2016 N.C. All-State Junior Golf Teams
SOUTHERN PINES, N.C. (January 5, 2017) -- Sixty boys and girls have been named to the 2016 North Carolina All-State Golf Teams by the Tarheel Youth Golf Association (TYGA) and the Carolinas Golf Association (CGA). The N.C. All-State Teams honor those junior golfers who have had the most success in amateur and junior golf tournaments at the local, state, regional and national levels over the past 12 months.
Related: Past All-State Teams
The boys’ first team is led by Nicholas Lyerly of Salisbury, the 2016 N.C. Junior Boys’ Player of the Year. Also named to the first team are AJ Beechler of Pinehurst, Michael Childress of Salisbury, Viraj Garewal of Raleigh, Alex Goff of Kings Mountain, Jack Massei of Cary, Carson Ownbey of Candler, Matthew Sharpstene of Asheville, Fulton Smith of Pinehurst, and Zack Swanson of Waxhaw.
The girls’ first team is led by Gina Kim of Chapel Hill, the 2016 N.C. Junior Girls’ Player of the Year. Also named to the first team are Caroline Cahill of Wilmington, Kathryn Carson of Mooresville, Jennifer Chang of Cary, 2016 Carolinas Junior Girls' Player of the Year Emily Hawkins of Lexington, Rachel Kuehn of Asheville, Emilia Migliaccio of Cary, Natalie Petersen of Holly Springs, Callista Rice of Mars Hill, and Haeley Wotnosky of Wake Forest.
Boys and girls must have played in a minimum of five TYGA N.C. ranking events in the past year to be eligible for this honor. The awards were determined by a combination of each player’s scoring differential and the total points earned in the rankings events.
These outstanding juniors will be honored at N.C. Junior Golf Night on Saturday, January 28, 2017 at Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club in Southern Pines, N.C.
About the Tarheel Youth Golf Association (TYGA)
The Tarheel Youth Golf Association (TYGA), a division of the Carolinas Golf Association, a 501 (c) 3 organization, provides playing opportunities for its members, conducts educational seminars and events, acts as a junior golf informational clearinghouse, provides free USGA handicaps to junior golfers in North Carolina, recruits sponsor clubs that grant junior access to golf facilities in North Carolina, publishes monthly North Carolina junior rankings, and awards Junior Player of the Year and All-State awards to the top juniors in North Carolina. Membership is open to boys and girls who are legal residents of N.C., are 18 years of age and under, and who have not started college.
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