Links: Round 1 Starting Times | Championship Field | Schedule of Events
Tournament Facts:
About the Tournament: The Northern Junior Championship, presented by the Golf Performance Academy, 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 will be contested over two days at Wethersfield Country Club in Wethersfield, Connecticut and is open to amateur boys and girls under the age of 19. The 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.
Presenting Sponsor: The Northern Junior is proud to be presented by the Golf Performance Academy, a full-time golf boarding school in Ridgefield, Connecticut, for student-athletes grades 7-12 and postgraduates who aspire to play collegiate and professional golf. Daily golf coaching with an expert coaching staff whose mission is to foster high moral character in student-athletes through a deep commitment to the game of golf and a keen academic focus. For student-athletes on the path to play golf in college, there’s no better environment to prepare them for their journey. Click here for more information.
Format: All players will play 18 holes of stroke play on Tuesday, August 4th and Wednesday, August 5th at Wethersfield Country Club. Starting times both days will begin at 7:00 a.m. off the first tee, with all groups playing in threesomes. 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 5:00 p.m.
About the Course: The 24th Northern Junior will mark the first time the championship has been held at Wethersfield Country Club, which will add to the club’s extensive history of hosting state and national championships. Founded in 1916, Wethersfield served as host to the PGA Tour’s Travelers Championship — known in earlier years as the Insurance City Open and the Greater Hartford Open — for 32 consecutive years from 1952 to 1983, with champions at the club including Arnold Palmer, Sam Snead, Billy Casper, Charlie Sifford and Lee Trevino. The club has also hosted five Connecticut Amateur Championships and four Connecticut Open Championships, and is known throughout the state as the “Club of Champions” for the success of its membership, which includes eight members of the Connecticut Golf Hall of Fame. The par-71 layout will play to 6,575 yards for the Boys Championship and 5,953 yards for the Girls Championship.
Birdies for Charity: Among the beneficiaries of the Northern Junior Championship is Toys for Tots, a program run by the United States Marine Corps. The Northern Junior Championship was originally founded in memory of Stan Trojanowski, a Marine who served in World War II. For every birdie and eagle made during the tournament, a donation will be made to support Toys for Tots, which is also being matched by Rogin Nassau LLC.
International Representation: 28 states, provinces and countries are being represented this year, including British Columbia (Canada), California, China, Connecticut, England, Florida, Georgia, Hong Kong, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Mexico, Michigan, Mississippi, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Ontario (Canada), Quebec (Canada), Rhode Island, Singapore, Texas, Utah, Vermont and Washington. Connecticut has the most players of any state, with 13 players seeking to capture the Northern Junior title in their home state.
Who’s Here: The field of 84 players consists of 54 Boys Competitors and 30 Girls Competitors, spanning high school graduation years from 2026 (19 players) all the way down to a 2031 grad.
Player Storylines:
Yasmina Oralkhan of Brooklyn, N.Y. returns to defend her Girls Championship title after capturing last year’s crown at New Haven Country Club with a closing 75 to win by three. A victory this year would make her the first repeat champion in Girls Championship history. Oralkhan has continued to add to her résumé in 2026, winning the Tour Stafford Preview in June, and enters Wethersfield ranked #191 in the AJGA rankings after also claiming last summer’s Junior Golf Hub Open and a runner-up finish at the AJGA Baltimore Junior.
Ambrose Kinnare of Saint Augustine, Fla. is the highest-ranked competitor in the Boys Championship at #85 in the AJGA rankings. Kinnare has been one of the hottest players in junior golf this year, winning four times on the Junior Golf Scoreboard circuit, most recently the NFJG Dr. Gordon Ira Golf Classic on July 13-14. He also finished third at the AJGA Junior Championship presented by Visit Tallahassee in June and was runner-up at the AJGA Junior at Chechessee last August.
Ein Kim of Irvine, Calif. enters as the highest-ranked competitor in the Girls Championship at #55 on the Junior Golf Scoreboard and #68 in the AJGA rankings. Kim was runner-up at the K.J. Choi Foundation California Junior Championship earlier this month and captured the AJGA Baltimore Junior last August, along with a runner-up finish at the Kevin Harvick Foundation Junior Championship the following week.
In addition to those players who gained entry by virtue of previous accomplishments, a total of 8 boys and 4 girls gained entry into the championship through one of two qualifying sites:
At Wintonbury Hills Golf Course, Grey Gagnon (Portsmouth, N.H.) was the medalist for the Boys Championship with a round of 73, and Cecily Henshon (Longmeadow, Mass.) was the medalist for the Girls Championship with a round of 76. A score of 75 for the Boys Championship and 77 for the Girls Championship was needed to qualify.
At Triggs Memorial Golf Course, Brennan Meyers (Kensington, Conn.) was the medalist for the Boys Championship with a round of 68, and Yichen Liu (Beijing, China) was the medalist for the Girls Championship with a round of 71. A score of 71 for the Boys Championship and 73 for the Girls Championship was needed to qualify.
Brothers Reid and Brennan Meyers advanced to the Northern Junior via qualifying and both will be making their first start in the Northern Junior.
Justin Crossen of Wethersfield, Conn. will have the rare opportunity to compete for a title in his hometown, with Wethersfield Country Club hosting the Northern Junior for the first time this year.
Robby Rosati of Stratford, Conn. is in red-hot form heading into the championship, with three wins already in 2026 — the US Challenge Cup Boys and Girls Championship earlier this month, the Connecticut Junior PGA Championship and the Computer Merchant Cup. Rosati finished T7 at last year’s Northern Junior at New Haven Country Club and will look to go a step further at Wethersfield Country Club. He will be playing in his last Northern Junior as he enters his freshman year at the University of Maryland this fall.
Austin Perkins of West Hartford, Conn. enters the championship off a huge win, having captured the 85th Connecticut Junior Amateur on July 10th with a 5&4 victory in the title match. The win made Perkins just the seventh player in history to capture both the Connecticut Amateur and Connecticut Junior Amateur titles, having won the 122nd Connecticut Amateur in 2024 as the youngest champion in that championship’s history. Perkins, who is ranked #171 on the Junior Golf Scoreboard and is committed to play collegiate golf at the University of Florida, also earned an exemption into the 78th U.S. Junior Amateur at Saucon Valley Country Club with the victory.
Sadie Goodman of West Harrison, N.Y. captured the FJT LPGA Open in April and was runner-up at the NYS Girls 18u Junior Amateur Championship in June, along with a T5 finish at the Nemacolin Junior Championship last summer.
Kaichen Xia of Shanghai, China has piled up finishes near the top of leaderboards across Asia and North America in 2026, winning the ISGT Bromsgrove and Wellington Invitational in March and adding runner-up finishes at the TRUSTGOLF Junior Asian Tour, the TKG Mizuno Championship, the RACE #7/5th TJGGA Open Championship and the Pattana Amateur World Golf Ranking Invitational.
Lily Chiang of Jacksonville, Fla. has two victories to her credit this year, the SCJGA Beth Daniel Junior Azalea in June and the Sea Island Junior Classic in February, to go with a runner-up finish at the AJGA Preview at Anderson Creek in March.
Maddie Chang of New York City, N.Y. has been a fixture near the top of Metropolitan-area leaderboards this spring, winning a Future Series event at Eisenhower White last fall and adding three runner-up finishes there and at Bethpage Blue this spring, along with a T5 at the AJGA Junior All-Star at Rehoboth Beach in April.
Anthony Butt of The Woodlands, Texas was runner-up at the Patrick Reed AJGA Junior Championship in June and also finished T5 at the Ochsner Health/AJGA New Orleans Classic in May.
Matthew Stigliano of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. was runner-up at the AJGA Junior at Sandridge in June, one of several strong results in a busy summer schedule.
Ziqing Eva Wang of Hong Kong captured the Golf Association of Hong Kong’s ICGL Winter Junior Championship in December and has added a fourth-place finish at the AJGA Northwestern Holding Junior Open and a fifth at the CT Pan AJGA International Pathway Series this spring.
MacKinnley Yarbrough of Temple, Ga. won the Georgia PGA West Georgia Junior Championship last September and was runner-up at the Georgia PGA Junior Tour Championship in June.
Ava Osborne of Austin, Texas is ranked #179 on the Junior Golf Scoreboard and finished third at the AJGA Panama Junior in January, adding a T5 finish at the K.J. Choi Foundation Seattle Junior Championship last August.
James Nagle of Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. has been a consistent presence on the AJGA schedule in 2026, with his best finish of the season coming at the Billy Horschel Atlanta Classic presented by Zurich last August, where he finished sixth.
Adriana Eaton of Greenville, R.I. captured the US Challenge Cup World Series of Junior Golf in June and has added a pair of runner-up finishes this year at the 2025 First Tee Miami Doral Junior Classic and the US Challenge Cup Nutmeg Junior Championship.
Madelyn Savary of Franklin, New Hampshire captured the 2026 New Hampshire Women’s Amateur. Her three round total of three under-par earned her the title in impressive fashion, winning by a total of 12 strokes.
Will Lord of Suffield, Conn. captured the 2025 Borck Junior with a 3&2 win in the title match, one week after winning the U.S. Challenge Cup Boys Championship at Agawam Hunt Country Club with rounds of 71-62. Lord also shared the title at the weather-shortened 2025 US Challenge Cup Nutmeg Junior Championship and was runner-up at the 2026 Connecticut Junior PGA Championship.
Championship Schedule
Monday, August 3
Official Practice Rounds
8:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. – Player Registration
Beginning at 9:30 a.m. – Practice Rounds
Beginning at 5:30 p.m. – Players Welcome Reception, Dinner and Ryan Lee Scholarship Presentation
6:45 p.m. – Long Drive Contest presented by Golf Performance Academy
Tuesday, August 4
First Round of Stroke Play
Beginning at 7:00 a.m. – Starting Times off #1 Tee (All play will be in threesomes)
Wednesday, August 5
Second Round of Stroke Play
Beginning at 7:00 a.m. – Starting Times off #1 Tee (Players will be paired by score, with leaders going off last. All play will be in threesomes.)
5:00 p.m. – Awards Ceremony and Trophy Presentation
Social Media: In addition to full coverage on the championship website at NorthernJunior.com, players and spectators can join the conversation using the hashtag #NorthernJunior.
– Like the Northern Junior on Facebook at Facebook.com/NorthernJunior
– Follow the Northern Junior on Instagram @NorthernJunior
– Photo Galleries on Flickr @NorthernJunior