The annual Thunderbird High School Senior Classic, sponsored by The Thunderbirds-hosts of the WM Phoenix Open, teed off at Gainey Ranch Golf Club on May 19, 2024. Known as a classic golf event, it honors and shines a spotlight on the graduating seniors from high school golf teams across Arizona in 2024. Sixty seniors, comprising 45 boys and 15 girls, took part in the tournament.
The 9th annual U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship was underway at the prestigious Oak Hills Country Club in San Antonio, Texas, May 11-15. JGAA’s very own Gracie McGovern put on an impressive showing at this year’s USGA amateur event with playing partner Brynn Kort of Henderson, Nevada. McGovern, future TCU Horned Frog and 2023 Heather Farr Classic champion, played stellar golf all week at a challenging Oak Hills, only to come up short in the title match on Wednesday and finish runner up.
Oklahoma Boomer Sooner Ben Lorenz competed at the Division I Men’s Rancho Santa Fe Regional this week. The Peoria native and JGAA alum put together an amazing final round on Wednesday, recording a career-low, clean-card 64 (-6) in the final round to come from behind and win the individual title by four strokes.
Loyola Marymount University golfer Riley Lewis put together a stellar senior season, leading him to become WCC’s top-ranked golfer of 2024. Currently positioned at No. 59 on Clippd, the LMU Lion boasted two victories and five top-3 finishes this season.
The Junior Golf Association of Arizona (JGAA) is delighted to report that 25 Arizona junior golfers and 33 total JGAA members signed National Letters of Intent to play collegiate golf.
Max Lyons, a junior golfer at Marquette University, has clinched the postseason award of 2023-24 BIG EAST Conference Player of the Year, as announced by the league on Monday. This marks his second consecutive year receiving All-BIG EAST First Team honors, joined by graduate student Josh Robinson, while Aidan Lafferty secured second team accolades.
JGAA junior golfer Ashley Shaw accomplishes quite the feat as she became the youngest player to win the John Shippen Cognizant Cup and youngest overall winner in tournament history. The 15-year-old out of Litchfield Park collected three birdies and minimized damaged throughout her round to put together a 1-over-par 73 to win by two strokes, despite being the only amateur in the field. Shaw will play in the LPGA Tour Cognizant Founders Cup this week at Upper Montclair in New Jersey on a sponsor’s exemptions.
On May 4 & 5, the 23rd annual Quintero Cactus Cup was held at Quintero Golf Club, one of the top-ranked public courses in Arizona. The Founder’s team won for the 4th consecutive year, beating the Charter team in an extra-hole playoff.
We are thrilled to highlight a JGAA member, Alexis Lamadrid, on her recent feature in CNN’s Living Golf segment. Alexis was brought on to discuss the local impact of the Desert Mashie Golf Club. The clip takes place at Encanto Golf Course in Phoenix, Arizona which is also the first course to allow people of color to play the game of golf in Phoenix.
In the Boys Championship division, the first round belonged to Owen Greenough who put on a clinic and flirted with a 59. The Chandler resident rattled off six birdies and an eagle on the back nine to shoot 28 en route to a first-round 61, his lowest score ever recorded. The win marks his first of the season. Riding the hot hand after last week’s victory at the Betsy King IMG Junior World Qualifier, Charlene Lamb caught fire on the final day. She recorded five birdies in the final round to one-up her score from Saturday to conclude the tournament at 5-under par (69-68).
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