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