Farmingdale, NY - The RLX Ralph Lauren Junior Classic started today with the first two rounds of Pool Play. The 64 player field this year is headlined by 54 past AJGA champions and 29 Rolex Junior All-Americans. The 32 boys and 32 girls are competing in the only match play format event on the AJGA schedule. Seven boys and six of the girls are ranked within the top-25 of the Rolex AJGA Rankings.
17 juniors, eight in the Boys Division and nine in the Girls Division, went undefeated through two matches.
- Wheaton Ennis of Litchfield Park, Arizona
- Will Hartman of Marvin, North Carolina
- Blades Brown of Nashville, Tennessee
- Sterling Hurd of Austin, Texas
- Tyler Mawhinney of Fleming Island, Florida
- Jackson Byrd of Saint Simons Island, Georgia
- William Ma of San Diego, California
- Mason Howell of Thomasville, Georgia
- Lisa Herman of Jenks, Oklahoma
- Jasmine Koo of Cerritos, California
- Lily Peng of San Ramon, California
- Ryleigh Knaub of Debary, Florida
- Yujie Liu of Beijing, China
- Jude Lee of Walnut, California
- Yu-Chu Chen of Allen, Texas
- Kathryn Ha of Roanoke, Virginia
- Sophia Li of New York, New York
No. 1 seed, Wheaton Ennis showed his dominance over his pool by winning 7&6 in the morning over Jackson Ormond of Webster, New York. He won his afternoon match over Daniel Zou of The Woodlands, Texas, 5&3. Ennis is headed to Texas A&M in the fall.
No. 2 seed Megan Meng of Pennington, New Jersey, was upset in her second match of the day where Samantha Chiou of Orinda, California, won 1 up.
Some of the biggest wins of the day included:
- Morning win by Ennis over Ormond at 7&6
- Morning win by Brown over Aidan Dortch of Dallas Texas, at 8&7
- Morning win by Brooks Simmons of Dallas, Texas over Jon Ed Steed of Enterprise, Alabama at 6&4
- Morning win by Ma over Michael Lugiano of Jackson Township, Pennsylvania, 6&5
- Byrd win over Nathan Miller of Dallas, Texas, at 6&5
- Herman win over Lucy Yuan of La Jolla, California, at 5&4
- Liu win over Emma Wang of Palo Alto, California, at 6&5
- Helen Yeung of Clarksville, Maryland, win over Gloria Nip of Port St. Lucie, Florida, at 5&3
Matches to watch Wednesday include:
Boys Division
- Ennis (Pool A), Hartman (Pool B), Brown (Pool C), Byrd (Pool E), Ma (Pool F), Howell (Pool G) all have two points in their pool.
- In Pool D, Sterling Hurd of Austin, Texas, and Mawhinney both have two points
- In Pool H, Chase Hughes of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and Pennson Badgett of Pilot Mountain, North Carolina, lead their pool with one and a half points each. Charles Nelson of Dallas, Texas, is in the mix with one point.
Girls Division
- In Pool A, Jasmine Koo and Lisa Herman have a deciding final match to see who will be the outright winner. A tie would force a playoff between the two.
- In Pool B, Maye Huang of Katy, Texas holds a half point lead over Megan Meng and Samantha Chiou.
Social
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About Bethpage State Park Golf Courses - Black Course
The move of the RLX Ralph Lauren Junior Classic in 2022 to Bethpage Black marks the first time the event is being played on a public course. The Black Course is rich in tradition having hosted three major championships, two FedEx Cup playoff events and the upcoming 2025 Ryder Cup.
The course which opened in 1936 as part of the Depression Era public-works project that build Bethpage State Park burst onto the scene in 2002 with its first hosting of the U.S. Open. It was this year that a young Tiger Woods, who won the Polo Golf Junior Classic in 1991, captured his second U.S. Open title. The Black Course again hosted the U.S. Open in 2009 where AJGA alumni Lucas Glover took home the title. The ‘extremely difficult course’ recommended ‘only for highly skilled golfers’ also hosted the 2012 and 2016 FedEx Cup playoff event, The Barclays. AJGA alumni Brooks Koepka won the 2019 PGA Championship when the course hosted its first major in ten years.
About Polo Ralph Lauren
Polo Ralph Lauren, a premium lifestyle brand, has been a partner for more than three decades. Since 1995, Polo Ralph Lauren has supported junior golfers who become the next generation of college graduates and business leaders. Every week through AJGA social and digital content, Polo Ralph Lauren celebrates the top performances of AJGA members worldwide, through Polo Ralph Lauren #InspiredPerformances . Polo Ralph Lauren has hosted the RLX Ralph Lauren Junior Classic, an Invitational dating back to 1978 and one of the longest-running events in AJGA history.
