AJGA Stacy Lewis Junior All-Star Invitational

Lewis junior event has new format

JOHNSON -- Junior golf is undergoing a big change this week.

Former Arkansas golfer and current LPGA Tour player Stacy Lewis has changed the format of the junior tournament she sponsors each year in Northwest Arkansas in conjunction with the Northwest Arkansas Championship, the LPGA event which will be played Friday through Sunday at Pinnacle Country Club in Rogers

AJGA KPMG Stacy Lewis

Junior All-Star Invitational

WHEN Today-Thursday

WHERE Blessings Golf Club, Johnson

WHAT A field of 32 boys and 32 girls ages 12-15 years old in a 54-hole tournament.

BOYS

GOLFER;HOMETOWN

Ahmed Ali;Palo Alto, Calf.

Devondeep Bling;Ridgecrest, Calif.

Cullan Brown;Eddyville, Ky.

Joseph Burlison;Salinas, Calif.

Aaron Chen;Fremont, Calif.

Guangshi Chen (China);Irvine, Calif.

Varun Chopra;Champaign, Ill.

Canon Claycomb;Bowling Green, Ky.

Callum Davison (Canada);La Quinta, Calif.

Luke Dosse;Austin, Texas

Ben Dunne;Cedar Park, Texas

C.J. Easley;Oxford, Miss.

Ryan Gerard;Raleigh, N.C.

Noah Goodwin;Corinth, Texas

Ryan Grauman;Alamo, Calif.

Crosby Guercio;Frisco, Texas

Jack Herceg;Dublin, Ohio

Alex Hu;Heathrow, Fla.

Sam Jung;Centreville, Va.

Rishi Kejriwal;Austin, Texas

Robert Lahrman;Dallas

Yuxin Lin;Beijing

Ethan Ng;New York

Mason Nome;Houston, Texas

Alrik Pan;West Covina, Calif.

Brady Pevarnik;Latrobe, Pa.

Scott Roden;Dallas

Grant Smith;Charlotte, N.C.

Jansen Smith;San Angelo, Texas

Sam Tidd;Meridian, Idaho

Alec Wilson;McKinney, Texas

Brandon Yoon;Brambleton, Va.

GIRLS

Lauren Beaudreau;Lemont, Ill.

Courtney Bryant;Houston, Texas

Jayna Choi;Collierville, Tenn.

Youngin Chun;Austin, Texas

Hailee Cooper;Montgomery, Texas

Caroline Curtis;Richmond, Va.

Sadie Englemann;Austin, Texas

Megan Furtney;South Elgin, Ill.

Abigail Heck;Memphis

Rachel Heck;Memphis

Veronica Joels;Las Vegas

Gina Kim;Chapel Hill, N.C.

Maria Jose Martinez;Veracruz, Mexico

Lindsay May;Auburn;N.Y.

Naomi Mitchell;Norfolk, Va.

Michaela Morard;Huntsville, Ala.

Grace Ni;Cypress, Texas

Yealimi Noh;Concord, Calif.

Valeria Sofia Pacheco;Hallandale Beach, Fla.

Amber Park;Allen, Texas

Jennie Park;Carrollton, Texas

Lauren Peter;Carmel, N.Y.

Madasyn Pettersen;Rockford, Ill.

Calista Reyes;San Diego

Chandler Rosholt;Cedar Park, Texas

Valerie Routzong;Richmond, Texas

Erica Shepherd;Greenwood, Ind.

Yoonju Shin;Irvine, Calif.

Simar Singh;Los Altos, Calif.

Alexis Szewczyk;McKinney, Texas

Crystal Wang;Diamond Bar, Calif.

Amy Zhang;Lake Mary, Fla.

The American Junior Golf Association KPMG Stacy Lewis Junior All-Star Invitational now has an invitation-only field that will include 32 boys and 32 girls golfers ages 12-15. The 54-hole event begins today at The Blessings Golf Club in Johnson.

"The invitation was based on the player's rankings," AJGA communications director Chris Richards said. "You have to be ranked pretty high. We have a lot of top players in the age ranges, so we will have some good scores out here."

Players will compete in mixed pairings to determine boys and girls division champions, and the event will introduce a new boys vs. girls team competition. The top eight cumulative boys scores and the top eight cumulative girls scores will decide the overall team champion.

Lewis said the tournament will feature some of the top junior talent from around the world. In addition to players from 17 states, players from China, Mexico, South Korea and the Philippines are also in the field. No golfers from Arkansas are competing in the event.

"I've been a big advocate of the girls and the boys playing together, and that's starting at a young age," Lewis said. "I don't want them to get to professional golf and think that everything has to be so separated, and everything right now is so separated.

"I wanted to do something where boys and girls are playing together. The boys vs. the girls just adds an extra element to it. It makes it different. It makes it different from every other tournament that's out there. I hope the kids embrace it."

Lewis said she has received positive feedback regarding the new format.

"When we announced it, I got some really good response," she said. "Dottie Pepper wrote a piece on ESPNW about how great it was, s0 I'm excited. We can get there and get it going and see how the feel is, and maybe down the line you see the AJGA do more events like that."

Lewis said having the tournament at The Blessings will make the tournament even more popular. The Blessings was designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr. and is the home course for the University of Arkansas women's and men's golf teams.

"It was a big thing to have this at The Blessings," said Lewis, who said she would be around the tournament the first two days and will help give out trophies Thursday. "The kids are playing a really good golf course.

"Mr. [John] Tyson was fully on board. When I called him with the idea, he actually started throwing ideas back as me and said, 'We can do this, and we can do this ...' We just got a lot of good people on board, and they are all excited about it."

Sports on 06/23/2015

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