Rosters finalized for 26th annual Wyndham Cup
Forty junior golfers to compete in team match play event at Old Town Club in Winston-Salem, North Carolina
BRASELTON, Ga. – The two 20-player rosters have been set for the 26th annual Wyndham Cup, which will be contested at Old Town Club in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, July 27-30.
Since 1990, Wyndham Cup has brought together 40 of the country’s top junior golfers in an East-versus-West team match play tournament. With the Mississippi River as the boundary between the two teams, 10 boys and 10 girls from each side are selected based on the Polo Golf Rankings, which reward top finishes in national junior golf tournaments.
The West Team leads the all-time series with a 13-9-3 record, and two of the last three Wyndham Cups have ended in a 25-25 tie. The East retained the Cup with a tie in 2012 at Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Club & Lodge in Orlando, Florida, while the West won in 2013 and then retained possession of the Cup after playing to a stalemate in 2014 at Old Sandwich Golf Club in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
Alumni of the Wyndham Cup West Team include Rickie Fowler, Hunter Mahan, Ryan Moore, Jordan Spieth, Tiger Woods, Amanda Blumenherst, Kellee Booth, Paula Creamer and Grace Park. For the East Team, former players include Matt Kuchar, Patrick Reed, Patrick Rodgers, Webb Simpson, Justin Thomas, Bubba Watson, Beth Bauer, Cristie Kerr, Brittany Lincicome, Morgan Pressel and Lexi Thompson.
Wyndham Cup will feature five formats: four-ball, mixed four-ball, foursomes, mixed foursomes and singles. A total of 50 points is available, and every player competes in singles matches and three of the four other formats.
The official tournament practice round will be played Monday, July 27, while morning and afternoon matches will be played July 28-29. The competition will conclude with 20 singles matches on Thursday, July 30.
Since 2011, Wyndham Worldwide has supported the Wyndham Cup, and in 2014, Wyndham Worldwide announced it would endow an Achieving Competitive Excellence (ACE) Grant to support talented junior golfers who lack the financial resources to play a national junior golf schedule.
Wyndham Cup marks the second AJGA Invitational to be played in the Piedmont Triad in 2015, as the FJ Invitational was played in Greensboro at Sedgefield Country Club in June. The Wyndham Championship is a presenting sponsor of the FJ Invitational and Wyndham Cup, and it was instrumental in bringing Wyndham Cup to Old Town Club.
For more information about Wyndham Cup, please contact Chris Richards (crichards@ajga.org) at 678-425-1788, or visit ajga.org.
About the West Team
The West Team is highlighted by the two record-setting winners of the Rolex Tournament of Champions – Philip Barbaree of Shreveport, Louisiana, and Hannah O’Sullivan of Chandler, Arizona. Barbaree carded 24 birdies, one eagle, and just two bogeys during his 24-under-par performance at Sunriver Resort’s Crosswater Course, setting the AJGA 72-hole scoring record. Barbaree, 17, is a two-time Rolex Junior All-American and will be making his Wyndham Cup debut in 2015.
For O’Sullivan, the six-stroke victory was another major accomplishment during her 2015 campaign. In addition to wins at the Rolex Tournament of Champions, Rolex Girls Junior Championship and Winn Grips Heather Farr Classic hosted by Longbow Golf Club, she also became the youngest winner in Symetra Tour history when she won the Gateway Classic at Longbow Golf Club in February. O’Sullivan, 17, has compiled a 4-3-1 record in two previous Wyndham Cup appearances.
Sam Burns of Shreveport, Louisiana, is the top-ranked player in the Polo Golf Rankings, and he has tallied a 6-2-0 record in his two previous Wyndham Cup appearances. He has finished in the top 10 in each of his last 10 AJGA tournaments, including victories at the 2015 Thunderbird International Junior and the 2014 Rolex Tournament of Champions.
In addition to O’Sullivan and Burns, four other players are returning to the Wyndham Cup West Team: Brad Dalke of Hobart, Oklahoma (2011-2014); Nathan Jeansonne of Keithville, Louisiana (2014); Kaitlyn Papp of Austin, Texas (2014); and Kathleen Scavo of Benicia, California (2013).
West Team Roster
Boys
Philip Barbaree, Shreveport, La. (2017)
Sam Burns, Shreveport, La. (2015)
Brad Dalke, Hobart, Okla. (2015)
Ryan Grider, Lewisville, Texas (2017)
Nathan Jeansonne, Keithville, La. (2015)
Gordon Neale, Dove Canyon, Calif. (2015)
Spencer Soosman, Westlake Village, Calif. (2016)
Matthew Wolff, Agoura Hills, Calif. (2017)
Norman Xiong, Canyon Lake, Calif. (2017)
Hidetoshi Yoshihara, Irvine, Calif. (2016)
Girls
Alyaa Abdulghany, Newport Beach, Calif. (2017)
Youngin Chun, Austin, Texas (2018)
Hailee Cooper, Montgomery, Texas (2018)
Cheyenne Knight, Aledo, Texas (2015)
Stephanie Lau, Fullerton, Calif. (2015)
Haley Moore, Escondido, Calif. (2016)
Hannah O’Sullivan, Chandler, Ariz. (2016)
Kaitlyn Papp, Austin, Texas (2017)
Kathleen Scavo, Benicia, Calif. (2015)
Xinying Wang, Pleasanton, Calif. (2017)
About the East Team
Six of the 10 girls on the East Team return from 2014, and these girls have a combined 10 years of Wyndham Cup experience. Sierra Brooks of Sorrento, Florida, will compete in her fourth Wyndham Cup, and the four-time Rolex Junior All-American will enter with a strong match-play record. She won the 2014 Polo Golf Junior Classic, tallied a 2-1-0 record for the victorious Junior Ryder Cup team in 2014, and has a 6-5-1 record in her three previous Wyndham Cups.
Rachel Dai of Milton, Georgia, and Bailey Tardy of Norcross, Georgia, will compete in their third Wyndham Cups, while the other returning players are Shannon Brooks of Vienna, Virginia, Jillian Hollis of Rocky River, Ohio, and Lauren Stephenson of Lexington, South Carolina.
Emilia Migliaccio of Cary, North Carolina, will be the lone player to compete in her home state. Migliaccio has two top-10 finishes in 2015, including a win at the Scott Robertson Memorial. A two-time AJGA champion, she is currently No. 27 in the Polo Golf Rankings and has verbally committed to Wake Forest University.
On the boys’ side, Davis Shore of Knoxville, Tennessee, has built momentum heading into his first Wyndham Cup. In June, the 16-year-old won the Toyota Music City Junior with an 18-under-par 198 total, the third-best 54-hole score in AJGA history. He followed it up with a T11 showing at the FJ Invitational, and he is currently No. 15 in the Polo Golf Rankings.
Yechun (Carl) Yuan of Lake Mary, Florida, played on the East Team in 2013 and is the only boy with past Wyndham Cup experience, while Gabriel Lench of Lake Mary, Florida, is the highest-ranked boy on the team at No. 7 in the Polo Golf Rankings.
East Team Roster
Boys
Garrett Barber, Stuart, Fla. (2018)
Eugene Hong, Sanford, Fla. (2018)
Won Jun Lee, Wesley Chapel, Fla. (2017)
Andrew Kozan, Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. (2017)
S.M. Lee, Buford, Ga. (2016)
Gabriel Lench, Lake Mary, Fla. (2015)
Davis Shore, Knoxville, Tenn. (2017)
Braden Thornberry, Olive Branch, Miss. (2015)
Cameron Young, Scarborough, N.Y. (2015)
Yechun (Carl) Yuan, Lake Mary, Fla. (2015)
Girls
Sierra Brooks, Sorrento, Fla. (2016)
Shannon Brooks, Vienna, Va. (2015)
Rachel Dai, Milton, Ga. (2015)
Maddie Rose Hamilton, Louisville, Ky. (2015)
Jillian Hollis, Rocky River, Ohio (2015)
Maria Hoyos, Howey-in-the-Hills, Fla. (2017)
Emilia Migliaccio, Cary, N.C. (2017)
Lauren Stephenson, Lexington, S.C. (2015)
Bailey Tardy, Norcross, Ga. (2015)
Ana Paula Valdes, Bluffton, S.C. (2016)
About Wyndham Worldwide
One of the world’s largest hospitality companies, Wyndham Worldwide (NYSE: WYN) provides a wide range of hospitality services and products through its global portfolio of world-renowned brands. The world’s largest hotel company based on the number of properties, Wyndham Hotel Group is home to many of the world’s best-known hotel brands, with over 7,670 franchised hotels and over 667,000 hotel rooms worldwide. Wyndham Exchange & Rentals is the worldwide leader in vacation exchange and the world’s largest professional manager of vacation rentals business, providing more than 5 million leisure-bound families annually with access to over 109,000 vacation properties in over 100 countries through its prominent exchange and vacation rental brands. The industry and timeshare ownership market leader, Wyndham Vacation Ownership develops, markets, and sells vacation ownership interests and provides consumer financing to owners through its network of 210 vacation ownership resorts serving approximately 904,000 owners throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and the South Pacific. Based in Parsippany, NJ, Wyndham Worldwide employs over 34,000 associates globally.
For more information, please visit www.wyndhamworldwide.com.
About the AJGA
The American Junior Golf Association is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to the overall growth and development of young men and women who aspire to earn college golf scholarships through competitive junior golf. The AJGA provides valuable exposure for college golf scholarships, and has an annual junior membership (boys and girls, ages 12-18) of more than 6,300 members from 48 states and more than 50 foreign countries. Through initiatives like the Achieving Competitive Excellence (ACE) Grant, a financial assistance program, and Leadership Links, a service-oriented platform that teaches juniors charitable-giving skills, the AJGA fosters the growth of golf’s next generation.
Titleist, the AJGA’s National Sponsor, has been the catalyst and driving force behind the Association’s success since 1989. Rolex, which is in its fourth decade of AJGA support, became the inaugural AJGA Premier Partner in 2004. In 2007, after 12 years of support, Ralph Lauren became the AJGA’s second Premier Partner.
AJGA alumni have risen to the top of amateur, collegiate and professional golf. Former AJGA juniors have compiled more than 600 victories on the PGA and LPGA Tours. AJGA alumni include Jordan Spieth, Brandt Snedeker, Bubba Watson, Webb Simpson, Hunter Mahan, Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods, Stacy Lewis, Vicky Hurst, Inbee Park, Paula Creamer, Cristie Kerr, Brittany Lincicome and Morgan Pressel.