Some of the top youth golfers in the world begin play Wednesday in the three-day American Junior Golf Association Joplin Junior Championship at Twin Hills.
It is part of the AJGA’s points tour, which takes place at numerous venues throughout the country.
“Most of the events are held in bigger cities, so Joplin is not a real big metroplex to be able to host this, but I really wanted Joplin to shine, especially Twin Hills, because it’s such a great little golf course with a great membership to allow us to host something like this,” Twin Hills Golf Pro Lance Allen said. “We kind of give them the course for the week.”
Allen seemed more than happy to turn his course over to the possible stars of tomorrow.
“AJGA is one of the biggest tours for young adults,”he said. “They hold events all over the country. A lot of these folks go on to play D1 and D2 at the next level.”
Allen said hosting the AJGA event has been in the works since last fall and that about 80 families are in Joplin, staying in hotels and dining out.
The tournament was made possible by several contributors, including Rick Brown, of Roper Honda, who is the title sponsor.
“He came to us and said, ‘You know what? I want to have this in Joplin,’ so he became our title sponsor,” Allen said.
The Satterlee family, an anonymous donation from a Kansas family, Mike Carpino, and Grizzly Golf Carts also contributed to make the tourney possible. Allen said the course has also received help from the Joplin Convention and Visitors Bureau.
“It was really a collective of people saying, ‘Okay, let’s do this,” Allen said. “It was huge to get everybody to come together to get it here. I appreciate the membership because they had to work with us in order to have this.”
He said it is his hope to have Joplin become a regular spot on the tour.
The AJGA is a non-profit organization that works to grow the game of golf among youth and the points tour is an opportunity for golfers ages 12 to 19 to catch the eye of college recruiters and to match their skills against the up-and-coming stars.. About 750 AJGA golfers committed to colleges in 2022.
AJGA Tournament Director for the Twin Hills event, Mathew O’Connell, of Burlington, Wisconsin, said he arrived on site last Wednesday to prepare.
“I came out to scope out the area a little bit and work with the Joplin Sports Authority,” McConnell said. “The rest of our staff showed up Saturday afternoon to put signs up and mark the course.”
He said his staff is comprised entirely of interns who travel throughout the country helping make the events possible. This is the group’s 11th tournament this summer.
McConnell said play started Monday for a qualifier for some open spots in the tourney. He said six boys and two girls qualified on Monday. Tuesday was a practice round for competitors and play begins Wednesday and continues through Friday.
McConnell spoke about the AJGA organization, saying: “We are in the business of people. We are a non-profit organization and all the money we bring in through our events will cover expenses.”
He also said any money raised past that goes to the AJGA Foundation and local charities.
“We are just trying to build support around the country to make golf more accessible to everyone,” McConnell said. “It’s not the most financially accessible sport out there and we don’t want money to be the reason why somebody can’t go out and potentially get a college scholarship.”
The organization has a history of producing winners, such as Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Rose Zhang, Lexi Thompson, Inbee Park and more.
The Twin Hills tournament will feature youth from seven countries, including China, Taiwan and Australia. The field of 78 (50 boys and 28 girls) includes golfers from all parts of the U.S. with 20 past AJGA tournament champions competing.
Local competitors include Joplin’s Harry Satterlee, the 2023 UHY St. Louis Junior champion, and Carl Junction’s Jack Spencer. Satterlee, a University of Cincinnati commit, has already competed in five AJGA events this year and has six AJGA top-10 finishes in his career. Spencer has played in three AJGA events.
Carthage’s Max Templeman, Pittsburg’s Vinny Pile, Monett’s Jaxon Bailey and Nevada’s Emree Cameron will also be competing at the event.
More than $6 miilon has been donated to local charities through AJGA events and $15.4 million in scholarships has been awarded through Liberty National ACE (Achieving Competitive Excellence) grants. The ACE grants help those who are financially challenged compete in AJGA events.
Source: Joplin Globe