The IMG Junior Golf Tour was developed to fill a key niche in junior golf, the IMG Junior Golf Tour provides an elite setting for junior golfers to compete and gain exposure to college golf, professional golf, national junior rankings and athletic excellence.
Held in Florida every December, and open to boys and girls ages 11-18, the the IMG Academy Junior World Florida Challengeis a qualification and invitation only event featuring an international field of over 200 players.News
Thu, Yan, Hastings Break Through at Tour Championship
Season concludes with strong field and competition
The IMG Junior Golf Tour concluded the 2017-18 season at Grand Cypress Resort (New Course) in Orlando, FL. The New Course is Jack Nicklaus’ tribute to the famed Old Course at St. Andrews, Scotland. The Scottish links masterpiece is complete with double greens, stone bridges and walls, gorse mounds and burns and pot bunkers as deep as 12-feet. The New Course is ranked among the Top-20 courses you can play in Florida by Golfweek.
The event drew a competitive field of 90 players from 11 states and 26 countries. After a gloomy, rainy first round the Boys 15-18 division was still tightly contested with five players coming in with under-par scores. Pyae Phyo Thu (Myanmar) fired a (-3) 69 while Kai Ze Ee (Singapore), Justin Grondahl (Portsmouth, NH), Alex Liu (France), and Tony Liu (Lake Mary, FL) all shot (-1) 71.
In the Girls Division, Meiyi Yan (Windermere, FL) shot the overall low round of the day after carding a (-4) 68 to take a four-stroke lead over Maria Beatriz Arizaga (E) 72 heading into the final round.
The Boys 11-14 Division saw Justin Hastings (Cayman Islands) post a first round score of (-2) 70 and cushion himself with a five-stroke lead over Qilin Yu (China), who shot a (+3) 75.
Sunday’s final round brought better weather and more red numbers to the scoreboard. In the Boys 15-18 Division, Pyae Phyo Thu was able to hold on to first place after shooting a final round (-2) 70 for a weekend total of (-5) 139. Justin Grondahl (-3) 141 and Ugen Dorji (-2) 142 rounded out the top three.
Meiyi Yan claimed the Girls Division title after coming in with a final round score of (E) 72 to sit atop the leaderboard at (-4) 140. Thin-Wai Khaing (Myanmar) and Agustina Gomez Cisterna (Argentina) finished second and third, respectively.
Justin Hastings cruised to win the Boys 11-14 Division after a final round of (E) 72 put him at (-2) 142 overall and 12 strokes ahead of runner-up Qilin Yu.
Player of the Year accolades were also awarded to the players in each division that accumulated the most points across the entire tour season.
· Boys 15-18 Player of the Year: Pyae Phyo Thu (Myanmar)
· Boys 11-14 Player of the Year: Justin Hastings (Cayman Islands)
· Girls 15-18 Player of the Year: Thin-Wai Khaing (Myanmar)
· Girls 11-14 Player of the Year: Kokoro Ouchi (Japan)
The IMG Junior Golf Tour will return to action in the Fall of 2018 with a scheduled release of event dates in early July.
To view complete results across all divisions from the Tour Championship, click HERE.
To view overall season points standings, click HERE.
