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Players to Watch at NC Junior Girls'
The Carolinas Golf Association will conduct the 19th North Carolina Junior Girls’ Championship at Brook Valley Country Club in Greenville, N.C. Brook Valley CC, an Ellis Maples designed course, is the newest McConnell Golf Property.
While this is the first time Brook Valley CC has hosted the N.C. Junior Girls, it has previously hosted two CGA championships (N.C. Amateur in 1968 and N.C. Four-Ball in 2003) in its 49 year history. Opened in 1966, the club offers a rich history that includes an exhibition match played by legends Sam Snead and Ben Hogan along with prestigious amateur and professional tournaments. Under McConnell Golf’s umbrella, the club’s goal is to breathe life back into the community and become a premier golf course and social hub in the Greenville area. Reopened this past spring, the course and clubhouse have undergone several renovations to preserve its beauty and keep its signature aspects intact.
Each year junior girls from across North Carolina compete in this match play tournament to try and win their state junior title. Some of the past champions include Michelle Jarman, Amber Littman, Haley Hammond, Katherine Perry, Sarah Bae, Lucia Polo and Grace Yatawara.
Five players to watch at this year’s tournament:
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Jessica Spicer of Bahama. Spicer, a rising high school senior, was the 2014 Carolinas Junior Player of the Year and is the reigning champion of the Carolinas Junior Girls’ and Peggy Kirk Bell Junior. Spicer is the sixth ranked junior girl in N.C. and has verbally committed to play college golf at Virginia Tech.
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Catherine Ashworth of Fuquay-Varina. Ashworth, a recent high school graduate, is ranked eighth in N.C. She won the 2014 CGA Twin States Girls’ Championship, the 2015 Peggy Kirk Bell Open and was the runner-up in last fall’s 4A state championship. Ashworth will begin her college career in August playing for the ECU Pirates.
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Sarah Spicer of Bahama. Spicer, the twin sister of Jessica, is also a rising senior at Nothern Durham High School. Spicer recently won the 2015 NC Women's Amateur at Porters Neck CC by seven shots. Last November, Spicer won the Peggy Kirk Bell Girls’ Tour Fall Preview at Forest Oaks Country Club in Greensboro. Spicer is currently ranked number fifth in N.C. and will join her sister playing college golf at Virgina Tech.
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Callista Rice of Mars Hill. Rice, a rising high school junior, won the 2014 CGA Dogwood State Junior and was named second team all-state in 2014. Rice is currently ranked #16 in N.C.
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Haeley Wotnosky of Wake Forest. Wotnosky, a rising high school sophomore, has 11 top-ten finishes over the past 12 months that includes winning last summer’s Precision Golf Girls’ Championship. Wotnosky is ranked #12 in N.C.
Other junior girls to watch are Kathryn Carson of Mooresville; Hailey Freedman of Chapel Hill; Grace Massengill of Hickory; Annie Collom of Charlotte and Meghan Symonds of Cary.
All competitors will play 36-holes of stroke play with the top 16 advancing to the championship flight for four rounds of match play. The remaining eight girls will compete in the tournament flight with three rounds of match play. The Championship flight finals are scheduled for Friday morning, June 19th at 8:00 am. Play begins on Tuesday, June 16 at 8:00 am.
The CGA will post any tournament delays or cancellations via our Twitter account.
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About McConnell Golf
McConnell Golf, founded in 2003, is currently the largest owner of private clubs in the Carolinas. McConnell Golf’s stable of premier private clubs (comprised of 10-18 hole, private golf courses plus one nine-hole course) in North and South Carolina include Raleigh Country Club in Raleigh, N.C., Sedgefield Country Club Ross and Dye Course in Greensboro, N.C., TPC at Wakefield Plantation in Raleigh, N.C., Old North State Club in New London, N.C., Treyburn Country Club in Durham, N.C., The Reserve Golf Club in Pawleys Island, S.C., Musgrove Mill Golf Club in Clinton S.C, Brook Valley Country Club in Greenville, N.C., and The Country Club of Asheville in Asheville, N.C. McConnell Golf also manages the prestigious private Grande Dunes Members Course and Ocean Club in Myrtle Beach for LStar Development.
About the Carolinas Golf Association (CGA)
The CGA is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit educational organization that was founded in 1909 to promote and to protect the game of golf in the Carolinas by providing competitions, education, support and benefits to golf clubs and golfers. The CGA is the second largest golf association in the country with over 700 member clubs represented by nearly 150,000 individuals.
Now in its 106th year, the CGA annually conducts 43 championships and five team match competitions for men, women, juniors, and seniors. It also runs over 140 One-Day (net and gross) events and qualifying for USGA national championships. The CGA serves golf in the Carolinas with numerous programs such as: the USGA Handicap System; tournament management software and support; course measuring and course/slope ratings; agronomy consultation; answers about the Rules of Golf, Rules of Amateur Status, and Handicapping; Carolinas Golf Magazine; Interclub series; Tarheel Youth Golf Association; Carolinas Golf Hall of Fame; expense assistance for USGA Junior and Girls' Junior qualifiers from the Carolinas; and the Carolinas Golf Foundation (CGF). The CGF has distributed more than $1,500,000 since 1977 to benefit Carolinas' golf initiatives including junior and women's programs.
For more information about the CGA, visit www.carolinasgolf.org.