Inaugural Major Champions Invitational Preview

The inaugural Major Champions Invitational is a team event consisting of junior (and some college) golfers from around the world, and will be played March 12 - 14 at the Bella Collina Golf Course in Montverde, Florida.  Nick Faldo, whose Faldo Series global junior golf events are eligible for players in the age range of 12 to 21, has used his experience in running the Faldo Series to begin this new event.  "The event provides major champions an opportunity to mentor and inspire the next generation of players while giving back to the game."  Teams are made up of 4 players and will use the top 3 scores in each of 4 rounds (much like the college games "5-count-4") to determine which team wins.  Individual male and female winners will be determined on their respective 72-hole scores.

Team Ballesteros is lead by a couple of college players in Paula Neira Garcia (Georgia) and Paz Marfa Sans (Michigan State), along with Alejandro Aguilera Martin - who has signed with TCU and has played in many major junior golf events in Europe and the United States.  Paula won the 2017 Spanish Amateur.  Alejandro recently placed T25 in the Dustin Johnson World Junior last month in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  He's also played in the Doral-Publix Junior Classic and the prestigious Junior Invitational at Sage Valley.

Perhaps no player has a better resume in the field then Lauren Stephenson, a junior at Alabama.  You probably remember the name from last years U.S. Women's Amateur, where she lost in the quarterfinals, after going 12 playoff holes in that match.  She was a 2nd-team All-American last year, and will most likely be named to the U.S. Arnold Palmer Cup team this Wednesday.  She is also on the ANNIKA Award watch list.  The South Carolina native is joined on Team Dustin Johnson by another South Carolinian who's built a pretty solid junior resume himself, in Trent Phillips.  Trent has been assaulting the South Carolina junior golf record books (removing his team's namesake, Dustin Johnson, off many of those records).  He's won amateur events and was a member of the inaugural Junior Presidents Cup team, last September. He has signed to golf for Georgia.  Another member of the team is Grayson Wotnosky, who recently finished 5th in the Dustin Johnson World Junior.  The 2020 prospect has many high finishes over the past 6 months.

Team Faldo has one of the best young players in Lily May Humphreys, who won this past years Junior Orange Bowl.  Herik Machado won the Faldo Series Grand Finale last year.  And, Amelia Rose Garvey is a mid-year enrollee at Southern California. In 2015, she became the second youngest player to win a professional tournament in New Zealand behind LPGA star Lydia Ko after capturing the Sir Bob Charles Tour Autex Muriwai.

Another player who won a major event at the end of 2017 was Team Nicklaus' Yealimi Noh, who captured the Joanne Winter Silver Belle Amateur Championship.  The 2nd-team Rolex Junior All-American is among the top 2019 players and has committed to play at UCLA.  Joining her on Team Nicklaus is Akshay Bhatia, another member of the inaugural Junior Presidents Cup team, last September.  Akshay competes more than just about any junior golfer.  His highlight in the past year was winning the Junior PGA Championship.  But, he was just a shot out of the playoff to Monday qualify at the RSM Classic, on the PGA Tour.  Stanford signee Daulet Tuleubayev finished 4th to Akshay at the Junior PGA and has had a very good junior golf career.

The 2017 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball champs lead Team Pate, Ben Wong and Frankie Capan.  (This is a stroke play event, where everyone plays their own ball).  Frankie is coming off a win at the inaugural Gator Invite, just his second event back after a long layoff from injury.  Before his injury hiatus, which first occurred at the Four-Ball, Frankie helped Team USA win the Toyota Junior Golf World Cup.  The Alabama signee, Frankie was also the individual medalist at the World Cup.  Ben has been a top 5 machine in AJGA invitationals the past year, winning the Junior PLAYERS at TPC Sawgrass.  Ben will play college golf at SMU next fall.

Team Sorenstam is lead by Amanda Linner, a 2020 prospect from Sweden ranked 25th in the WAGR.  She was a 2017 participant of the PING Junior Solheim Cup and has experience in women's Professional events, as well.  Harvard signee Elizabeth Wang and TCU Valeria Sofia Pacheco join Amanda on this all female team.  Elizabeth finished 2nd at the Joanne Winter Silver Belle Amateur Championship.  Valeria finished T5 at the Junior Orange Bowl.  Jiayi Wang rounds out Team Sorenstam and is a 2022 player, who has played well in AJGA Junior All-Star events.

Below are each Major Champions team (plus individuals), note where applicable, I have included the players World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) and their top junior golf class ranking. Where high school graduation year is unknown, I've provided their age.