Junior Presidents Cup - Standings: First Look

This year's 2017 Presidents Cup at Liberty National Golf Club will include a second competition, the inaugural Junior Presidents Cup - to be played at Plainfield Country Club on Sept. 25-26 in Edison, New Jersey.  The PGA TOUR has partnered with the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) to start a new international competition between junior golfers from around the world. Teams will be led by Honorary Captains Jack Nicklaus (Team USA), and Gary Player (International Team). The U.S. Team will be captained by David Toms, while the International Team will be led by Trevor Immelman.

The 12 player United States team will consist of the top 11 qualified players in the AJGA Rankings on August 3, 2017.  Those rankings will consist of points earned from August 1, 2016, through the end of the Junior PGA that day, August 3.  Points are awarded from AJGA events and select additional events that the AJGA uses in compiling their rankings, listed here.  The final player will be chosen on September 6, 2017, using ranking points from September 5, 2016, through The Junior PLAYERS Championship presented by TaylorMade-adidas Golf, which will conclude on September 3, 2017.

Below, I've compiled a list of the current Top 50 as of March 1st, removing 2017 high school graduates (who if they are on a college team, will not be considered) and foreign players.  My list may include some players that are not current with all requirements to be chosen but have point averages that qualify. This would explain some of the differences you would see between my list, and that of the AJGA Priority List.  I've also removed all points earned from tournaments prior to August 1, 2016, since those eventually will not be used.  Total Points that include an asterisk (*) indicate the player has bonus points added.  The Average Points column uses AJGA's ranking standard of dividing by 6, if a player does not have at least 6 qualifying tournaments.  (Most players below, fall into that category).

The current team is highlighted by the blue rows in the table.  Not surprisingly, the #1 ranked Junior Golfer (and #9 in the WAGR, which will be used in cases of ties for the 11th and 12th spots), Noah Goodwin, tops the list.  When asked his thoughts about playing in the inaugural Junior Presidents Cup, following his win at last month's first AJGA Invitational (CB&I / Simplify Boys Championship) of the year played at Carlton Woods just north of Houston, Goodwin said, "Junior President Cup is definitely a goal. Whenever you have an opportunity to play for your country, it's a great honor."  The 2018 commit to Southern Methodist University is practically a lock to qualify, with his current point total.

Most players in Houston, and the following week at the Dustin Johnson Junior World Championship (which does not award AJGA ranking points) in Myrtle Beach, where unaware of the selection process.  Many were surprised at where they currently stood, since their current AJGA ranking was not very high.  One player, just outside the top 12 is Jacob Bridgeman, from Inman, SC.  The 2018 verbal commit to Clemson University said, "I've never played an AJGA event before."  But, his 97.67 points earned from a T3 at last year's Trusted Choice Big I National Championship, and runner-up at the Bobby Chapman Junior Invitational, has him currently in 14th place.

Another player, Trent Phillips, also of Inman, SC and a 2018 University of Georgia commit, will be looking at April's Junior Invitational at Sage Valley, and May's Scott Robertson Memorial tournaments to add to his point total, before finalizing a summer schedule that could include more AJGA events.  He is currently in a tie for 8th, with Patrick Welch, a 2018 player from Rhode Island who teamed with Noah Goodwin on last year's victorious Junior Ryder Cup team.  Welch, a 3 sport star, is planning to skip baseball this spring, to concentrate more on golf.  After going undefeated at the Junior Ryder Cup, he would love to make the Junior Presidents Cup team.

The third and final Junior Ryder Cup player eligible, a 2018 verbal commit to the University of Florida is Eugene "The Machine" Hong. Despite being the 3rd highest-ranked American junior golfer in the WAGR, the two-time United States Junior Amateur semifinalist, is on the outside at 17th in the standings.  He'll also have a chance to improve his standings at the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley and is the defending champion at the Haas Family Invitational presented by BB&T.  In other words, the 4th ranked player will have many opportunities work his way up the list.

Another name to watch this summer is last year's US Junior Amateur stroke play medalist, Travis Vick.  The 2019 high school graduate is another multi-sport star in high school, playing football in the fall, and currently getting his baseball season under way.  This prevents him from playing as often as others, but he too will be at Sage Valley, and surely many more tournaments this summer.  He is currently 54th in the standings.  If he were to qualify for the team, he'd miss some Texas high school football next fall.

When looking at the current standings - Georgia, LSU and Texas would each have 2 representatives.  Florida, Kentucky, SMU and UCLA all have 1 player each.  I should probably explain how Nick Cassidy, the 2019 Georgia pledge, would jump into the 12th spot.  After the top 11 players listed below, I subtracted out August 2016 points and Nick's average becomes 14.37 points, just ahead of Andrew Lewis' 14.02 points.  The 2018 Purdue commit barely loses out for the last spot - but, luckily, has 6 more months of tournament golf to improve his standing.  

With all the moving parts, and so many big events yet to be played, this list will be very fluid.  I don't think many players will be able to "sit on their ranking".  I fully expect a great race to play out this summer to accumulate points and improve their rankings.

(* indicates player has "bonus" points added)