Southern Pines, NC-The Tarheel Youth Golf Association (TYGA) and the Carolinas Golf Association (CGA) will award the 2024 North Carolina Junior Players of the Year and North Carolina All-State honors to those who have established themselves as the state’s best junior golfers during 2024.

The Junior Player of the Year awards will recognize one boy and one girl who had the most successful year in junior golf events at local, state and national levels.

The All-State teams will include the top 30 boys and girls from the TYGA NC Junior Rankings. The top ten boys and girls on the first team, second ten boys and girls on the second team and 21-30 on the third team. 

The following criteria must be met to be eligible:

• Must have played a minimum of five TYGA ranked events in 2024.
• Must be 18 years of age or younger as of December 31, 2024.
• Must not have graduated from high school.
• Must be a full time resident of North Carolina

The all-state awards will be determined by a combination of each player’s scoring differential and the total points earned in the rankings events.

These exceptional juniors will be honored at the N.C. Junior Golf Night Awards Banquet on Saturday, February 8, 2024, at Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club in Southern Pines, NC Knollwood Hall.  Formal invitations to the banquet will be mailed the first week of January 2024.

Southern Pines, NC – October 29, 2024 – The Carolinas Golf Association will be implementing a new tiered system in 2025 for the Carolinas Junior Golf Rankings.  The tiered rankings system will provide a clearer distinction between events. With this update, elite amateur events and state/regional amateur tournaments will be included in the Carolinas Junior Rankings.

“After extensive research, we’ve addressed minor issues in our current system, and believe the transition to a tiered approach will simplify the rankings while improving accuracy,” said Chris Zeh, Director of Junior Golf. “Our goal is to create a ranking that better reflects junior golf in the Carolinas and promotes continued participation in the game of golf.”

Events will be classified into different tiers based on their strength of competition level and event history, making the ranking process more straightforward for parents and junior golfers.   The simplified framework aims to help them select appropriate events for their playing ability.

These changes aim to better reflect the competitive landscape of junior golf in the Carolinas and ensure that all eligible events within our region contribute to a player’s overall ranking.   The tiered ranking system will take effect in January 2025, event tiers will be announced in early December.

Key Updates:

• New Tiered Structure: Events will be placed in specific tiers, allowing families to easily assess the competition level for each tournament.
• Inclusion of Elite and State/Regional Amateur Events: These events will now contribute to the rankings, encouraging players to compete in a wide range of tournaments.
• Effective January 1, 2025

For more information about the updated junior golf ranking system please visit https://www.carolinasgolf.org/images/CarolinasGolf/site/tourn/2025/info/juniorrankingsfaq2025.pdf or contact Chris Zeh at 910-687-6868

Tarheel Youth Golf Association Announces Exciting Changes to the TYGA Bill Harvey Memorial Junior

Southern Pines, NC – The Tarheel Youth Golf Association is thrilled to announce changes to the format of the TYGA Bill Harvey Memorial Tournament, expanding the event to 54-Holes. This year’s event will be played at Colonial Country Club in Thomasville, NC on November 2-3. The change aims to provide junior players with experience in playing a college-style golf tournament, with 36-holes being played on the first day of the tournament and 18 holes on the second.

The course will be adjusted to mirror the conditions typically encountered in collegiate-level play, including challenging hole locations, longer yardages, and in-season college weather. This adjustment ensures that players can experience a realistic college tournament environment. The event will receive rankings for the Carolinas Junior Rankings, Junior Golf Scoreboard and the World Amateur Golf Rankings.

The Bill Harvey Memorial Junior was created in memory of the late Bill Harvey who left a lasting mark on golf in the Carolinas during his long and distinguished amateur career. Mr. Harvey spent more than 40 years playing tournament golf, amassing more than 300 titles and earning places in both the Carolinas Golf and Guilford County Sports halls of fame. Mr. Harvey won eight CGA championships including three Carolinas Amateur titles (1964, ‘65, ‘73), three Carolinas Four-Ball wins (1960, ‘64, ‘66), Carolinas Senior Amateur (1990) and the North Carolina Amateur (1966). He also played in 18 U.S. Amateur Championships and won the following tournaments during his career: North Carolina Open, American Amateur Classic, Dixie Amateur, Porter Cup, Dogwood Invitational, National Tournament of Champions (six times) and the Rice Planters (twice). Mr. Harvey spent a lifetime sharing his love of the game with countless others keeping golf fun for all to enjoy.

Bill is survived by his son Scott who had this to say "My father had a special place in his heart for kids that loved the game of golf. He would go out of his way to help kids any time he could, and to have the Carolinas Golf Association honor him with a big junior event in his name is something that I know he would be very proud to be a part of." 

More details can be found on the tournament homepage:  https://cga.golfgenius.com/pages/4759568

SOUTHERN PINES, N.C. (January 25, 2024) - North Carolina is annually home to some of the strongest junior golfers in the country and each year, one girl and one boy are named the North Carolina Junior Players of the Year each year by the Tarheel Youth Golf Association (TYGA) and Carolinas Golf Association (CGA).

Jenna Kim of Raleigh, N.C., and Will Hartman of Marvin, N.C., have earned this distinguished honor for 2023 by having a successful year in junior golf events at the local, state, regional, and national levels.

 

JUNIOR GIRLS'

Jenna Kim showed excellent consistency and dominant play over her 2023 season, highlighted by an astounding seven junior victories and eleven top-10 finishes in sixteen events. Her list of wins is highlighted by the 14-year-old winning the 2023 Carolinas Women's Amateur Championship from North Ridge Country Club over extremely strong competition.

Her additional wins included, most notably, the 2023 Carolina Junior Girls' Championship from Rock Hill Country Club, the PKBGT Masters, the Carolinas Junior Girls PGA, AJGA Greenwood Junior Championship, Short Par 4 Girls Palmetto, TYGA 2023 Pinecrest Girls HS Invitational, and the NCISAA Girls' State Championship.

Kim's Other notable finishes included second place at the 2023 Vicki DiSantis Junior Girls' Championship and at the TYGA North State Junior Girls' High School Challenge. She also finished third at the PKBGT National Spring Bell Invitational, fourth place at the AJGA Hilton Head Junior, and seventh at the AJGA Matthew NeSmith Junior Championship.

 

JUNIOR BOYS'

Will Hartman had a hectic and successful season on the junior golf circuit, including victories at the SCJGA 29th Annual Bobby Chapman and the TYGA North State High School Challenge from the Country Club of Salisbury to claim the 2023 Carolinas Junior Boy's Player of the Year.

On the national scale, a major accomplishment was his semi-finalist finish at the 2023 US Junior Boys' Championship from Daniel Island Club's Ralston Creek Course and fifth place at the 2023 Junior PGA Championship from Hot Springs Country Club.

Added to that were a second-place finish at the Carmel Country Club High School Shootout and a third-place finish at the AJGA Junior Players Championship by Rolex. Other notable finishes were his fourth place at the AJGA Team Taylormade Invitational and seventh at the Palmetto High School Championship. Hartman, a 2025 high school graduate, has verbally committed to playing golf at Vanderbilt University.

 

The Player of the Year awards are determined by a combination of each player's tournament scoring differential and the total points earned in the TYGA North Carolina Junior Rankings from January 1, 2023, through December 31, 2023, and who have not started college.

 

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 any boy or girl who are legal residents of N.C.; are 18 years of age and under; and who have not started college. 

 

About the Carolinas Golf Association (CGA)

The CGA is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit educational organization founded in 1909 to promote and protect the game of golf in the Carolinas by providing competitions, education, support, and benefits to golf clubs and golfers. The CGA is one of the top 5 golf association in the country, with over 700 member clubs representing over 200,000 individuals.

The CGA annually conducts 48 championships and five team match competitions for men, women, juniors, and seniors. It also runs over 150 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; the 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 over $2,700,000 since 1977 to benefit Carolinas' golf initiatives, including junior and women's programs.

For more information about the Carolinas Golf Association, follow @cgagolf1909 on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok, or visit our website www.carolinasgolf.org

 

 

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