The Round Up by juniorgolfHQ Vol. 9
The Round Up by juniorgolfHQ
October 2026
What’s on the tee…
Another month in the books, and some of junior golf’s biggest events took center stage. In this edition of The Round Up, we recap the Junior PLAYERS Championship, the Junior Solheim Cup, and the Junior Presidents Cup — three marquee events that showcased the depth of talent coming up through the junior ranks.
As customary, we will also preview our October slate, highlighted by the ANNIKA Invitational and The PING Invitational. Both events head to new homes this fall, and both annually attract some of the strongest fields in junior golf, often previewing the names we’ll see atop leaderboards for years to come.
Finally, we head to the Sundae Scoop, where First Tee – Greater Charleston is breaking ground on something special: a nine-hole course built exclusively for kids. We take a look at the project, the people behind it, and what it could mean for access to the game in Charleston.
2026 September Major Junior Tournament Results
Junior Players Championship
September 3rd - 6th, 2026
TPC Sawgrass
Champion: JP Lynch
Instagram post
One of junior golf’s marquee invitationals delivered a final-round thriller on hallowed ground. JP Lynch, an Oklahoma commit, erased a two-shot deficit with a closing 66, finishing at 8-under 208 and one clear of runner-up Brady Barnum, to capture the Junior PLAYERS Championship presented by Rolex, played September 3-6 at TPC Sawgrass’s famed Stadium Course in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida — the same layout that hosts THE PLAYERS Championship on the PGA Tour. The AJGA invitational brought 78 of the top boys golfers in the world, ages 12 to 19, through 54 holes of stroke play over the daunting par-72, 7,298-yard test, with no cut, meaning every player in the field got a full three rounds around the Pete Dye design, island green and all.
The tournament arrived with a wide-open storyline at the top, and it played out that way. Miles Russell, the defending champion who became the event’s first two-time winner with a 9-under performance last year (adding to his 2023 title), didn’t return to defend, leaving the door open for a new name to join a champions list that now includes Lynch alongside Hamilton Coleman (2024) and Jeffrey Guan (2022). Sam Carraher, Giuseppe Puebla and Dawson Lew shared the 36-hole lead at 4-under 140 entering the final round, but none could hold off Lynch’s closing charge.
Charlie Woods, continuing to build his own competitive résumé on some of the same courses his father, Tiger, made iconic, tied for eighth in a deep and international field spanning more than a dozen countries — a reminder of how global the junior game has become. Giuseppe Puebla (2027), who qualified for the U.S. Open this summer and sits No. 2 in the Rolex AJGA Rankings, shared the 36-hole lead before a closing 77 dropped him into a tie for 11th.
Beyond the competition itself, the week carried extra meaning as a bridge between generations of golf: the AJGA has highlighted how several Junior PLAYERS alumni are now set to tee it up at the “big” PLAYERS Championship, a full-circle moment for a tournament built to spotlight the sport’s next stars on a big-league stage.
Junior Solheim Cup
September 7th - 8th, 2026
Bernardus Golf (Netherlands)
Champion: Team USA (13-11)
Instagram post
The next generation of Solheim Cup stars got their moment on a genuinely historic stage — and Team USA held its nerve. The 2026 PING Junior Solheim Cup was contested September 7-8 at Bernardus Golf in Cromvoirt, Netherlands, marking the first time the junior event and the Solheim Cup itself were played on the same course, just days before the main event began on September 11. Morgan Pressel’s Americans survived a furious European rally in Tuesday’s singles to retain the trophy, 13-11.
Team USA built a 9½-2½ cushion through Monday’s foursomes and fourball sessions, but Europe came out swinging in singles, winning 8½ of the 12 points on offer and threatening the biggest comeback in the event’s history. It wasn’t enough. Pressel, who went undefeated across two Junior Solheim Cup appearances in 2002 and 2005 before playing in six Solheim Cups as a pro, became the first former Junior Solheim Cup player to captain the American side, and she delivered a win, joined by AJGA’s Sidney Jockisch as co-captain.
The 12-girl American roster, ages 12 to 18, was built around eight automatic qualifiers from the Rolex AJGA Rankings, headlined by newly-crowned U.S. Women’s Amateur champion Asterisk Talley, alongside Amelie Zalsman, Eliana Saga, Lily Peng, Anna Fang, Honorine Ferry, Kelly Zhang and Grace Carter. Pressel rounded out the squad with four captain’s picks: Madeleine Conser, Iris Lee, Amber Lee and Aubrey Hilgers. Team Europe was captained by 2019 Solheim Cup winner Anne van Dam.
The win pushes the Americans’ edge in the series history to 9-4-1 overall, giving the U.S. back-to-back wins after Europe claimed the 2021 and 2023 editions. It’s also a proving ground worth watching — Junior Solheim Cup alumnae who’ve gone on to represent the U.S. at the senior level include Paula Creamer, Lexi Thompson and Angel Yin, among others, and this year’s American roster figures to produce the next names on that list.
Junior Presidents Cup
September 20th - 21st, 2026
Medinah Country Club (No. 1 & No. 2)
Champion: Team USA (17.5-6.5)
Instagram post
The fifth edition of the Junior Presidents Cup turned into a statement week for the Americans. Played September 20-21 on a custom routing of Medinah Country Club’s Course No. 1 and Course No. 2 in the Chicago suburbs, the event marked the first time the Junior Presidents Cup shared a U.S. venue with the Presidents Cup itself, which followed on Medinah’s Course No. 3. When the dust settled, Team USA had rolled to a 17.5-6.5 victory — the largest margin in the event’s history and a fifth straight Junior Presidents Cup title.
The Cup was effectively decided on Sunday morning, when Matt Kuchar’s Americans swept all six four-ball matches. Rory Asselta and Miles Russell rallied on the back nine to win 1 up, while the pairings of Sam Carraher/Brady Barnum, Jessy Huebner/Giuseppe Puebla, Jaden Soong/Ronin Banerjee, Grant DeLorenzo/Hayes Corcell and Sohan Patel/Grayson Baucom all took full points. The U.S. added another point in afternoon foursomes before storms halted play with the Americans ahead 7-0. When foursomes resumed at 7:30 a.m. Monday, Huebner and Soong quickly pushed the lead to 8-0, and C.T. Pan’s International side finally got on the board when Fernando Saravia and 15-year-old Tomas Del Grosso knocked off Russell and Asselta 2&1. The U.S. took the foursomes session 4-2 to carry a 10-2 lead into singles.
Needing just two points to retain the Cup, the Americans wasted little time in singles. Sam Carraher delivered the clinching point with a 6&5 rout of Saravia, and Grant DeLorenzo matched that margin against Del Grosso. Russell (6&4 over Cooper Moore), Asselta, Puebla, Huebner and Hayes Corcell also won their matches, and Grayson Baucom halved with Jeyi Son. The Internationals showed plenty of fight on Monday — Vietnam’s Tuan Anh Nguyen beat Jaden Soong 4&3, Japan’s Taisei Nagasaki topped Brady Barnum 4&3, China’s Qiyou Wu edged Ronin Banerjee 1 up and Thailand’s Settawut Kenanan took down Sohan Patel 2&1 — but the U.S. still won the session 7.5-4.5.
The U.S. roster was headlined by Miles Russell, the world No. 4 amateur and top-ranked junior in the Rolex AJGA Rankings, alongside returning 2024 team member Ronin Banerjee, Jaden Soong, Jessy Huebner, Giuseppe Puebla, Grayson Baucom, Rory Asselta, Sam Carraher, Hayes Corcell, Grant DeLorenzo, Brady Barnum and captain’s pick Sohan Patel. The International Team, made up entirely of first-time Junior Presidents Cup participants, represented 10 countries — the most in the event’s history — stretching from China, Japan and South Korea to New Zealand, Argentina, Guatemala and Colombia.
With Medinah’s major championship pedigree and the pros arriving right behind them, it was a fitting stage for a U.S. team that left little doubt. And keep an eye on Carraher and Puebla in particular — two weeks after sharing the 36-hole lead at the Junior PLAYERS, both delivered points when it mattered at Medinah, and they figure to be fixtures on stages like this for years to come.
Up Next
ANNIKA Invitational
October 8th - 11th, 2026
The Golf Club of Georgia (Lakeside)
One of the premier fall stops on the girls’ junior schedule moves to a new home in Alpharetta, Georgia, as the ANNIKA Invitational tees off October 8-11 at The Golf Club of Georgia’s Lakeside Course. The AJGA “Major” brings together 72 of the top girls in the world, ages 14 to 18, for 54 holes of stroke play, and the event’s pedigree — backed by the ANNIKA Foundation — has made it a consistent proving ground for the sport’s next stars.
Asterisk Talley returns as the defending champion, having won the 2025 edition at Heathrow Country Club by five shots with rounds of 68-68-68. Talley enters fresh off her breakthrough U.S. Women’s Amateur title in August and a spot on this fall’s Junior Solheim Cup roster, making her the clear headliner as she chases a second straight ANNIKA crown. Clairey Lin, runner-up to Talley in 2025 and the reigning U.S. Girls’ Junior champion, figures to be right there again, along with several other members of this fall’s Junior Solheim Cup roster looking to carry their momentum into the fall stroke-play season.
With the field for the 2026 edition set, expect another deep and competitive leaderboard befitting a tournament that has become one of the crown jewels of the girls’ junior calendar.
The PING Invitational
October 9th - 12th, 2026
Seminole Legacy Golf Club
The PING Invitational heads to a new home this fall, with Seminole Legacy Golf Club in Tallahassee, Florida hosting October 9-12 after two years at The Saticoy Club in California. The tournament called Karsten Creek in Stillwater, Oklahoma home from 2006 through 2022, building a legacy that includes Jordan Spieth, who won the boys’ title there in 2008 and 2010 before going on to a three-time major-winning pro career.
The 54-hole stroke-play event fields 72 competitors across boys’ and girls’ divisions, ages 12 to 19, and annually draws college coaches from programs like Oklahoma, Pepperdine, Stanford and USC. Defending champions Preston Hage and Honorine Ferry, who won last year’s Saticoy edition, will look to defend their titles on a very different test in Tallahassee.
With a deep field expected and a tournament that has produced its share of future stars, The PING Invitational remains one of the most anticipated stops on the fall junior calendar.
2026 “Major” Junior Golf Event Schedule
January
Junior Orange Bowl - Tomas Restrepo & Charlotte Naughton
February
AJGA Simplify Boys Championship - Grayson Baucom
The Fortinet Stanford Invitational - Asterisk Talley
March
Dustin Johnson World Junior - William Lisle & Fay Jia
Junior Invitational at Sage Valley - Miles Russell & Asterisk Talley
April
*no majors contested*
May
Mizuho Americas Open - Aphrodite Deng
AJGA Team TaylorMade Invitational - Luke Ringkamp
The Nelly Invitational presented by Chevron - Vidhi Lakhawala
June
Southern Junior Championship - Neil Jolly
AJGA Wyndham Invitational at Sedgefield - Jessy Huebner
Women’s Western Junior Championship - Iris Lee
Western Junior Championship - Andrew Sciortino
North & South Junior Championship - Alex Elkhomri & Taylor Snively
Rolex Girls Junior Championship - Inseoul (Zoe) Jiamanukoonkit
RLX Ralph Lauren Junior Classic - Rory Asselta & Eliana Saga
July
Wyndham Cup - Team East Retains
U.S. Girls’ Junior Amateur - Clairey Lin
U.S. Junior Amateur - Noah Maclauchlan
Junior PGA Championship - Jaden Soong & Aubrey Hilgers
August
U.S. Women’s Amateur - Asterisk Talley
U.S. Amateur - Jack Whaley
September
Junior Players Championship - JP Lynch
Junior Solheim Cup - Team USA (13-11)
Junior Presidents Cup - Team USA (17.5-6.5)
October
ANNIKA Invitational
The PING Invitational
November
Rolex Tournament of Champions
The Elite Invitational
December
Junior Jones Cup
The Sundae Scoop
Community Spotlight
First Tee – Greater Charleston’s
Kids-Only Course
West Ashley, Charleston, SC
No player profile this month — instead, we’re spotlighting a project that could shape access to the game for an entire generation of Charleston kids. First Tee – Greater Charleston is building a nine-hole golf course where the only membership requirement is being between the ages of 5 and 18.
The 13.8-acre site in West Ashley is built around a refreshingly simple idea: junior golfers, not their parents, hold the membership. Kids ages 5 to 18 can join on their own, though adults are welcome to tag along for a round, but only for accompanied play. The design draws inspiration from the links at North Berwick, Scotland, and comes from architects Brian Schneider and Troy Miller, who routed a nine-hole course to full USGA standards, including the 750-yard length needed for junior members to establish and maintain an official handicap.
An 11,000-square-foot learning center will anchor the campus, giving members access to indoor chipping and putting areas, simulators and launch monitors for swing work in any weather, a nutrition center, and classrooms — built to develop well-rounded young golfers, not just better ball-strikers.
The project is being funded through a $14 million “Fore the Kids” capital campaign that’s already more than 70% of the way to its goal, headlined by a $1 million commitment from founding donor Cartter Lupton. It’s the next chapter for an organization that’s grown from 8 kids in its first year in 2008 to more than 25,000 served annually under CEO Bucky Dudley, with the new course targeting a January 2028 opening.
Dudley says the project is personal, pointing back to “the kids we’ve had to turn away because we didn’t offer enough access.” A kids-only course removes that barrier entirely — no membership committee, no green fees standing between a junior golfer and the first tee.
For those so inclined, a donation link is below to contribute your share of seeing Charleston’s first Kids Course come to life!
We love to feature our passionate Junior golf community. If you have a story, achievement, or event you'd like to share, send us a DM on our Instagram or X (formerly Twitter) @juniorgolfHQ
Until next month…..