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.

April 10, 2017

JTNC Shines at Western Intercollegiate

The Junior Tour of Northern California had quite a weekend at April’s annual Western Intercollegiate at par-70 Pasatiempo Golf Club in Santa Cruz.

Justin Suh, the only male to win JTNC Player of the Year honors twice (2013, 2015), shot 5-under 205 to not only win the individual title but also help USC win the team crown by a whopping 18 strokes.

Finishing in a tie for second at 209 was Pepperdine’s Joshua McCarthy, who won JTNC Boy’s Player of the Year honors in 2014.

The duo each beat Stanford’s Maverick McNealy, who placed fourth at 210. McNealy, the winner of the 2015 NCGA Amateur Match Play Championship and the No.2 ranked amateur in the world, was at the time aiming for his 12th collegiate win, which would’ve passed Tiger Woods for the most in Cardinal history.

March 27, 2017

At just 14 years old, Lucy Li of Redwood Shores has earned her way into her second LPGA major championship. This past weekend, Li held off some of the world’s top-ranked girls at the ANA Junior Inspiration, an American Junior Golf Association event held in conjunction with the LPGA Tour’s ANA Inspiration.

With a 3-under-par tournament total, the JTNC and Youth on Course member will head into the first LPGA major of the year with some serious momentum and comfort with the Dinah Shores Tournament Course at Mission Hills Country Club.

“I’m just so excited right now,” Li said. “I can’t wait to play next week. The greens are so pure and the rough is really thick; I have a lot of fun playing out here.”

Even though Li is still a few years out from being able to drive a car, she is already familiar with teeing up alongside the LPGA’s best. The Northern California native first erupted onto the national golf stage when she became the youngest player to ever compete in the Women’s U.S. Open at the age of 12.

Since her time in the spotlight at Pinehurst, Li has been proving to the golf world that her rise to stardom was no fluke. Li won the 2016 Junior PGA Championship and helped the U.S. Junior Ryder Cup team secure its fifth consecutive victory over team Europe with a dominant 6 & 4 win in Singles.

Li will not be the only Northern California Golf Association amateur taking on the pros. Olympic Club’s Hannah O’Sullivan and Stanford star freshman Andrea Lee will also be making their 2017 major debuts.

March 23, 2017

There’s no right age to start giving back. Redwood Shores resident Lucy Li and Concord resident Yealimi Noh are examples of that.

The 14-year-old Li and Noh, 15, recently were the catalysts in the NCGA receiving a $10,000 donation from ANA (All Nippon Airways) as part of this weekend’s ANA Junior Inspiration. The ANA Junior is run in conjunction with the ANA Inspiration, which tees next week at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage and is the LPGA’s first major of the year.

Each of the 40 juniors competing in the ANA Junior could designate a golf related organization to receive a $5,000 grant. Li and Noh, who are both members of the Junior Tour of Northern California, (which is co-jointly operated by the NCGA and Northern California PGA) and compete in NCGA women’s events, chose the NCGA as a benefactor.

“We are grateful for the generous gift from ANA, Lucy and Yealimi, which will go a long way in supporting junior girls’ golf.  Through Youth on Course, the Junior Tour of Northern California and hosting the 2018 USGA Girls’ Junior at Poppy Hills, the NCGA is very proud of our support for the game and the young players who benefit from our programs,” NCGA Executive Director Joe Huston said.  “It’s particularly special to be recognized by two of our outstanding junior members.”

Li, who garnered national attention in 2014 by qualifying for and playing in that year’s U.S Women’s Open at the age of 11, finished T-10 in last year’s NCGA Women’s Player of the Year points standings. Noh is currently in second place in the JTNC Girls’ Player of the Year standings, thanks to three wins including the 2016 NCGA/CIF Girls’ Northern California Championship.

The 54-hole ANA Junior will begin Saturday with the field playing 36 holes at on the Pete Dye Challenge Course. On Sunday, they’ll play 18 holes alongside LPGA legends on the Dinah Shore Tournament Course.

The winner of the American Junior Golf Association sanctioned event will receive a final playing spot in the ANA Inspiration. Li and Noh earned spots in the ANA Junior by finishing in the Top 40 in the Global ANA Priority Mileage Points standings.