July 3, 2018

Concord resident Yealimi Noh continued her recent hot play, shooting a medalist-earning 4-under 66 in Monday’s U.S. Women’s Open qualifier at par-70 Sequoyah County Club in Oakland.

Coming off her second win at the annual Califonia Junior Girls’ State Championship, Noh, 16, paced the field with seven birdies to go against three bogeys. Her birdies included a three-in-a-row stretch from holes No.5 through No.7.

Overall, nine players advanced to the championship proper, to be held August 6-12 at The Golf Club of Tennessee. Finishing second at 68 was current UC Davis standout Yoonhee Kim.

A number of players who advanced were current or former members of the Junior Tour of Northern California, including Noh and Kim.  Record four-time JTNC Player of the Year Sabrina Iqbal (72) and former CWAC Junior winner Simar Singh (72) also moved on as did Quynn Duong (72).

June 5, 2018

Caleb Shetler won the Santa Clara County over the weekend, shooting scores of  70-67-66 for a total of 203.

His 203 score tied Justin Suh for the third-lowest winning score in the 92-year history of the tournament. He outlasted a late charge by Steve Woods, who narrowed the lead to one shot going into the final hole after being back four shots midway through the round.  Woods ended up two strokes back at 205.

April 25, 2018 

A high school senior won the annual Alameda Commuters Championship.

Ryan Grauman of Danville grabbed the first round lead with a 7-under 64 and never looked back, finishing the 72-hole Championship at 9-under 275 to defeat runner-up Matt Heitel by a stroke.

Headed to St. Mary’s University this fall, Grauman’s second big move came via a final round 67 despite strong winds.

Sebastian Iqbal of San Jose and Brian Ma, winner of the 2017 San Francisco City, finished T-3 at 277.

April 20, 2018

JTNC Alum Samantha Hutchison Named Big West MVP

Former JTNC member Samantha Hutchison, now a junior at UC Davis, was named Big West Player of the Year in April.

The winner of the 2013 NCGA Junior Championship, Hutchison was also named to the All-Big West First Team.

“I can’t say enough about how supportive coach (Anna) Temple, my family and my teammates were in my journey this season,” Hutchison told The Enterprise. “They were so encouraging and really brought out the best in me.”

One of Hutchison’s Aggies teammates is sophomore Yoonhee Kim, who won nine times on the Junior Tour. Hutchison’s brother, Thomas, who plays on the UC Davis men’s squad, was the JTNC Boys’ Player of the Year in 2016.

January 31, 2018

New Qualifying Series for NCGA Junior Championship

There’s a new route for players to earn a spot into the prestigious NCGA Junior Championship.

New for 2018, the Spring Series will count as a qualifying series. What that means is that, for every Spring Series championship (Spring I-Spring VII), the top three finishers inside the Top 10 who are not already exempt into the NCGA Junior Championship will earn an exemption.

2017 champions Brian Stark and Yealimi Noh

“This is a new and exciting way to get more of our best players into the NCGA Junior Championship,” said JTNC Director Aaron Hartesveldt.

Players will be notified if they have earned a spot in the NCGA Junior following the conclusion of each Spring Series event. The Spring Series starts with the Spring Series I at Stockton Country Club and Elkhorn Golf Club (March 17-18).

This year’s 89^th NCGA Junior Championship will be held at Lake Merced GC in Daly City, where the championship was first held all the way back in 1930.

Here’s the complete Exemptions list for the 2018 NCGA Junior Championship 

October 30, 2017

Challenge Cup Returns to Poppy Hills Jan. 3-4

Who’s going to take the lead in the Cup series?

We’ll find out on Jan. 3-4, when the third annual Challenge Cup returns to Poppy Hills GC in Pebble Beach.

Featuring 12 members (eight boys, four girls) of the CIG-sponsored Junior Tour of Northern California taking on 12 players from the Southern California Junior Tour in a Ryder Cup-like format, last year the North evened the series at 1-1 with a 15-9 victory.

There’s much more to the Cup than just the rivalry, however. At last year’s Cup, the players raved about the event for a number of reasons including the camaraderie and format, which gives them a rare opportunity to compete not only as a team but also in match play.

The Cup has also become a scouting hot spot for coaches from collegiate programs such as UCLA, University of Oregon, Cal, Stanford and New Mexico State.

“We hope that through continued growth, the Cup becomes one of the premier junior team events on the West Coast,” said JTNC director Aaron Hartesveldt.

So far, it certainly appears headed that way.

Play on Wednesday, Jan.3 will consist of nine holes of Foursomes and nine holes of Four-Ball. Thursday’s (Jan. 4) action will feature the Singles matches.

The four girls who’ll tee it up for the JTNC are:

Sabrina Iqbal—A record four-time Girls’ Player of the Year, Iqbal already has four wins this season and six Top 5’s. The San Jose resident is the all-time leader in JTNC wins with 25.

Mika Jin—Jin, who hails from Fremont, has one win plus four Top 5’s and 7 Top 10’s this season.

Kiran Sangha—The San Mateo resident has one win plus four Top 5’s and six Top 10’s this season.

Yealimi Noh—Noh, of Concord has two wins in her two starts this season, the victories coming at the Fall Series IV and VIII Championships. She is also the defending NCGA/CIF NorCal champion.

The eight JTNC boys will be:

Ethan Chung—Chung, of Cupertino, has two wins and five Top 5’s this season, including a runner-up at the Fall Series I Championship.

Sebastian Iqbal—The San Jose resident has five Top 5’s and six Top 10’s this season, including a pair of runner-ups.

Carlos Arieta-Winsett—From Los Altos, Arieta-Winsett has a win to go with four Top 5’s and six Top 10’s.

Caleb Shetler—Shetler, of Saratoga, has a win to go with four Top 5’s and six Top 10’s this season.

Justin Gums—The Lodi resident has a win and a runner-up at the Fall Series VII Championship.

Sam Sommerhauser—The Rocklin resident has a win to go with two Top 10’s.

Brian Stark—Stark, of Kingsburg, has one win this season. He also finished T-14 at the Junior PGA Championship.

George McNeely—The Carmel resident was runner-up at the Fall Series VII and reached the Round of 32 at the 2017 NCGA Amateur Match Play Championship.

Sept. 24, 2017

Junior Tour of Northern California members Annika Borrelli and Katie Harris didn’t get the big prize, but they certainly left an impression at the PURE Insurance Championship Impacting The First Tee.

Borrelli, representing The First Tee of Tri-Valley, and Harris, playing out of The First Tee of Greater Sacramento, each at one point held the lead in the Pro-Junior portion of the event before eventually finishing fifth and T-6, respectively.

Playing with pro partner Sir Nick Faldo, Borrelli closed out the championship with a 3-under 69 Sunday at Pebble Beach Golf Links. In Friday’s first round at Poppy Hills GC, the two posted a 9-under 62.

“It was awesome to be in the presence of a legend,” Borrelli said. “Just such an incredible experience.”

It was at Poppy Hills that Borrelli picked up her greatest tip from Faldo—believing in yourself.

“We were on the 18th hole and I had 200 yards in. I didn’t think I could get there,” Borrelli said. “He told me go with my 180-club and just have confidence, to believe in myself.”

Borrelli would indeed knock it on the green, and for good measure sank a 100-foot putt.

Harris, playing fellow former Masters champion Vijay Singh, had entered Sunday’s final round in the lead. The two slipped to a 72, but Harris was still all smiles afterwards.

“The biggest lesson I got from Vijay was to just trust myself and the shot,” Harris said. “I never expected that’d I’d make it to Sunday. To do it with him was incredible.”

The JTNC has been a force at the PURE Insurance Championship in recent years. Champions include Casie Cathrea (2011), Michelle Xie (2013) and Jack Avrit (2015). In 2014, former JTNC Player of the Year Joshua McCarthy finished runner-up.

August 4, 2017

Ashkaan Hakim, Sabrina Iqbal 2016-2017 Players of Year

Boys’ Player of the Year

San Ramon’s Ashkaan Hakim left the JTNC the way he’d wanted to.

Headed to St. Mary’s College this fall, Hakim wrapped up 2016-2017 Boys’ Player of the Year honors when he finished T-3 at the season-ending Tour Championship.  The 18-year-old former Monte Vista High standout finished the season with 1,984 points, edging runner-up Ryan Grauman of Alamo (1,823).  Defending Boys’ Player of the Year Thomas Hutchison (1,721) was also in the running despite missing some playing time due to an injury.

“With this being my last eligible year, there was definitely extra motivation,” Hakim said. “Winning Player of the Year has been a goal of mine ever since playing in the First Flight events at the age of 11. I take great pride in presenting Northern California golf as best I can.”

In nine JTNC starts, Hakim posted two victories (Fall Series VII, Spring Series VI) and seven Top 5 finishes. He also won the AmateurGolf.com Christmas Classic and finished T-3 at the NCGA Junior Championship.

“I owe so much to the JTNC and the opportunities it has provided me,” Hakim said. “I’ve gained so much experience playing against some of the best competition in the country. We’re lucky to be able to play such well-run events at such nice courses.”

Girls’ Player of the Year

San Jose’s Sabrina Iqbal just keeps on breaking new ground.

A 16-year-old senior at Pioneer High, Iqbal secured a record fourth straight and fourth overall Girls’ Player of the Year title for the 2016-2017 season. The only other player to have won three Girls’ Player of the Year crowns is former junior standout Casie Cathrea.

Having already verbally committed to Texas Christian University, Iqbal finished the season with 4,158 points. The next closest player was Concord’s Yealimi Noh (3,392). Third place went to Mika Jin of Fremont at 1,864.

June 16, 2017

A quartet of JTNC players–two boys and two girls—earned automatic spots into this year’s Girls’ and Boys’ Junior PGA Championships via their finishes at the Summer Series II Championship.

Champion Lucas Carper of San Jose, who shot 7-under 137 in the event at Poppy Ridge, and Palo Alto’s Sergi Mata, who was second at 138, earned the Boys’ spots.

On the Girls’ side, champion Belinda Hu of San Ramon, who shot 141, and runner-up Sabrina Iqbal (143) advanced. Iqbal, the reigning three-time JTNC Girls’ Player of the Year, defeated Danielle Suh and Simar Singh in a playoff to grab the last spot.

This year’s Girls’ Junior PGA Championship was held July 18-21 at The Country Club of St. Albans in Missouri. The Boys’ Junior PGA Championship will tee off July 31-Aug. 3 at St. Albans.

May 19, 2017

Spots In Junior PGA Championships Will Be Up For Grabs at JTNC Summer Series II Championship

There’ll more than titles on the line when the JTNC Summer Series II Championship tees off June 14-15 at Poppy Ridge Golf Course in Livermore.

Thanks to an expansion of the field size for this year’s Junior PGA Championships, the JTNC will be allotted four spots into the championships proper. Two of the automatic spots will be the winners of the Boys’ and Girls’ Championship Divisions of the Summer Series II Championship, respectively. One other boy and one other girl will also receive exemptions via at-large selections.

2016 Girls’ Junior PGA champion Lucy Li

This year’s Junior PGA Championship will be held July 31-Aug.3 at The Country Club of St. Albans near St. Louis. The Girls’ PGA Junior Championship will also be held at The Country Club of St. Albans from July 18-21.

Among those who have competed in the Junior PGA Championship include Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods, Jordan Spieth, Michelle Wie and Lexi Thompson. Last year, JTNC member Lucy Li won the Girls’ title.

Registration for the Summer Series II will open May 19 for any player who has won a JTNC event in the previous 12 months. Registration for other players will run from May 22-June 2.