GRANITEVILLE, S.C. (March 13, 2024) – The Junior Invitational announced today its 60-player field for the 13th edition of the storied tournament, held March 17-23, 2024, at Sage Valley Golf Club.
Representing a combined 22 countries, the boys and girls fields count among them commitments of more than 30 NCAA Division I men’s and women’s golf teams. Highlighting the field are current Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings Nos. 1 Miles Russell of Florida, who captured both the 2023 U.S. Junior Amateur and 2023 Boy’s Junior PGA Championship, and Jasmine Koo of California, winner of the 2023 Women’s Western Amateur Championship and 2023 AJGA Invitational presented by PING.
Major international victors in the field include 2023 R&A Boys and Girls Amateur champions, England’s Kris Kim (WAGR: 440) and Germany’s Helen Briem (WAGR: 5); 2023 Australian Boys’ Amateur champion Zack Swanwick (WAGR: 173) of New Zealand; and 2023 Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific champion Eila Galitsky (WAGR: 32) of Thailand.
A pair of 14-year-olds are the youngest in their respective fields: India’s Kartik Singh (WAGR: 208), the youngest player to make the cut at 2023 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship, and Canada’s Aphrodite Deng (WAGR: 227), winner of the 2023 Rolex Tournament of Champions. Additional young players shattering records competing in the 2024 Junior Invitational include Nikki Oh (Golfweek/Sagarin: 5) of California, the youngest player to advance to Round of 16 in the 2023 U.S. Women’s Amateur; Blades Brown (Golfweek/Sagarin: 4) of Tennessee, the youngest co-medalist at stroke play in U.S. Amateur history; and Czechia’s Louis Klein (WAGR: 373), the youngest player to make the cut on the Challenge Tour.
Since the inception of the girls competition in 2021, two veterans are marking their third consecutive return: 2023 Junior Ryder Cup and PING Junior Solheim Cup teammates Gianna Clemente (Golfweek/Sagarin: 2) of Florida and Leigh Chien (Golfweek/Sagarin: 10) of California. Clemente and Chien finished T8 and T11, respectively, in the 2023 Junior Invitational.
Six competitors in the boys field are making their return to Sage Valley, including 2023 Junior Invitational runner-up Byungho Lee of South Korea (Golfweek/Sagarin: 43); Jackson Byrd (Golfweek/Sagarin: 35) of Georgia, 2023 Boys Junior PGA Championship runner-up; Henry Guan (Golfweek/Sagarin: 9) of Texas, 2023 Jack Burke Jr. Invitational runner-up; and Jay Leng (Golfweek/Sagarin: 8) of California, 2023 PING Invitational champion. Nicholas Gross (Golfweek/Sagarin: 21) of Pennsylvania, 2023 Simplify Boys champion, and William Jennings (Golfweek/Sagarin: 2) of South Carolina, 2022-2023 Bobby Chapman Invitational runner-up, are competing in their third consecutive Junior Invitational.
The 2023 Junior Invitational was captured by Anna Davis, whose twin brother and fellow Auburn University commitment Billy Davis (Golfweek/Sagarin: 3) is competing in the 2024 tournament; and Aldrich Potgieter, who turned professional just three months later and recently became the youngest winner in Korn Ferry Tour history with his January victory at The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic.
The Junior Invitational is free and open to the public on the days of competition on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Tee times begin at 9:30 a.m. each day and the winners will be recognized on the 18th green following play on Saturday at approximately 4:30 p.m. More information will be shared on JuniorInvitational.com and through the Junior Invitational app during the tournament.
Recognized by Golfweek as the No. 1 junior event in golf, the Junior Invitational welcomes the best golfers from around the world to Sage Valley Golf Club in Graniteville, S.C. Founded in 2011, the Junior Invitational has become one of the most desired invitations in the world of competitive junior golf. Past participants have included some of the top names in golf: Scottie Scheffler, Justin Thomas, Colin Morikawa, Viktor Hovland, Cameron Young, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Anna Davis, Megha Ganne and more. For more information, visit JuniorInvitational.com.
Sage Valley Golf Club, the host of the Junior Invitational, is located only minutes from historic Augusta, Georgia, and is surrounded by several thousand acres of preserved southern pine forest.