The 78-player Open Series event returns to Green Island Country Club in Columbus, Ga., with today's AJGA qualifier setting the final field for the 54-hole championship for boys and girls ages 12-19. Clark Browne of Birmingham, Ala., and Addison Peeples of Gainesville, Ga. return as defending champions.
Sixth-seeded Catherine McEvoy of Riverside, Conn., who fired the championship's low round (4-under 66) in stroke play, faces top seed Ivy Shepherd in Thursday's 18-hole final at Montclair Golf Club in West Orange, N.J. The winner earns an exemption into the 2027 U.S. Women's Open at Inverness Club.
The 2023 champion closed out Brendan Hester with birdies on Nos. 16 and 18, his third straight late-birdie finish after taking down Rick Stimmel and Brian Quackenbush, while Mike Sposa's clutch birdie at the par-3 17th ended Tony Wise's run. Both Spartanburg, S.C. men set up an all-Spartanburg 18-hole final Thursday morning at Baltimore Country Club.
