It’s not unusual for some of the girls who tee it up in the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley to show up about 20 miles down the road from Graniteville, S.C. a couple of weeks later in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship.
Nobody would be terribly surprised to see Asterisk Talley, who, as a previous winner, was able to slip on a gold jacket in her size after claiming a three-shot victory over a loaded field in the girls division of this year’s Junior Invitational, which wrapped up Saturday, contend for the title at Augusta National in a couple of weeks.
Not sure how often one of the guys have been able to use the Junior Invitational as a tuneup for The Masters, the first of men’s golf four professional majors, which will tee off at the Augusta National Golf Club five days after the Augusta National Women’s Amateur wraps up April 4.
But there was one this year.
Mason Howell, by virtue of his stunning victory in the U.S. Amateur at The Olympic Club in San Francisco, Calif. in the summer before his senior year of high school, will be in the field for this year’s Masters.
It will be dream come true for a kid from Thomasville, Ga. who will join the program at Georgia in the powerful Southeastern Conference at the end of this summer, to have a starting time in The Masters.
But first he teed it up in the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley. It is a testament to the depth of talent in junior golf these days that Howell will play in the Masters. It is also a testament to the depth of talent in junior golf these days that Howell wasn’t nearly the best player at Sage Valley last week.
That would be Miles Russell, the little left-hander from Jacksonville Beach, Fla. who is No. 10 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) and, for the second year in a row, the wearer of the gold jacket that goes to the winner of the Boys Division in the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley.
The people at Sage Valley have made no secret that they consider the Junior Invitational The Masters of junior golf, right down to the awarding of a jacket, in this case gold, to the winner. And they've largely succeeded.
And Russell just imposed his will on a really talented field, pulling away with a final round of 5-under 67 Saturday for a three-shot victory over Tyler Watts of Huntsville, Ala. Not sure what the yardages were for either the boys or girls, but Sage plays 7,437 yards from the tips, so it was probably closer to 7,000 for the guys and 6,800ish or so for the girls.
Russell has made an oral commitment to play at Florida State, but he won’t graduate high school until 2027, so he can still play junior golf for two more summers if he wants to. Blades Brown was a talented junior player who bypassed college golf and went directly to the pros. He hasn’t reached the PGA Tour yet, but he’s taking some very positive strides.
Can't help but wonder if Russell is thinking about following that path.
Russell opened the proceedings at Sage Valley with a brilliant eight-birdie, no-bogey 8-under 64. When he rattled off four straight birdies at the 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th holes, he was already 8-under for the round.
He could only manage pars the rest of the way.
But this thing wasn’t over, not by a long shot.
Russell cooled off a little in the middle two rounds as he posted a 2-under 70 in Thursday’s second round before matching par in Friday’s third round with a 72.
That left him three shots behind Watts, who is No. 26 in the WAGR and has carved out a pretty spectacular junior career of his own, and a shot behind Howell, who is No. 98 in the WAGR.
Watts was the runnerup in the U.S. Junior Amateur in the summer of 2024 at Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. Last summer, he beat a top field of collegians in the Sunnehanna Amateur, an Elite Amateur Series event with a long history that is played every summer at Sunnehanna Country Club, an A.W. Tillinghast gem in Johnstown.
Watts, who will join the program at Tennessee in the SEC at the end of this summer, had opened with a sparkling 5-under 67 and added a 3-under 69 in Thursday’s second round before adding another 67 in Friday’s third round to get it to 13-under.
Howell had offered a preview of what was to come last summer when he ripped off a pair of 9-under 63s at the Piedmont Driving Club in Atlanta, Ga. to claim a share of medalist honors in a U.S. Open final qualifier.
Howell’s victory in the U.S. Amateur at The Olympic Club earned him a spot on the U.S. team a couple of weeks later in a Walker Cup Match at the iconic Cypress Point Club on northern California’s Monterey Peninsula and got to celebrate an American victory over Great Britain & Ireland.
Howell was right there, just two shots behind Watts going into the final round at Sage Valley after he opened with a 2-under 70 and added a 4-under 68 in Thursday’s second round before getting it to 11-under with a sparkling 5-under 67 in Friday’s third round.
But, much as did in his Junior Invitational victory a year ago, Russell seized the moment in the final round.
Russell made an eagle at the par-5 fourth hole, then birdies at eight and 10 before making another eagle at the par-5 15th. All which made a bogey at the 16th hole not matter as Russell closed with a 5-under 67 that gave him a 15-under 273 total. Russell is the first repeat winner in Junior Invitational history.
Watts finished up a 1-over 73 and settled for runnerup honors with a 12-under 276 total.
Howell struggled to a 4-over 76 in the final round and ended up five shots behind Watts in third place with a 7-under 281 total. Still, he got in some competitive reps against top competition heading into his date at Augusta.
If everything falls into place, golf fans in the Philadelphia area will have two chances to see these three future stars tee it up this year as the U.S. Junior Amateur will be played at Saucon Valley Country Club’s Old Course in Bethlehem, site of three U.S. Senior Opens since 1992, and the U.S. Amateur will be held at Merion Golf Club’s iconic East Course in the Ardmore section of Haverford Township for the seventh time.
Lev Grinberg of Ukraine and Oscar Couilleau of France finished two shots behind Howell in a tie for fourth place, each landing on 5-under 283.
Grinberg, who will join the program at SEC power Arkansas at the end of this summer, closed with a sparkling 5-under 67 to get it to 5-under. Grinberg had opened with a 3-over 75, but added a 3-under 69 in Thursday’s second round and matched par in Friday’s third round with a 72.
Couilleau, who will join the program at Arizona State in the Big 12 at the end of the summer, was steady throughout, matching par with a 72 in the opening round and adding a 2-under 70 in Thursday’s second round and a 1-under 71 in Friday’s third round before closing with another 70.
Luke Ringkamp of Palm Desert, Calif., the runaway winner of the Rolex Tournament of Champions, the marquee event of the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) at TPC San Antonio in November, and Louis Klein, a Class of 2027 competitor from Czechia, finished in a tie for sixth place, each ending up at 4-under 284.
Ringkamp, who will join the program at perennial West Coast Conference power Pepperdine at the end of the summer, matched par with 72s in the first, second and final rounds around a 4-under 68 in Friday’s third round.
Klein had bookend 2-under 70s in the first and final rounds around a 3-over 75 in Thursday’s second round and a 3-under 69 in Friday’s third round.
Ronin Benerjee of Irvine, Calif. finished alone in eighth place with a 3-under 285 total. Banerjee, who plans to join Watts at Tennessee in the summer of 2027, got off to a fast start with a 4-under 68 in the opening round, added a 3-over 75 in Thursday’s second round and matched par in Friday’s third round with a 72 before closing with a solid 2-under 70.
Rounding out the top 10 in the Boys Division at Sage Valley was the pair of Tyler Mawhinney of Fleming Island, Fla. and Guus Lafeber of The Netherlands as they finished in a tie for ninth place, each landing on 2-under 286.
Mawhinney, who teamed with Will Hartman to capture the title in the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship at Plainfield Country Club in Edison, N.J. last spring, added a 1-over 73 in Thursday’s second round to his opening round of 1-under 71, got it going with a 4-under 68 in Thursday’s third round before closing with a 2-over 74.
Mawhinney will follow his Four-Ball partner Hartman to Vanderbilt in the SEC at the end of this summer.
Lafeber, winner of the R&A’s Boys’ Amateur Championship last summer at County Louth Golf Club in Ireland, opened with a 2-under 70 and posted back-to-back 1-under 71s in the second and third rounds before closing a 2-over 74.
Lafeber will join Grinberg in what looks like a pretty good recruiting class at Arkansas at the end of the summer.
When Asterisk Talley captured the title in the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley as a 15-year-old in 2024, it turned out to be the jumping-off point for a remarkable year.
A couple of months later, Talley would get a share of low-amateur honors in the U.S. Women’s Open at Lancaster Country Club.
Talley was the runnerup to Rianne Malixi, the same girl Talley had beaten at Sage Valley, in both the U.S. Girls’ Junior Amateur Championship at El Caballero Country Club in Tarzana, Calif. and the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla.
Representing the United States in the Curtis Cup Match at Sunningdale Golf Club in Berkshire, England, Talley stunned Lottie Woad, then the No. 1 player in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), in a Sunday singles match.
Saturday, Talley became the first two-time winner of the Junior Invitational’s Girls Division, which was added in 2022, with a three-shot victory over Anna Iwanaga of Japan.
Like Russell, the boys champion, Talley is still two summers away from starting her college career. She has made an oral commitment to join the program at Atlantic Coast Conference power Stanford, the top program in Division I women’s golf.
Talley came to Sage Valley at No. 11 in the Women’s WAGR and proceeded to show why she has that lofty ranking.
Talley opened with a 3-under 69, but backed off a little with a 3-over 75 in Thursday’s second round. That left her two shots behind the defending champion, Aphrodite Deng, the native of Canada whose family relocated to Short Hills, N.J. and is No. 12 in the Women’s WAGR, at the halfway point.
Talley recorded a solid 3-under 69 in Friday’s third round that gave her a one-shot lead over Amelie Zalsman of St. Petersburg, Fla. and No. 68 in the Women’s WAGR, going into the final round.
But, in much the same way that Russell did in the Boys Division, Talley was rock solid in the final round. She made birdies on the fourth, eighth, 10th, 14th and 16th holes with nary a bogey on the card for a sparkling 5-under 67 that gave her a 5-under 283 total.
Iwanaga, who is No. 23 in the Women’s WAGR, matched Talley’s final round of 5-under 67 to finish alone in second place, three shots behind Talley with a 5-under 283 total.
Iwanaga, like Talley, a Class of ’27 competitor, bounced back from an opening round of 3-over 74 with a 3-under 69 in Thursday’s second round before adding a 1-over 73 in Friday’s third round.
It was three more shots back to Yujie Liu, a Class of ’28 entry from China and No. 34 in the Women’s WAGR, in third place with a 2-under 286 total. Liu had bookend 2-under 70s in the first and final rounds around a 2-over 74 in Thursday’s second round and an even-par 72 in Friday’s third round.
It was in the summer of 2023 when a 13-year-old Deng showed up at the Moorestown Field Club for the Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia Junior Girls’ Championship and shot 14-under for two days.
Deng’s victory at Sage Valley a year ago set the stage for a big summer that culminated with a really impressive victory in the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship at the Atlanta Athletic Club in Johns Creek, Ga.
Deng, still just a Class of ’28 kid, the equivalent of a high school sophomore, finished in a tie for fourth place with Amelie Zalsman, who plans to join the program at ACC power Wake Forest in the summer of 2027, each ending up three shots behind Liu with a 1-over 289 total.
Deng had the lead at the halfway point with typically consistent rounds as she opened with a 2-under 70 and matched par in Thursday’s second round with a 72. She finished up with a 1-over 73 in Friday’s third round before closing with a 74.
Zalsman, an impressive winner of the South Atlantic Women’s Amateur Championship, better known by its shorthand moniker The Sally, at Oceanside Country Club in Ormond Beach, Fla. in January, had opened with a 3-over 75 and matched par in Thursday’s second round with a 72 before surging in to contention on the strength of a 5-under 67 in Friday’s third round.
Zalsman finished up with a 3-over 75 to join Deng at 1-over.
Anna Fang of San Diego, Calif. and No. 40 in the Women’s WAGR, closed with a solid 1-under 71 to finish alone in sixth place with a 3-over 291 total.
Fang, who plans to join Talley in what’s shaping up to be a really strong freshman class at Stanford in the summer of 2027, struggled a little in the opening round with a 3-over 75. She added a 1-over 74 in Thursday’s second round before matching par in Friday’s third round with a 72.
The next two players on the final leaderboard, Nikki Oh of Torrance, Calif. and Jude Lee of Walnut, Calif., they’re headed for Stanford at the end of this summer. So yeah, the rich are just getting richer at The Farm.
Oh, an impressive winner of the AJGA’s Rolex Tournament of Champions at TPC San Antonio in November, opened with a 2-over 74, matched par in Thursday’s second round with a 72 and signed for steady back-to-back 1-over 73s in the final two rounds to finish in seventh place with a 4-over 292 total.
Lee was four shots behind her future Stanford teammate in eighth place with an 8-over 296 total. After matching par in the opening round with a 72, Lee struggled a little in the middle rounds with a 6-over 78 in Thursday’s second round and a 76 in Friday’s third round. Lee recovered nicely in the final round with her best round of the week, a 2-under 70.
Rayee Feng, another Short Hills, N.J. entry and a senior at the prestigious Pingry School in Bernards Township, N.J., finished a shot behind Lee in ninth place with a 9-over 297 total.
Feng not only qualified for last year’s U.S. Women’s Open at Erin Hills, she made the cut and played the weekend. After opening with a 3-over 75, Feng added a 77 in Thursday’s second round and a 76 in Friday’s third round before righting the ship by matching par in the final round with a 72.
Rounding out the top 10 in the Girls Division was Louise Uma Landgraf of France and No. 47 in the Women’s WAGR as she finished alone in 10th place with an 11-over 299 total.
Looks like ACC power Florida State is getting a good one in Uma Landgraf as she opened with a solid 2-under 70 at Sage Valley, but struggled a little after that, adding a 4-over 76 in Thursday’s second round and a 78 in Friday’s third round before closing with a 75.
Uma Landgraf will join the Seminoles at the end of this summer.
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