Junior Invitational at Sage Valley 2025

[leezer99]

Great to see that invites have gone out and that CW, the needle mover in junior golf will be there! 
 

 

[Tugu]

2 minutes ago, leezer99 said:

Great to see that invites have gone out and that CW, the needle mover in junior golf will be there! 
 

 

More than a few of the regulars on this forum have clearly stated they are ok with pay for play. If this is the case, CW at the Sage should not shock nor elicit calls of unfairness. Just another commercial transaction.

[wegobomber31]

The 182 ball speed might be the fastest the event has seen since Potgieter.

[LawGenius305]

More proof it is about who you know rather than what you know. This kid does not deserve this based on playing ability. He struggles just competing amongst peers in south Florida.

Edited February 17 by LawGenius305

[Tugu]

1 hour ago, wegobomber31 said:

The 182 ball speed might be the fastest the event has seen since Potgieter.

Only 2 mph faster than the self proclaimed 180 mph ball speed Princeton commit right now playing at the Simplify.😉

Edited February 17 by Tugu

[leezer99]

2 hours ago, Tugu said:

Only 2 mph faster than the self proclaimed 180 mph ball speed Princeton commit right now playing at the Simplify.😉

Min Woo Lee hit a 178 mph 3w on TGL today. (As measured by the Full Swing machine)

[LOB-Dwight]

I'm fine with CW getting an invite, this is life.  I'm surprised Tiger and Charlie accepted it.  Maybe if my kid was the last man out I'd feel differently.....Lot's of pressure on CW to perform sooner than later. Based on TUGR relative strokes, he should shoot about 8 shots worse on average per day than the top kids in the field.  

[leezer99]

10 minutes ago, LOB-Dwight said:

I'm fine with CW getting an invite, this is life.  I'm surprised Tiger and Charlie accepted it.  Maybe if my kid was the last man out I'd feel differently.....Lot's of pressure on CW to perform sooner than later. Based on TUGR relative strokes, he should shoot about 8 shots worse on average per day than the top kids in the field.  

I’m not looking at the invite list but are there any glaring omissions?

[wegobomber31]

50 minutes ago, leezer99 said:

I’m not looking at the invite list but are there any glaring omissions?

Chase Kyes, Kihei Akina and Adam Villanueva are highest ranked kids not in the field. Akina would’ve been invited from his Nike win last year and I believe he was in the field at one point.  
 

Sage Valley are covering travel costs, accommodations and giving up their course for the week. They can invite whomever they want. I do wish they did have at least some stated exemption criteria given there is a U.S. Junior exemption on the line, but every tournament is going to have at least one or two questionable names in the field. 
 

it was discussed here before, but Simplify did have a local qualifier for three spots into Simplify, and from what I could tell, one spot had to go to the lowest member kid from the club. And the organizers have given their grandson a spot in the field the past three years (and he’s finished around 55th each year). You could say that these kids are taking away spots from other more deserving kids, but what if that’s the trade-off for the event being held in the first place? These events would wither on the vine without the above-and-beyond effort of the tournament organizers and support of the host clubs. 

As far as Charlie goes, he’s got a couple tough tests ahead of him in the next month or so. It seems maybe a year too early for him (there are only 2 US 2027’s in the JI field) to being playing at this level of competition, and there’s a good chance that he will be near the bottom of the leaderboard, but there’s also a train of thought that the experience, good or bad, could help him in the long run. 

Edited February 17 by wegobomber31

[LOB-Dwight]

moved to Simplify thread. 🙃

Edited February 18 by LOB-Dwight

[LawGenius305]

So I see Charlie also got the undeserved invite to the DJ as well. Bummer for kids that deserved it and didn't get in. 

 

https://worldjuniorgolfchampionship.com/2025-field/

[golfdad1]

25 minutes ago, LawGenius305 said:

So I see Charlie also got the undeserved invite to the DJ as well. Bummer for kids that deserved it and didn't get in. 

 

https://worldjuniorgolfchampionship.com/2025-field/

I'm okay with the DJ invite (even though not deserved), but NOT Sage Valley. That is the tournament that every jr wants to get to, and has always been solely for the top players in the world (minus questionable int'l invites). Feel bad for the deserving kid whose spot he undeservedly took, esp if it's his last year of eligibility.

[jigsaw1011]

The field I saw for Sage Valley had CW as the 37th player.  Usually the field is 36 so perhaps he didn't take a spot per se? Either way, no business being there.  

 

Can't help but think of Tiger's speech at his induction to the Hall of Fame, "Everything has to be earned."

[machine_cat]

1 hour ago, golfdad1 said:

I'm okay with the DJ invite (even though not deserved), but NOT Sage Valley. That is the tournament that every jr wants to get to, and has always been solely for the top players in the world (minus questionable int'l invites). Feel bad for the deserving kid whose spot he undeservedly took, esp if it's his last year of eligibility.

Kai Trump is in the girls' field too. That makes CW look better.

[leezer99]

Charlie is better than y'all are lead to believe. He'll contend and probably end up top ten. 

[Tugu]

5 hours ago, leezer99 said:

Charlie is better than y'all are lead to believe. He'll contend and probably end up top ten. 

Well then, like the #1 JGS guy for 2024, paying one's way into an event will all be OK.

[golfdad1]

12 hours ago, machine_cat said:

Kai Trump is in the girls' field too. That makes CW look better.

What, someone ranked 2200+ isn't good enough for Sage Valley ?

[wegobomber31]

I saw Sage Valley is charging $25/day ($90 for the week) for fans to attend the tournament. That’s a new one to me. 

 

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2025-junior-invitational-tickets-1254833975199?aff=oddtdtcreator

 

[Golfquant]

42 minutes ago, wegobomber31 said:

I saw Sage Valley is charging $25/day ($90 for the week) for fans to attend the tournament. That’s a new one to me. 

 

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2025-junior-invitational-tickets-1254833975199?aff=oddtdtcreator

 

perhaps they are trying to cash in on ppl attending in hopes of seeing famous family members of players

[LawGenius305]

1 hour ago, wegobomber31 said:

I saw Sage Valley is charging $25/day ($90 for the week) for fans to attend the tournament. That’s a new one to me. 

 

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2025-junior-invitational-tickets-1254833975199?aff=oddtdtcreator

 

That is nuts. They don't even charge for college tournaments.

[jigsaw1011]

2 hours ago, wegobomber31 said:

I saw Sage Valley is charging $25/day ($90 for the week) for fans to attend the tournament. That’s a new one to me. 

 

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2025-junior-invitational-tickets-1254833975199?aff=oddtdtcreator

 

wtf-- that is crazy.

Edited March 4 by jigsaw1011

[BallsBreakFast]

11 hours ago, jigsaw1011 said:

wtf-- that is crazy.

Maybe funds go to some of the big-name juniors getting paid a NIL deal to have their faces on posters, give interviews, etc.  AFAIK I think that's a grey (and very exploitable) area to retain amateur status as they aren't being payed for their golf skills 😉

[Llortamaisey]

Hopefully that gate fee will help offset some costs they incur for hosting the patrons at the event. $25 doesn’t seem like enough to do that.  

[LawGenius305]

3 hours ago, Llortamaisey said:

Hopefully that gate fee will help offset some costs they incur for hosting the patrons at the event. $25 doesn’t seem like enough to do that.  

Huh?

[golfdad1]

1 hour ago, LawGenius305 said:

Huh?

Sage Valley pays for the travel and lodging for all athletes.

[happygolucky]

On 2/22/2025 at 6:54 AM, golfdad1 said:

What, someone ranked 2200+ isn't good enough for Sage Valley ?

Saw that her mom is dating Tiger

Edited March 15 by happygolucky

[leezer99]

Results: https://www.golfgenius.com/pages/11393941428410301550

 

Charlie isn’t last. 

[golferdad8]

2 hours ago, leezer99 said:

Results: https://www.golfgenius.com/pages/11393941428410301550

 

Charlie isn’t last. 

Is the tournament over?

 

also on the lady side, what’s going on w the CA girls not on the leaderboard? 
 

[golfdad1]

4 hours ago, golferdad8 said:

Is the tournament over?

 

also on the lady side, what’s going on w the CA girls not on the leaderboard? 
 

Do you really think it's a 1 day tournament?

 

And, they just didn't have a strong day of golf, there's your answer.

[leezer99]

4 hours ago, golferdad8 said:

Is the tournament over?

 

also on the lady side, what’s going on w the CA girls not on the leaderboard? 
 

Day 1 is complete. 
 

Really surprised at one score in particular from a kid we know here in California. He must be sick or something. @kekoagolfs have you heard anything?