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Tournament Facts:
About the Tournament: The Northern Junior Championship is a nationally ranked junior golf tournament that was created in order to provide the highest level of competition for top junior players. The 36-hole stroke play event is contested over two days at Great River Golf Club in Milford, Connecticut and is open to amateur boys and girls under the age of 19 who have not entered their first year of college. Our goal is to provide the same first-class championship experience and red-carpet treatment offered at the highest level of junior and amateur events around the world.
Format: All players will play 18-holes of stroke play on Tuesday, August 2nd and Wednesday, August 3rd at Great River Golf Club. Tee times will run from 7:00 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. both days, and the low 36-hole competitor in the Boys and Girls Championship will be declared the respective Champion. There will be an awards ceremony and trophy presentation following the conclusion of play on Wednesday at approximately 6:15 p.m.
Who’s Here: The field of 111 players consists of 75 Boys Competitors and 36 Girls Competitors. The average age of the field is 16.3 years of age.
Global Representation: 33 states, provinces and countries are being represented. They are: Alabama, Arizona, British Columbia (Canada), California, China, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hong Kong, Illinois, Indiana, Japan, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mexico, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ontario (Canada), Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. Connecticut has the most players of any state, with a total of 22 players seeking to capture the Northern Junior title in their home state.
Breakdown by Graduation Year: Of the 111 competitors, below is the breakdown by high school graduation year:
2022 – 19 players
2023 – 60 players
2024 – 19 Players
2025 – 9 Players
2026 – 4 Players
What’s at Stake: In addition to national exposure to college coaches across the country, both the Boys and Girls Champion will receive numerous tournament invitations and exemptions. The Boys Champion will receive invitations to the International Junior Masters (Aurora, NY), Southern Junior (Baton Rouge, LA), Northern Amateur (Chesterton, IN), Hudson Junior (Hudson, OH) and Hope Valley Junior Invitational (Durham, NC). The Girls Champion will receive an invitation to the Women’s Western Junior (Aurora, IL) and Hope Valley Junior Invitational (Durham, NC). Top finishers in the Boys and Girls Championship will also receive AJGA performance stars.
Player Storylines:
Ward Harris of Vestavia Hills, Ala. enters the Northern Junior as the highest ranked competitor in the Boys Championship (#148) and is fresh off a recent victory at the AJGA Stewart Cink Championship. Harris captured the title by six strokes with a three-round total of sixteen under par that included a final round 62.
Selena Tang of Fremont, California is the highest ranked competitor in the Girls Championship (#51). Since July of 2021, Tang has picked up seven top-10 finishes in national junior events, including a win at the AJGA Junior at Copper Valley. She has committed to play collegiate golf at Yale University.
Four of the top eight ranked Boys from Connecticut are competing in the 2022 Northern Junior Championship. They are (in order of ranking):
– Elias Kennon – Old Greenwich, Conn. (2023)
– Bradley Sawka – Ellington, Conn. (2023)
– Luke Stennett – Portland, Conn. (2024)
– Will Lodge – Darien, Conn. (2022)
Three of the top six Girls from Connecticut are competing in the 2022 Northern Junior Championship. They are (in order of ranking):
– Yvette O’Brien – Greenwich, Conn. (2025)
– Laniah Moffett – Waterbury, Conn. (2024)
– Aoife Devaney – Waterbury, Conn. (2024)
A total of seventeen players are ranked inside the top 500 of the Junior Golf Scoreboard rankings. They are (in order of ranking):
| Joanne Lee – Henderson, Nev.
Ward Harris – Vestavia Hills, Ala. Eric Yun – Menlo Park, Calif. Selena Tang – Fremont, Calif. Kaila Elsayegh – Pacific Palisades, Calif. Samantha Galantini – West Orange, N.J. Darrelyn Webster – Austin, Texas Mia Sessa – Augusta, Ga. David Llewellyn – Mesquite, Nev. |
Bella Flores – Kingwood, Texas
Brandon Knight – Pleasanton, Calif. Ana Lucia Trevino – Mexico Elias Kennon – Old Greenwich, Conn. Varsha Ramachandran – San Jose, Calif. Tristin Wisener – Hartselle, Ala. Brody Stevenson – St. Augustine, Fla. Nashawn Tyson – Stuart, Fla. |
Defending Champions: When the 20th Northern Junior concludes on Wednesday, August 3rd, two new champions will be crowned. Both Benjamin James and Jieming Yang, the 2021 champions, are unable to defend their titles as they are nineteen years of age by the start of the championship. James, a three-time Northern Junior champion, is currently the #1 ranked junior golfer in the country and is committed to play golf at the University of Virginia this fall, while Yang completed her freshman year at the University of California – Berkeley and recently finished in 11th place at the NCAA Division I Championship.
2021 Runner-Up Samantha Galantini of West Orange, N.J. will look to avenge a near miss at last year’s championship, as she was narrowly edged by a single stroke. Galantini closed with a birdie on the par-5 18th to post the clubhouse lead, but a matching birdie by Yang left her just shy of a playoff. Along with Galantini, Maryanne Grace of Rye, N.Y. and Mia Sessa of Augusta, Ga. finished two strokes behind in a tie for third place, and are both in the field looking to capture their first Northern Junior title.
Three players are fresh off competing in the 73rd U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship – Aoife Devaney of Waterbury, Conn., Cailyn Rogers of Lexington, Ky. and Kaila Elsayegh of Pacific Palisades, Calif, who advanced to match play at The Club at Olde Stone before falling in the Round of 64.
In addition to those players who gained entry by virtue of exemption criteria, a total of 15 boys and 5 girls gained entry into the championship through one of two qualifying sites:
At Connecticut National Golf Club, Finn McHugh (West Hartford, Conn.) and Charlie Duffy (Bridgeport, Conn.) were the co-medalists for the Boys Championship with rounds of 73, and Kelly Tu (Marietta, Ga.) was the medalist for the Girls Championship with a round of 77.
At Whitney Farms GC, Jacob Lee (Rye Brook, N.Y.), Alex Elia (Wilton, Conn.) and Tucker Silva (Longmeadow, Mass.) were the medalists for the Boys Championship with rounds of 71, and Jordan Levitt (Bedford, N.Y.) was the medalist for the Girls Championship with a round of 70.
The past two Connecticut Junior Amateur Champions are in the field, as Connor Goode of Glastonbury, Conn. won the 2021 championship and Will Lodge of Darien, Conn. recently captured the 2022 championship, both at Watertown Golf Club.
Lodge defeated Elias Kennon of Old Greenwich, Conn. in the final match of this year’s Connecticut Junior Amateur. Kennon won the 2021 AJGA Junior Golf Hub Championship presented by the John D. Mineck Foundation, which included a course record-tying 62 in the 2nd round.
Pak Hin Sze and Xingzhi Lin had the longest commute of any player in the field – an estimated 12,908 miles from their home country of Hong Kong. Both players are making their Northern Junior debut.
Joanne Lee of Henderson, Nevada is the second-highest ranked competitor in the Girls Championship field (#67). Lee enters the championship with plenty of momentum, having recently won the AJGA Core Pacific Advisors Open by 9 shots with a final round 65. She is also an amateur model, having starred in commercials for AT&T and Toyota, along with an episode of Craftopia.
Both the Boys and Girls Champion from the 2021 Ryan Lee Junior Open earned a spot in the field for the Northern Junior Championship – Terrance Dornfried of Berlin, Conn. and Aoife Devaney of Waterbury, Conn. The tournament is part of the Connecticut PGA Junior Tour and is conducted in memory of Ryan Lee, two-time Northern Junior Champion.
James Key of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. is playing in his second Northern Junior Championship, having finished T26 in 2021 and recently committed to Bucknell University. His father, Jimmy Key, is a retired MLB starting pitcher who won the 1992 World Series with the Toronto Blue Jays and the 1996 World Series with the New York Yankees.
Championship Schedule
Monday, August 1st
9:30 a.m. – Official Practice Rounds
Beginning at 6:00 p.m. – Players Welcome Reception, Dinner, Skills Challenge and Ryan Lee Scholarship Presentation
Tuesday, August 2nd
First Round of Stroke Play
7:00 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. – Starting Times (All play will be in threesomes)
5:30 p.m. – Mini-Golf Putting Contest
Wednesday, August 3rd
Second Round of Stroke Play
7:00 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. – Starting Times (Players will be paired by score, with leaders going off last. All play will be in threesomes.)
6:15 p.m. – Awards Ceremony and Trophy Presentation
Social Media: In addition to full championship coverage on our website at NorthernJunior.com, players and spectators can join the conversation using the hashtag #NorthernJunior.
– Like Us on Facebook at Facebook.com/NorthernJunior
– Follow us on Instagram @NorthernJunior