Easter Weekend event to be held March 20-23 at Longbow Golf Club
BRASELTON, Ga. – Some of the best players in junior golf will once again participate in the ReBath Heather Farr Classic when the American Junior Golf Association comes to Longbow Golf Club over Easter Weekend. The strongest players in the Phoenix area will compete with the top players from across the country.
The field will host 138 12-18-year-old boy and girl junior golfers hailing from 20 states and two foreign countries. Sixteen Rolex Junior All-Americans will be participating in the tournament. In the Boys Division, three players represent the top-20 in the Polo Golf Rankings. In the Girls Division, six of the top-20 players will be present, including No. 1 ranked Kimberly Kim of Pahoa, Hawaii (currently residing in Queen Creek, Ariz.).
Locally, Chan Kim of Chandler, Ariz., and Andrew Yun of Tacoma, Wash., (currently residing in Chandler) will try to earn their first AJGA victory of 2008.
Chan Kim rose to No. 27 in the Polo Golf Rankings after a victory in 2007 at the TomatoBank Southern California Classic and runner-up finishes at two events, including The PING Invitational. He also finished tied for seventh at the Houston Boys Invitational at Redstone presented by HP and Administaff over President’s Day Weekend. Chan Kim was named an honorable mention Rolex Junior All-American in 2007. Yun had a strong start to 2008 after his win at the Verizon Junior Heritage in February. The three-time Rolex Junior All-American finished 14th at the ReBath Heather Farr Classic in 2007.
Challenging Chan Kim and Yun, as well as the rest of the field, are the field’s highest-ranked players and second-team Rolex Junior All-Americans Alex Kang of Oak Park, Calif., Alex Shi Yup Kim of Fullerton, Calif., and Ramsey Sahyoun of Reseda, Calif., who are all currently ranked in the top 20 of the Polo Golf Rankings.
Kang, currently ranked No. 14 in the Polo Golf Rankings, finished 2007 with a victory at the TEE UP Junior Challenge and two runner-up finishes. He earned a fifth-place finish at the Houston Boys Invitational at Redstone presented by HP and Administaff. Alex Kim had a strong start to 2007 after a second-place finish at the ClubCorp Mission Hills Desert Junior and a tie for fourth at the Rolex Tournament of Champions. He also finished third at the ReBath Heather Farr Classic and was a member of the Canon Cup West Team. A 2010 graduate, Sahyoun had strong showings in 2007 with runner-up finishes at the CORE Realty Holdings Junior at Old Ranch and the TEE UP Junior Challenge. He also earned a third-place finish at The PING Invitational.
In the Girls Division, Kimberly Kim and Cheyenne Woods of Phoenix, will assert their local dominance among the national field. Just behind Kimberly Kim in the Polo Golf Rankings are Stephanie Kono of Honolulu (No. 3), Jane Rah of Torrance, Calif. (No. 5), and Jennifer Johnson of La Quinta, Calif. (No. 9), who are all included in the field.
Kimberly Kim, a four-time Rolex Junior All-American, is the reigning champion of the ReBath Heather Farr Classic. She finished no higher than seventh in any of the 11 national junior golf competitions she entered in 2007, including two victories and five second-place finishes. Woods is a two-time honorable mention Rolex Junior All-American. In 2007, Woods finished second at the Natural Resource Partners Bluegrass Junior and third at the PING Phoenix Junior.
Kono finished tied for second at the 2007 ReBath Heather Farr Classic, four shots behind Kim. She earned three additional top-three finishes, including a third-place finish at The PING Invitational. Rah, a three-time Rolex Junior All-American, earned two victories in 2007, including a win at the Rolex Girls Junior Championship. Johnson had a breakthrough season in 2007, earning three victories including the ClubCorp Mission Hills Desert Junior and the PING Phoenix Junior.
Player practice rounds will take place Thursday, March 20. A Junior-Am Fundraising Tournament will take place immediately following the morning practice round. All proceeds will benefit the Junior Golf Association of Arizona and the AJGA Foundation. For information regarding the Junior-Am, please contact Jay Larscheid at Longbow Golf Club at 480.807.5400. Tournament play will begin Friday, March 21 and run through Sunday, March 23. An awards ceremony will immediately follow play March 23. Spectators are welcome to attend and admission is free of charge.
ReBath, LLC, based in Mesa, Ariz., has been the leading manufacturer and distributor of bath remodeling products throughout the United States and Canada since 1979. With more than 175 franchises coast to coast, ReBath remodels more than 100,000 bathrooms annually.
The American Junior Golf Association is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to the overall growth and development of young men and women who aspire to earn college golf scholarships through competitive junior golf. The AJGA, the largest Association of its kind, has an annual junior membership (boys and girls ages 12-18) of approximately 5,000 junior golfers from 50 states and 30 foreign countries.
Titleist, the AJGA’s National Sponsor, has been the catalyst and driving force behind the Association’s success since 1989. Rolex Watch USA, which is in its third decade of AJGA support, became the inaugural AJGA Premier Partner in 2004. In 2007, after 12 years of support, Polo Ralph Lauren became the AJGA’s second Premier Partner.
AJGA alumni have risen to the top of amateur, collegiate and professional golf. More than 160 former AJGA juniors currently play on the PGA and LPGA Tours and have compiled more than 300 wins. AJGA alumni include Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk, Stewart Cink, Davis Love III, Cristie Kerr, Pat Hurst, Paula Creamer, Brittany Lincicome, Morgan Pressel and Julieta Granada.
Longbow Business Park and Golf Club is a 330-acre, mixed-use commercial development that incorporates office, light industrial, retail and hotel uses surrounded by desert vegetation and a main street transportation design and features the award-winning Longbow Golf Club. Daedalus Real Estate Advisors, LLC is a Phoenix-based commercial real estate services company that provides investment, development and communications consulting to corporate real estate clients in Arizona and the Southwest. For more information about Longbow Golf Club visit www.longbowgolf.com, or call 480.807.5400.
Longbow Golf Club is professionally managed by OB Sports Golf Management, a diversified, golf-oriented company with a long history of success. OB Sports currently manages 30 premier golf courses and country clubs throughout the United States and Mexico. Known for its comprehensive and personalized services since 1972, OB Sports has become widely acclaimed as the leader in boutique-style golf course management. For more information about OB Sports Golf Management, visit www.obsports.com, or call 480.948.1300.
For more information on the AJGA, please contact Drea Braxmeier (dbraxmeier@ajga.org) in the AJGA Communications Department at 678.425.1789 or visit the AJGA Web site at ajga.org.
Contact:
Drea Braxmeier, AJGA
678.425.1789
dbraxmeier@ajga.org
Chris Kaplan, Communication Links
480.348.7540
ckaplan@commlinks.com
Kris Strauss, OB Sports
480.776.8109
kstrauss@obsports.com
