Ashley Shaw has done it once again. The JGAA member and nationally-acclaimed golf sensation out of Litchfield Park clinched the girls’ title at the 2026 First Tee National Championship, contested June 21–25 at the University of North Carolina’s Finley Golf Club in Chapel Hill. Shaw fired off rounds of 68-67-65 to finish 10-under par for the tournament; a performance that grew more commanding by the day and left no doubt about who the best player in the field was.
Now in its sixth year, the First Tee National Championship brought together 48 of the organization’s top male and female players from across the country for a 54-hole stroke play event, designed to give participants the opportunity to experience top collegiate golf courses while showcasing the skills and values they developed through their First Tee chapters. Shaw rose above them all.
For those who’ve followed Ashley Shaw’s junior career, the result was stunning in its execution but hardly surprising in its outcome. Shaw has been a member of the JGAA since 2017 and has built one of the most decorated junior golf résumés in Arizona in recent memory. She is the inaugural Curry Cup winner, the youngest Arizona Women’s Match Play champion, and in 2024, she became the youngest player in history, and the only amateur in the field, to win the John Shippen Cognizant Cup, which earned her a sponsor’s exemption into the LPGA Tour’s Cognizant Founders Cup at Upper Montclair in New Jersey. She made that debut with her mother, Sylvia, on the bag. She has been involved with First Tee – Phoenix for more than eight years and serves as a volunteer coach and ambassador.
The national championship was a fitting stage for the kind of patient, process-driven golf that has defined Shaw’s approach to the game. The sheer poise under pressure comes as no surprise for a player who has been climbing the national rankings for years. Currently ranked 67th in the AJGA standings, Shaw’s upward trajectory has become one of the most compelling storylines in Arizona junior golf. “For me, staying patient and just knowing I could hit the shots and waiting for the putts to drop was the key,” said Ashley Shaw after the dominant showing.
“Shaw continues to make history and it’s been incredible to see her grow on and off the golf course,” said JGAA Executive Director Scott McNevin. “All of us at the JGAA are thrilled for Ashley and couldn’t be prouder. This is a well-deserved national title for a young woman who has put in the work year after year. Hats off to an unbelievable performance!”
Both winners at the First Tee National Championship were awarded the Tattersall Cup in honor of First Tee Trustee Fred Tattersall, who generously supports the event.
Shaw is verbally committed to play collegiate golf at the University of Georgia, where she will join the Bulldogs women’s golf program. The JGAA community will be cheering her on every step of the way. From Athens to wherever the game takes her next.
Click here to read more.
