The Round Up by juniorgolfHQ Vol. 6
The Round Up by juniorgolfHQ
July 2026
What’s on the tee…
We just closed out a huge month in junior golf, and July will be no different!
June featured a whopping seven junior majors and two US Opens, featuring a stacked field of junior players. The US Women's Open featured the top two ranked junior girls, Asterisk Talley and Aphrodite Deng, both of whom made the cut. On the men's side, five junior boys punched a ticket to Shinnecock, including World No. 1 Miles Russell, who made the cut and played the weekend. These appearances are a bright spot in the junior game, showing that even at a young age, juniors are up to the task of competing with the world's best.
In addition to previewing July's Majors, please find a feature in our 'Sundae Scoop' on the upcoming US Junior Amateurs this month. The fields are stacked with huge names in the sport, and we should expect another great year of championships at Saucon Valley and Old Chatham!
Finally, another plug for coaches and players: we would love to feature you on the page. Please reach out here or on our socials if you'd like to join us for a profile in the coming months!
2026 June Major Junior Tournament Results
Wyndham Invitational
June 8th - 11th, 2026
Sedgefield Country Club
Champion: Jessy Huebner
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AGI: 180th
WAGR: 161stAJGA: 4thJessy Huebner claimed his first AJGA Invitational title at the Wyndham Inv, carding three straight under-par rounds to win at Sedgefield Country Club. It's a breakthrough that's been a year in the making: Huebner finished runner-up at this same event in 2025, matching Willie Gordon's closing 66 but falling one shot short at 9-under 201 to Gordon's 10-under 200. Twelve months later, Huebner turned the tables and got over the hump on the same Donald Ross-designed track. Huebner narrowly edged out US Open Qualifier Jackson Ormond and Mingbo Jiang by a single shot to complete the victory.
This marked the 25th playing of the Wyndham Invitational at Sedgefield, a 54-hole stroke-play championship for boys aged 12-19, with 72 of the top junior golfers in the world competing on the same layout that hosts the PGA Tour's Wyndham Championship each August. The event has serious pedigree as a launching pad — nearly 100 past Wyndham Invitational participants have gone on to play the PGA Tour, with alumni including 12-time PGA Tour winner Justin Thomas among past champions.
Leaderboard
1 - Jessy Huebner | 65-65-68=198T2 - Jackson Ormond | 64-72-63=199T2 - Mingbo Jiang | 70-63-66=199Women’s Western Junior Championship
June 8th - 12th, 2026
Meridian Hills Country Club
Champion: Iris Lee
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AGI: 320th
WAGR: 228thAJGA: 17thIris Lee, a 13-year-old from Orlando, Florida, outlasted 17-year-old Athena Singh of Morehead, Kentucky, 1 up, to win the 99th Women's Western Junior Championship — and in doing so became, as far as anyone can tell, the youngest champion in the event's 106-year history. The previous youngest winners, Mercedes Bush (1920) and Alice Ann Anderson (1933), were both 14.
The championship match swung back and forth all afternoon — Lee never led by more than one hole, and neither did Singh. Singh appeared to have seized control with a birdie on No. 15, but Lee answered immediately, winning the par-5 16th to square things, then stuck her approach inside Singh's on 17 and rolled in a birdie to go 1 up with one to play. On the 18th, Lee found the green in regulation while Singh missed left and couldn't quite get up and down, leaving Lee to two-putt for the win.
"I'm excited. Excited, and tired," Lee said afterward, summing up a week that included four straight match-play victories over a field stacked with players several years her senior.
By reaching the final, both Lee and Singh punched their tickets to the 2026 Women's Western Amateur, set for July 6–11 at River Forest Country Club in Elmhurst, Illinois.
First contested in 1920, the Women's Western Junior remains one of the oldest junior championships in the country, with a champions' list that includes Nancy Lopez, Cristie Kerr, Grace Park, and Candie Kung. This year, it added a 13-year-old's name to that list — and a new record to its books.
Western Junior Championship
June 15th - 18th, 2026
Knollwood Club
Champion: Andrew Sciortino
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WAGR: 1657th
AGI: 1415thAJGA: 163rdAndrew Sciortino picked the perfect week to find his best form. The 18-year-old from Brentwood, Tennessee, closed with a bogey-free, 4-under 68 to win the 108th Western Junior Championship at Knollwood Club, finishing at 7-under-par 277 — nine shots clear of the field and the only player in the 72-hole championship to finish under par.
It's a breakthrough for Sciortino on one of junior golf's biggest stages — an event whose alumni list includes Tiger Woods, Rickie Fowler, Jim Furyk, David Duval, and Luke Donald. The win also comes with one of the sport's most valuable perks: an exemption into the Western Amateur, one of the strongest amateur fields in the world, awarded to the top three finishers and ties.
Second place belonged to two players who couldn't quite match Sciortino's closing kick. SJ Thomas, a 15-year-old from Birmingham, Alabama, had shared the lead through both 36 and 54 holes before a closing 72 dropped him into a tie at 2-over 286. He was joined there by Brady Barnum of Dublin, Ohio, who shot a 70 in the final round.
A three-way tie for fourth at 3-over 287 rounded out the group earning Western Amateur exemptions: New Zealand's Ryan Xie, Walker Webb (also of Brentwood, Tennessee), and Ash Edwards of Boulder, Colorado, who climbed the board with a final-round 68.
Leaderboard
1 - Andrew Sciortino | 72-70-67-68=277
T2 - Brady Barnum | 73-71-72-70=286T2 - SJ Thomas | 71-70-73-72=286Southern Junior Championship
June 17th - 19th, 2026
University Golf Course
Champion: Neil Jolly
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WAGR: 1,010th
AGI: 1,222thAJGA: 45thThe 2026 Southern Junior Championship — the 54th edition of one of junior golf's most prestigious events — wrapped up at University Golf Course in Athens, GA, marking the first time the venue had hosted the championship.
The headline story belonged to 16-year-old Neil Jolly, who became the first Indian golfer to win the Southern Junior Championship. The youngster fired rounds of 62 and 69 for a 36-hole total of 9-under 131 — a performance built on a spectacular opening 9-under 62 that set the tone for the rest of the week. Jolly closed it out with a 2-under 69 to win by two shots over Charlie Haney of Manhattan, Kansas, and Sam Terry of Thomasville, North Carolina, who shared runner-up honors at 7-under 133.
For Jolly, the win caps a strong season in the U.S., where he's played six AJGA events with a previous best finish as runner-up at the AJGA Preview at OakWing in March. As champion, he takes home the Perry Adair Trophy, a silver medal, and the traditional Calamity Jane putter awarded each year to the Southern Junior champion.
Leaderboard
1 - Neil Jolly | 62-69=131
T2 - Charlie Haney | 67-66=133T2 - Sam Terry | 66-67=133Rolex Girls Junior Championship
June 15th - 18th, 2026
Sycamore Hills Golf Club
Champion: Inseoul (Zoe) Jiamanukoonkit
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WAGR: 2,097th
AGI: 323rdAJGA: 15thInseoul Jiamanukoonkit waited until the very last event of her junior career to break through. The San Diego, California, golfer closed with three birdies — including a pivotal one on the 15th hole — to win the 35th Rolex Girls Junior Championship at 4-under-par 212, capturing her first AJGA invitational title in her final tournament before heading to UC Berkeley this fall.
"I feel really proud of myself for being able to finally win," Jiamanukoonkit said afterward. It capped what she described as a long-awaited moment, coming on the heels of a runner-up finish at the AJGA Junior at The Mission Club and a string of top-five results that had never quite turned into a title.
Kaili Xiao of Chino Hills, California, set the tone early in the week — an eagle on the second hole helped her to an opening 5-under 67 and the first-round lead — and she held on for a runner-up finish at 3-under 213. It's the second time she's finished second at an AJGA Invitational, the other coming back in 2023.
A three-way tie for third at 2-under 214 rounded out the podium. Madeleine Conser, Emily Song, and Amber Lee all finished just two shots back. Each of these girls posted their best ever result in an AJGA Invitational with a 3rd place finish.
Leaderboard
1 - Inseoul Jiamanukoonkit | 69-70-73=212
2 - Kaili Xiao | 67-74-72=213T3 - Madeleine Conser | 73-73-68=214T3 - Emily Song | 70-71-73=214T3 - Amber Lee | 69-70-75=214North & South Junior Golf Championship
June 21st - 24th, 2026
Pinehurst No. 2 & No. 6
Champion: Alex El Khomri & Taylor Snively
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WAGR: 1,482th
AGI: 1,572thAJGA: 704thInstagram post
WAGR: 1,164th
AGI: 1,576thAJGA: 128thGirls Division: Taylor Snively of Zionsville, IN, set the pace from day one with a 4-under 68 and extended that to a commanding four-shot lead through 36 holes at 4-under 140, with Rachel Joyce and Maci Williams tied for second at even-par 144. That's a big cushion to carry into a final round. With a closing even-par 72, Snively completes the wire-to-wire victory as chasers were unable to catch her.
Keira Yun vaulted into a solo second finish with a 4-under par 68 on the final day, while Anna Norris and Savera Sandhu tied for third place with an even-par championship. Norris made the biggest move on the final day, carding a tournament low round of 5-under par, 67.
Boys Division: The 48th North & South Junior Amateur Championship boys' title went to Alexandre El Khomri, who plays out of Golf Club St. Nom-la-Bretèche in France and competes internationally for Morocco — a high-level result that's being celebrated as a milestone for Moroccan golf, per the Royal Moroccan Golf Federation. His win adds another name to the event's growing list of international champions.
The boys' leaderboard shuffled plenty along the way. Zonghan Liu, Slater Meade and Jace Benson shared the first-round lead at 5-under 66. By the 36-hole mark, Yunze Wang of Rancho Santa Fe, CA, had surged to the top at 5-under 136 after rounds of 67-69, one shot ahead of Meade at 4-under 137 — setting up a tight final round on Pinehurst No. 2 that El Khomri ultimately came through to win.
Girls’ Leaderboard
1 - Taylor Snively| 68-72-72=212
2 - Keira Yun | 75-70-68=213T3 - Anna Norris | 78-71-67=216T3 - Savera Sandhu | 74-72-70=216Boys’ Leaderboard
1 - Alexandre El Khomri| 68-71-66=205
T2 - Slater Meade | 66-71-70=207T2 - Yunze Wang | 67-69-71=207RLX Ralph Lauren Junior Classic
June 22nd - 26th, 2026
Bethpage Black
Champion: Rory Asselta & Eliana Saga
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WAGR: 1,074th
AGI: 974thAJGA: 11thInstagram post
WAGR: 212th
AGI: 310thAJGA: 3rdThe 2026 RLX Ralph Lauren Junior Classic wrapped up Friday at Bethpage Black, with two first-time AJGA Invitational winners taking the titles in golf's only true individual match-play event on the junior circuit.
In the Girls Division, No. 7 seed Eliana Saga of Stevenson Ranch, California captured the title, defeating No. 5 seed Clairey Lin, 2&1, to earn her first AJGA Invitational victory. Saga's week was about steadily building momentum: she went a perfect 3-0 in pool play, then outlasted Mia Clausen in a marathon 20-hole quarterfinal to win 1 up, before beating Elizabeth Guthrie 3&2 in the semifinals to reach the final unbeaten. In the championship match, she jumped to a 4-up lead through seven holes on the strength of birdies at Nos. 5 and 7, then added back-to-back birdies on 13 and 14 to stay in control even as Lin fought back to within two holes late, before closing it out 2&1. Saga said the win meant a great deal to her given how much work she'd put in, and called playing Bethpage particularly special given its Ryder Cup pedigree. Lin, for her part, had a strong week of her own, going undefeated in pool play and knocking off both the reigning Rolex Girls Junior champion and top overall seed Asterisk Talley en route to the final.
On the boys' side, No. 12 seed Rory Asselta of Ramsey, New Jersey took the title with a 5&4 win over No. 27 seed Joseph Corcell, also his first AJGA Invitational win. Asselta went undefeated through pool play, then beat BYU commit Drake Harvey 3&2 in the quarterfinals and Noah Maclauchlan 4&3 in the semis to reach the final without dropping a match all week. The championship match was lopsided from the jump: Asselta built a 4-up lead through five holes, stretched it to 5 up by the ninth, and closed things out on the 14th hole, a wire-to-wire effort. Corcell still had a notable run to the final himself, tying top seed Ryan Nana Tanke in pool play before beating Grant DeLorenzo and then No. 3 seed Jaden Soong, 5&3, in the semifinals.
Rounding out the third-place finishers, Talley and Guthrie shared third in the Girls Division, while Maclauchlan and Soong shared third on the boys' side, each having reached the semifinals before falling to the eventual champions.
This marked the event's fifth straight year at Bethpage Black, a venue with serious major championship pedigree, having hosted U.S. Opens, FedEx Cup Playoff events, and last year's Ryder Cup. The Junior Classic itself dates back to 1978 and counts Tiger Woods among its past champions.
Up Next
Wyndham Cup
June 6th - 9th, 2026
Old Sandwich Golf Club
The 36th Wyndham Cup tees off July 6-9, 2026, at Old Sandwich Golf Club in Plymouth, Massachusetts, bringing junior golf's answer to the Ryder Cup back to one of its most familiar battlegrounds. Since 1990, the event has pitted the top-20 boys and top-20 girls in the country against each other in an East vs. West team match play format, with rosters determined by the Rolex AJGA Rankings, splitting players along a dividing line running from the eastern border of Texas north through the eastern border of North Dakota.
Old Sandwich is no stranger to the spotlight — this marks its fifth turn hosting the Cup, and the venue has been a fortress for the West. The West captured the Wyndham Cup the first time it was held at Old Sandwich, in 2010, then claimed it again in 2018 by a 26.5-23.5 margin, and most recently retained the Cup with a 31-19 victory there in 2022. The East has never won on this Coore & Crenshaw design.
Matches will unfold over four-ball, foursomes, mixed foursomes, and singles, with 50 total points up for grabs and 25½ needed to claim the Cup. Expect rosters stacked with the season's top-ranked AJGA players — many already verbally committed to major college programs — continuing a player lineage that includes the likes of Tiger Woods, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, and Lexi Thompson, all Wyndham Cup alumni.
Junior PGA Championship
July 28th - 31st, 2026
PGA Fields Ranch
The Junior PGA Championship reaches a milestone in 2026: its 50th playing, held July 28-31 at Fields Ranch East & West at PGA Frisco in Frisco, Texas. Designed by Gil Hanse and Beau Welling, the two courses bring expansive fairways, strategic bunkering, dramatic green complexes, and the ever-present Texas wind — a firm, fast test built for a championship of this stature.
The field totals 312 players, split evenly between 156 boys and 156 girls, with most earning their spot through PGA Section Championships and the rest via national rankings or exemptions. It's a 72-hole stroke play grind with two cuts — to the top 60 and ties after 36 holes, then to the top 30 and ties after 54.
Since debuting in 1976 at Walt Disney World, the tournament has built a resume that includes Tiger Woods, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Lexi Thompson, Phil Mickelson, and Rose Zhang among its alumni, cementing its status as one of junior golf's true majors.
The defending champions set a high bar. Asterisk Talley closed with a steady 71 to win the 2025 Girls Division at 12-under, edging Zoe Cusack by a shot, while Lunden Esterline, an Auburn commit, romped to a six-stroke win in the Boys Division at 19-under. Both will look to defend this year.
The stakes extend well beyond the trophy: champions and runners-up in both divisions earn spots on the U.S. Junior Ryder Cup Team, the girls' winner books a place in the Augusta National Women's Amateur, and the boys' champion heads to a 2026 Korn Ferry Tour event.
2026 “Major” Junior Golf Event Schedule
Junior Orange Bowl - January 2026 - Tomas Restrepo & Charlotte Naughton
AJGA Simplify Boys Championship - February 2026 - Grayson Baucom
The Fortinet Stanford Invitational - February 2026 - Asterisk Talley
Dustin Johnson World Junior - March 2026 - William Lisle & Fay Jia
Junior Invitational at Sage Valley - March 2026 - Miles Russell & Asterisk Talley
Mizuho Americas Open - May 2026 - Aphrodite Deng
AJGA Team TaylorMade Invitational - May 2026 - Luke Ringkamp
The Nelly Invitational presented by Chevron - May 2026 - Vidhi Lakawala
Southern Junior Championship - June 2026 - Neil Jolly
AJGA Wyndham Invitational at Sedgefield - June 2026 - Jessy Huebner
Women’s Western Junior Championship - June 2026 - Iris Lee
Western Junior Championship - June 2026 - Andrew Sciortino
North & South Junior Championship - June 2026 - Alex Elkhomri & Taylor Snively
Rolex Girls Junior Championship - June 2026 - Inseoul (Zoe) Jiamanukoonkit
RLX Ralph Lauren Junior Classic - June 2026 - Rory Asselta & Eliana Saga
Wyndham Cup - July 2026
U.S. Girls’ Junior Amateur - July 2026
U.S. Junior Amateur - July 2026
Boys Junior PGA Championship - July 2026
U.S. Women’s Amateur - August 2026
U.S. Amateur - August 2026
Junior Players Championship - September 2026
Junior Solheim Cup - September 2026
Junior Presidents Cup - September 2026
ANNIKA Invitational - October 2026
AJGA Ping Invitational - October 2026
Notah Begay Jr. Golf National Championship - November 2026
Rolex Tournament of Champions - November 2026
The Elite Invitational - November 2026
Junior Jones Cup - December 2026
The Sundae Scoop
The worlds biggest junior golf stage is upon us and we wanted to do a deeper, more comprehensive dive into the US Junior Amateur and the US Girls Junior Amateur. While juniorgolfHQ aims to cover all of the majors throughout the year, these two are the north star when it comes to the junior game.
U.S. Girls’ Junior Amateur
The 2026 U.S. Girls' Junior Championship arrives at Old Chatham Golf Club in Durham, North Carolina, July 13-18, marking a return to the Tar Heel State. This will be the fourth time North Carolina has hosted the championship, following editions at Pine Needles in 1989, Carmel Country Club in 2006, and The Country Club of North Carolina in 2010, and Old Chatham itself previously hosted the 2019 U.S. Senior Amateur.
Eligibility is open to female amateurs who have not reached their 19th birthday by July 18, 2026, and who hold a Handicap Index of 5.4 or lower, with the same two-round stroke-play qualifying format leading into match play that defines the boys' championship.
The headline storyline belongs to the defending champion. Aphrodite Deng made history in 2025 by becoming the first Canadian ever to win the U.S. Girls' Junior, defeating Singapore's Xingtong Chen 2 and 1 in the final at Atlanta Athletic Club. That title capped a remarkable season that also included victories at the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley and the Mizuho Americas Open, signaling Deng is no one-tournament wonder as she returns to defend.
She won't have it easy. Deng headlines a strong list of exempt players that also includes 2024 runner-up Asterisk Talley, 2025 runner-up Xingtong Chen, and semifinalist Grace Carter, alongside several of the nation's top age-eligible talents. With that much returning star power already locked into the field, Old Chatham is shaping up to host one of the more loaded U.S. Girls' Junior brackets in recent memory — a fitting stage for a championship that continues to produce future major winners.
U.S. Junior Amateur
The 2026 U.S. Junior Amateur Championship heads to Saucon Valley Country Club in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, July 20-25, one of American golf's most storied venues. Saucon Valley has hosted the 1951 U.S. Amateur, the 1983 U.S. Junior Amateur, the 2009 U.S. Women's Open, the 2014 U.S. Mid-Amateur, and the 2022 U.S. Senior Open, and the boys will play across both the Old Course and the Grace Course.
The field includes 264 players, open to male amateurs who have not reached their 19th birthday by July 25, 2026, and whose Handicap Index does not exceed 2.4. As is tradition, both championships feature a two-round stroke-play qualifier followed by match play — a format that rewards consistency early and nerve later, often producing dramatic extra-hole battles once the bracket narrows.
All eyes will be on the defending champion. Hamilton Coleman of Augusta, Georgia, won the 2025 title by defeating Minh Nguyen of Vietnam 2 and 1 in the 36-hole final at Trinity Forest Golf Club, capping a run that included surviving a 25-hole opening-round marathon before riding that momentum to the trophy. Coleman returns to Saucon Valley looking to become just the second player ever to successfully defend the U.S. Junior Amateur title — a feat that would place him in rare company in the championship's long history.
With qualifying already underway across the country, the field will sharpen over the coming weeks as sectional qualifiers determine who joins the exempt contingent. Expect a mix of top-ranked AJGA standouts, several college commits, and international entrants all chasing a title that has launched the careers of numerous future PGA Tour players — and, this year, a shot at golf's rare repeat-champion club.
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Until next month…..