,” said Van Gaalen, who first started playing at age 9. “For the level of competition we have out here, I think I played well.”
July 28, 2021
At the end of the 2019-2020 JTNC season, Newark resident Adora Liu found herself just inside the top 50 of the Player of the Year standings. In a tie for 48th.
So the 17-year-old senior at Irvington High decided to put in some extra work. Suffice to say, the longer practice sessions paid off.
Liu would go on to claim 2020-2021 Girls’ Player of the Year honors, finishing the season with 2,361 points. Asterisk Talley was runner-up with 1,786 points.
“It means a lot to me to be Player of the Year,” Liu said. “I put in a lot of work, and I won quite a few tournaments. I’m proud of that.”
Liu won four events—the NCGA Junior Championship, Fall Series II and III Championships and the Holiday Series III Championship. The four victories in a season is tied for the fourth most all-time. Sabrina Iqbal won eight times during the 2013-2014 season.
Along with the wins, Liu, who described her season as “up and down” had one runner-up (Spring Series I Championship) and three third place finishes.
“I had a pretty good start to the season, and then I kind of had a break,” Liu said. “But then I got it going again.”
Becoming a pro has long been an aspiration for Fairfield resident Jaden Dumdumaya.
While still just 15, his name is already connected to a U.S. Open champ.
Dumdumaya, a sophomore at De La Salle High, won Boys’ Player of the Year honors for the 2020-2021 season with 2,835 points thanks in part to a JTNC record five wins during the season—Holiday Series III, Spring Series IV and VI and Summer Series II and III Championships. Finishing as runner-up was Zachery Pollo with 1,900 points.
With the victories, Dumdumaya moved into a tie for third with Bryson DeChambeau and Joshua McCarthy for most JTNC wins all-time (six). The only players ahead of him on the all-time win list are Thomas Hutchison (nine) and Justin Suh (11).
“Winning Player of the Year means a lot to me because of all the hard work I’ve put in,” Dumdumaya said. “I wouldn’t be here either without my family. I’m thankful for them.”
Among Dumdumaya’s highlights was a fireworks show at the Summer Series II Championship at Poppy Ridge, where he set a JTNC record for lowest winning score (14-under par). His second-round score of 9-under 63 was the second lowest 18 hole score in JTNC history, behind only a 10-under 62 shot by Scott Munger at the 2012 Fall Series IV Championship.
“It’s definitely one of the best seasons I’ve had,” Dumdumaya said. “I feel that I’m on the right track. Tying Bryson DeChambeau…he’s an amazing golfer. I didn’t pay much attention to the records, but I’m definitely chasing them more now.”
April 1, 2021
The Junior Tour of Northern California is looking forward to moving our tournaments in the direction further normalcy and we want everyone to have a great time at our tournaments and certainly will do our best to make them as safe as possible. It is very important for all of us to follow these rules so that we will be able to continue to run events during these trying times.
Please Note – These guidelines are subject to change at any time. We will always follow and comply with any county and state guidelines. It is extremely important to read through the Player Information sheet and Local Rules for each event.
General Sanitation Guidelines for Participation in JTNC Events
Scorecard procedures
Scoring: Players are expected to download the USGA TM app (or GolfGenius). If you have previously downloaded the app please make sure you have the most up to date version. The player GGID is available on the scorecard PDF available above and will be given to you on the first tee by the starter.
Flagstick and Hole
Players will be allowed to remove and touch the flagstick at their discretion. Any county or course policy that does not allow the touching of flagsticks the following Code of Conduct provision will be in effect.
Bunker Rakes
When bunker rakes are present the ball will be played as it lies. We encourage players to rake bunkers after playing from them.
When rakes are not present and have been removed throughout the course, the following provision applies.
Starter Interaction and Material Distribution
Social Distancing Policies for Practice/Warm-Up (When available)
Food and Beverage
Spectators
Players or spectators that deliberately or repeatedly disregard these rules will be disqualified and or asked to leave property.
February 5, 2021
Playing on a sponsor’s exemption, Suh finished tied for 37th at the Farmer’s Insurance Open, earning a check for $34,125. So what did Suh, who was playing in just his 17th career PGA Tour event do with his winnings?
The 23-year-old donated half his winnings back to the tournament
Suh, who was waiting for the PGA Tour Latinoamerica season to start, said his decision came as a result of seeing the impact COVID-19 has had on his home state.
“It was a shock to see how many tents are out on the street and how many businesses have cardboard and wooden planks on the windows,” Suh said. “So it’s extremely sad going back home. I played [in the Farmers] last year and was lucky enough to get a spot again this year, and it just felt like the right thing to do. The tournament, the Century Club, they’re the ones who take care of us as players. And they’re the ones out there—from taking our COVID testing and making sure the security is right—just helping out and making the experience the best that they could for us as players.”
Joining Suh in giving back was his caddie, A.J. Montecinos, who also donated half his earnings from the week. The two had made the decision early on in the week before the tournament started.
It caught Marty Gorsich, the second-year tournament director and CEO of the Century Club completely by surprise, with Gorsich telling GolfChannel.com, which first reported Suh’s donation, that in his nine years with the organization he had never had or heard of a gesture like that from a player in the tournament.
“It was such a crazy year, 2020, and I’ve had a few friends who’ve lost already close ones over the past year, and it’s really sad,” Suh said. “With what the whole pandemic has done to communities and farmers and we’ve had the opportunity for us to keep working, it was the least I could do.”
September 20, 2020
Clovis native Bryson DeChambeau is now a U.S. Open champion.
DeChambeau, who honed his skills as a junior on the Junior Tour of Northern California, shot a final-round 3-under 67 Sunday at Winged Foot to win the title by six shots.
He joins Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods as the only players to win an NCAA individual title, a U.S. Amateur title and a U.S. Open.
“It’s just an honor. I don’t know what else to say,’ DeChambeau said. ” It’s been a lot of hard work. Mr. Nicklaus has been always awesome to me. He gave me a sponsor’s invite. Tiger has always been great to me. I can’t say thank you enough to them for them helping me push me along to be a better person and a better golfer, as well. But to be in the likes of the names of that company is special. I’ll forever appreciate that.”
For DeChambeau, winning the U.S. Open fulfilled a lifelong dream.
“I would say any Major was the ones I — they were all ones that I wanted to win, but I knew that my game would fit best for a U.S. Open. The reason for that is I always felt growing up, in college, I was always a super straight driver of the golf ball, super great iron player. Putting was always iffy, but I knew I could get around it on fast, quick greens. I was always really good on quick greens,” he said. “I’ve become a great putter, and my ball striking has improved consistently, and now I’ve got an advantage with this length, and that’s all she wrote. But, yes, growing up, the U.S. Open is the one I thought I could win the most.”
Brains 🧠 Brawn 💪 Bryson 🏆
Congrats, @b_dechambeau! We’re proud to have you as the champion of the 120th #USOpen.
— U.S. Open (USGA) (@usopengolf) September 20, 2020
A truly dominant Sunday at Winged Foot.
Congratulations to our 2020 #USOpen champion, @b_dechambeau! pic.twitter.com/4VAFJmseST
— U.S. Open (USGA) (@usopengolf) September 20, 2020
August 17, 2020
JTNC alum Ollie Osborne came within one hole of winning the U.S. Amateur Championship.
Osborne, who lives in Reno, fell, 1-up, Sunday to winner Tyler Stafaci after Strafaci hit a beautiful 4-iron shot onto the 36th green, hsetting imself up for a tap-in birdie. He was trying to follow in the footsteps of former JTNC Player of the Year Bryson DeChambeau, who won the U.S. Amateur title in 2015 while playing at Southern Methodist University. SMU is where Osborne currently competes collegiately.
Osborne came out of the gates in the morning 18 on fire, registering three consecutive birdies – two of which won holes 1 and 2 – and upping his margin to 5 up with birdies on Nos. 10, 11 and 12, the latter a tee shot to 3½ feet that was conceded.
Then Strafaci got on a roll, winning No. 13 with a birdie (his eagle putt from 48 feet just nicked off the flagstick), 14 with a 3-foot birdie putt and 15 with a 9-foot par putt. An 8-foot birdie on 17 trimmed the deficit to one hole, and when both players birdied 18, the morning round ended with Osborne holding a precarious 1-up lead.
“You’re kind of excited when you’re 5 up but you know you’ve got a lot more golf to play, and then obviously he came back,” said Osborne, who was bidding to become the fifth SMU golfer since Hank Kuehne in 1998 to win the U.S. Amateur. “Like you kind of just go up and down throughout the day, you’re excited, you’re a little down. I tried to stay mellow the whole day, and it was a good match.”
Despite the loss, Osborne collected some nice perks for his runner-up finish. He’ll be exempt into the 2021 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines (as long as he remains an amateur), is exempt into the next three U.S. Amateurs and will more than likely receive an invitation to the 2021 Masters at Augusta National.
July 29, 2020
San Jose resident Kiara Romero already has aspirations of someday playing on the LPGA Tour.
Still only 14, she’s still a bit away from that. But her amateur career is off to a promising start.
Romero joined Sabrina Iqbal as one of the youngest winners of the prestigious JTNC Girls’ Player of Year award for the 2019-2020 season.
She’d finish the season with 1,955 points thanks in part to victories at the Fall Series IV and VI Championships and the Summer Series II Championship. Romero also had runner-up finishes at the Holiday Series III Championship and Tour Championship and a third place finish at the Fall Series III Championship.
Selena Tang finished in second place with 1,548 points.
“It means a lot to me to win Player of the Year,” said Romero, a freshman at California Connections Academy. “It means that all of my hard work is paying off.”
According to Romero, one of the secrets to her success was to keep things in perspective.
“During the season I wasn’t really chasing birdies,” she said. “I just go for pars. It ended up saving me a lot of strokes.”
Among those who’ve won JTNC Boys’ Player of the Year honors are six-time PGA Tour winner Bryson DeChambeau and former No.1 world-ranked amateur Justin Suh.
Moraga resident Baron Szeto’s name is now part of the list.
Szeto, a 17-year-old senior at Campolindo High School, captured the 2019-2020 season title with 1,333 points. Along with a win at the Fall Series VIII Championship, he’d also have two runner-up finishes (Holiday Series III and Summer Series I Championships) and a third place finish at the Fall Series II Championship.
Paramdeep Sodhi finished in second place with 1,128 points.
“Winning the award means a lot,” Szeto said. “It means I was consistent throughout the season. I played pretty well in all of the events.”
Needing a strong finish at the season-ending Tour Championship to wrap up the crown, Szeto responded by placing fourth.
“I didn’t try to think too much about where I was in the points standings,” he said. “I just focused on my game.”
May 14, 2020
The Junior Tour of Northern California is looking forward to the resumption of our season and having a great second half of the year. We want everyone to have a great time at our tournaments and certainly will do our best to make them as safe as possible. It is very important for all of us to follow these rules so that we will be able to continue to run events during these trying times.
Please Note – These guidelines are subject to change at any time. It is extremely important to read through the Player Information sheet and Local Rules for each event.
General Sanitation Guidelines for Participation in JTNC Events
Scorecard procedures
An electronic scorecard will be used for JTNC Tournaments, no paper scorecards will be available. Procedures:
Flagstick and Hole
Bunker Rakes
Starter Interaction and Material Distribution
Social Distancing Policies for Practice/Warm-Up (When available)
Food and Beverage
Spectators
Players or spectators that deliberately or repeatedly disregard these rules will be disqualified and or asked to leave property.