Several members of the next generation of future professional golf stars are likely on the Grand Strand this weekend.
The 11th Dustin Johnson World Junior Golf Championship is being played at TPC Myrtle Beach from Friday through Sunday.
The 54-hole tournament will feature 60 boys and 30 girls who are among the top-ranked juniors from around the world and is free for spectators.
The tournament has a strong history of winners.
Among the tournament’s past champions are PGA Tour winners Akshay Bhatia, Nick Dunlap, Michael Brennan and Jacob Bridgeman, who won the Genesis Invitational – a signature tour event – at Riviera Country Club two weeks ago.
Alexa Pano, who earned an LPGA victory on her 19th birthday in 2023, is among the past girls winners.
Dozens of this year’s participants are ranked in the top 100 of The Universal Golf Rankings (TUGR) and/or American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) Rolex Rankings.
Defending boys champion Arrow Aarav Shah of Australia headlines a boys field that includes Cameron Kuchar, the son of nine-time PGA Tour winner Matt Kuchar, and Karl Stenson, the son of 2016 British Open winner Henrik Stenson.
Girls entrants Michelle Xing of Ontario, Canada, Alexa Takai of Honolulu, Hawaii and Alexandra Snyder of Orlando, Florida are all ranked in the TUGR top 25, while Colombian Maria Isabella Errichetto, now of Norfolk, Virginia, will be accompanied by her instructor, former Myrtle Beach area teacher Nick Bradley.
Several participants are committed to some of the top college golf programs in the country, while others may choose to forego college and turn professional as teenagers, as both Bhatia and Pano did.
Johnson, a Coastal Carolina alumnus and LIV Golf member who is the former No. 1 player in the world with two majors and 24 PGA Tour wins, has helped make the tournament elite with not just a world-class field, but pro-like treatment of participants.
Tournament perks for players include names on lockers and placards on the driving range, and live scoring throughout the property.
