The inaugural Golfweek Midwest Junior Invitational will take place June 13-14 at Cog Hill Country Club’s famed Dubsdread Course near Chicago.

As part of the Golfweek Junior Invitational Series, the Midwest event will be nationally rated by the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings and will be recognized by the AJGA, which is awarding eight performance stars to the winners, in addition to stars for the top 10 boys and top 5 girls.

If you are interested in playing, please send an email to Carlton Reese at creese@golfweek.com.

The Midwest Junior Invitational joins a series of national events headlined by the East Coast Junior Invitational and the West Coast Junior Invitational. Last year, the inaugural Golfweek New England Junior Invitational was played at Blue Hill Country Club near Boston.

BOYS

• Matthew Clark, Westchester, Ill.
• Conner Kuberg, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
• Michael Sass, Louisville, Ky.
• Ben Sattler, Liberty Township, Ohio
• Jack Goldenberg, Carmel, Ind.
• Drew Grundberg, Brentwood, Tenn.
• Nathan Pirtle, Sullivan, Ind.
• Chase Campbell, Fishers, Ind.
• Robert Canaday, Gallipolis, Ohio
• Matthew McCord, Titusville, Pa.
• Henry Hartmann, Cincinnati, Ohio
• Tyler Prentkowski, North Liberty, Ind.
• Nick Brady, Carol Stream, Ill.

GIRLS

• Kylie Raines, Dublin, Ohio
• Heather Ciskowski, Barrington, Ill.
• Cherise Otter, Bloomington, Ind.
• Meghan ...

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Tyler Strafaci won the Florida Junior Tour tournament at Quail Ridge Country Club’s South course on May 12. Strafaci shot 73-67 to win the title by one shot. He was four shots back after the first round, which concluded on Sunday due to inclement weather on Saturday. It’s his third FJT win of the season.

Carson Young of Pendleton, S.C., claimed the prestigious Junior Invitational at Sage Valley title on April 28 in Graniteville, S.C., with a final round 2-under 70. Young, who will attend Clemson in the fall, dropped in long-range birdie putts on Nos. 16 and 18 to win by two shots over a quartet of players at 2-under. Young shot rounds of 72-70-70.

This past week I played in the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley in South Carolina. It is such an awesome tournament! We stayed in cottages on the property, everything was first-class and the food was outstanding!

Sage Valley is a private course about 20 minutes from Augusta, Ga. I played in this event last year, as well, and I'll have to admit, it has to be one of my favorite courses to play. It is in incredible shape, and is very secluded and beautiful. We got pretty lucky on the weather. We thought the last day was going to be rained out, but we were able to play through a few light showers.

I got 16th place with rounds of 73-78-72. I actually played really well. There were just a couple of holes that killed me the whole week. I also had a handful of three putts, but the greens at Sage Valley are very fast and undulating. My caddy for the second year in a row was Tony Ross. He is a very experienced caddy and helped me in many ways. He knows the course very well, and caddies at both Sage Valley and Augusta National. Thanks Tony ...

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Ye Wocheng, the 12-year-old who made history Thursday in becoming the youngest player to compete on the European Tour, shot consecutive 79s to miss the cut at the Volvo China Open in Tianjin, China.

At 12 years, 242 days, Wocheng broke the previous record held by Tianlang Guan, who was 13, 177 days when he played in the 2012 China Open. Guan made history at the 2013 Masters when he became the youngest to compete at 14 years old.

During two rounds, Wocheng made one birdie, 13 bogeys and one double bogey on the 7,378-yard layout at Binhai Lakes GC.

Only one amateur, Zecheng Dou, made the cut with rounds of 70-72. Dou is No. 199 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings and made it to the Round of 16 at the U.S. Junior Amateur in 2012. Dou missed all 28 fairways in the first and second round, but his scrambling stat of 31/36 is impressive.

Jim Liu of Smithtown, N.Y., No. 2 in the Golfweek/Sagarin Junior Rankings, finished at 3-over 147 to miss the cut by three shots. The Stanford signee fired a 7-over 77 in the first round, but bounced back with a ...

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GRAYLING, Mich. — The coach and a player on a Michigan high school boys' golf team were killed Monday when the team van collided with another vehicle on a rural road in the northern Lower Peninsula, according to news reports.

Coach Jason Potter, 30, and Louis Menard, 18, of the Grayling High School team were killed, according to Sgt. Don Bailey of the Michigan State Police, the Detroit News reported. Cassandra Stapleton of Kalkaska, traveling with her mother and daughter in another van, also died, Bailey told the News.

Four other Grayling golfers were listed in critical condition at Munson Medical Center in Traverse City. The condition of the sixth Grayling golfer was not immediately available.

"It was pretty horrific," Michigan State Police Sgt. Don Bailey said of the crash in Kalkaska County's Excelsior Township, 25 miles east of Traverse City.

Bailey told The Associated Press that he came upon the crash shortly after it occurred about 11:30 a.m. Monday. He said he used a fire extinguisher to put out a fire in one of the vehicles.

"There were three ejections, and those bodies were laying around," he said.

The golf team was commuting to a tournament at ...

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GRANITEVILLE, S.C. –- Carson Young’s smile came gradually. The 18-year-old was the last man standing at the end of a soggy Sunday at Sage Valley, during which half a dozen other players made a serious run at the Junior Invitational title. That Young had such a prestigious new line to add to his resume hadn’t quite sunk in as the final group walked to the scoring tent late in the afternoon.

Young, from nearby Pendleton, S.C., entered the final round as one of eight players within 2 shots of leader Sam Horsfield, and drew a spot in the next-to-last group. Sunday morning began with heavy downpours, and players were sent off the first and 10th tees. Play was stopped a half hour into the round as greens pooled with water. Play resumed after another half hour.

Young teed off in drizzly conditions and bogeyed his first two holes. He birdied the third hole and made his last bogey of the day at No. 5. He spent the early part of the day trailing Horsfield, and much of the rest of the afternoon trailing Robby Shelton, the top-ranked junior in the nation. Young didn’t slip into the ...

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GRANITEVILLE, S.C. -- Check out the final-round tee times at the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley. Tee times were moved up to split tees and an 8 a.m. start due to expected bad weather in the area.

Off No. 1

8 a.m.: Dominic Foos, Davis Riley, Patrick Kelly

8:10 a.m.: Jaime Lopez Rivarola, Aaron Wise, Gordon Neale

8:20 a.m.: Cameron Champ, Austen Truslow, Derek Castillo

8:30 a.m.: Thomas Lim, Matt Gilchrest, Kyle Sterbinsky

8:40 a.m.: Doug Ghim, Jorge Garcia, Peter Kim

8:50 a.m.: Jack Maguire, Greyson Sigg, Austin Connelly

9 a.m.: Matthew Fitzpatrick, Corey Pereira, Rico Hoey

9:10 a.m.: Sam Burns, Carson Young, Austin Langdale

9:20 a.m.: Sam Horsfield, Kristoffer Ventura, Robby Shelton

Off No. 10

8 a.m.: Emil Sogaard, Nicolo Galletti, Won Jun Lee

8:10 a.m.: Jeremy Grab, Tae Wan Lee, Jan Szmidt Jr.

8:20 a.m.: Alexander Matlari, Danny Guise, Ki Taek Lee

8:30 a.m.: Dylan Wu, Max Orrin, Adrej Bevins

8:40 a.m.: Jose Montano, Michael Pisciotta, Adam Woods

8:50 a.m.: Victor Wiggins, Carl Yuan, Alejandro Tosti

9 a.m.: Zachary ...

GRANITEVILLE, S.C. – No. 6 at Sage Valley is the epitome of risk-reward.

On Saturday at the Junior Invitational, Loblolly Bay -- a 336-yard par-4 -- was playing at 300 yards as the tees were moved up tremendously from yesterday’s first round.

In the second round, the hole played at an average of 3.76.

On one hand, Jacob Joiner of Albany, Ga., hit the green from the tee and two-putted for birdie, meanwhile Jamie Lopez Rivarola of Argentina had one of two double bogeys on the hole during the second round.

Joiner isn’t a long hitter. He can usually hit his driver 275 yards in the air. In this case, he decided to take a full driver. He aimed it right over the bunkers on the right hand side and it cut perfectly. It ran up on the green to 20 feet. Joiner missed his eagle attempt, but tapped in for birdie.

“It was a risk, but I felt very confidence with my driver today,” Joiner said.

Lopez Rivarola is the exact opposite of Joiner; he’s a long hitter. Instead of using driver, he used 3-wood and pushed it right off the tee. Trees are lined down the ...

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GRANITEVILLE, S.C. – Limping into the clubhouse is not a signature Rico Hoey move. This 17-year-old, who posted a smooth 69 in the opening round of the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley, is suave. He just couldn’t keep the pace in Round 2

“Yesterday and today felt like night and day,” Hoey said of his 1-over 73 on Saturday. He had three bogeys and a birdie in his final five holes and is at 3-under 141 for the tournament.

Hoey, dressed in a black shirt and grey pants for Round 2 and with a stud in each year, was visibly worn slick after a day spent chasing leader Sam Horsfield. But Horsfield, at 5 under, still is within striking distance for Hoey, at 2 under. The two played together on Saturday as Horsfield posted 71.

“Watching him play, I thought I could feed off him,” Hoey said, but he never could get comfortable over his putter. Hoey had four three-putts in his round and battled a few tricky hole locations. He walked off the 18th green on a cloudy evening ready to recharge for the final round.

If Hoey, of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., does stage a successful comeback tomorrow ...

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GRANITEVILLE, S.C. – Sam Burns can speak to the difference one golf club can make, especially after his favorite one was laid to rest at the end of Friday’s first round at the Junior Invitational. In Burns’ case, the death of his 8-iron led to back-to-back double-bogeys to finish the round.

Burns, a 16-year-old from Shreveport, La., was 2 under after 16 holes, but put his drive in a fairway bunker at Sage Valley’s par-4 17th. He used the 8-iron to punch out into fairway, but the club handle snapped off as a result of that punch. Suddenly Burns was down to 13 clubs, his confidence shaken.

After making double at the 17th, Burns stood in the middle of the fairway at No. 18 with caddie Adam Emery and tried to judge the wind. He wanted to hit 6-iron, but Emery talked him into scaling back. Burns’ 7-iron approach went long, he hit the chip fat, then three-putted for another double-bogey. Burns wonders if having a healthy 8-iron could have made a difference but, to his credit, didn’t dwell on the situation.

“(I tried) to look at the positives,” Burns said. “I was 2, 3 under all ...

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GRANITEVILLE, S.C. – If Russell Henley could give any player advice it would be, “See yourself where you want to be.”

Victor Wiggins knows exactly where he wants to be in late August. He’ll see himself at Auburn after signing at letter of national intent on April 20.

“I committed 2 and 1/ 2 years ago, so I’ve been counting down the days (to sign),” Wiggins said.

Henley, who was the guest speaker at Nike Night at the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley, and Wiggins, will have taken the same road to college golf. Neither player can be claimed off the AJGA’s hotbed of players.

Henley played local events in and around his hometown of Macon, Ga. Wiggins, a Gastonia, N.C., native, plays on the National Junior Golf Tour, a tour run by his father, Allen and all around North and South Carolina. Both have played some invitational tournaments.

Wiggins didn’t know Henley didn’t play AJGA events until he said that during the Q&A session on Friday.

“It was nice for him to talk and hear him speak,” Wiggins said. “It was pretty cool.”

It gives Wiggins more confidence to make it to ...

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GRANITEVILLE, S.C. –– Austin Connelly held a share of the lead at the Junior Invitational early on Friday, but come the end of the round, he was just happy to finish.

"I'm not in great shape," said Connelly, who shot 4-over 76 and is T-26 after the first round. "I woke up this morning and my throat hurt really bad. I didn't have a lot of energy. Thursday night, I was very shaky and weak, had a fever and I just didn't feel well."

Connelly, who won the Under Armour/Hunter Mahan Championship last week in McKinney, Texas, was given some antibiotics on Thursday night, and they seemed to do the trick early – he was 1 under through his first five holes.

But he recorded five bogeys the rest of the way, including bogeys on each of the last three holes, to fall out of the lead.

"The medicine helped me until about (hole No.) 13 and then I just crashed," Connelly said. "I was sitting down on tee boxes, every chance I got to sit. Tried to drink as much water as possible. Come (Nos.) 16, 17 and 18, I was just beat."

After taking more ...

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A look at the second-round groupings and tee times at the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley:

9 a.m.: Alejandro Tosti, Won Jun Lee, Emil Sogaard

9:10 a.m.: Jeremy Grab, Nicollo Galletti, Danny Guise

9:20 a.m.: Tae Wan Lee, Jose Montano, Ki Taek Lee

9:30 a.m.: Jan Szmidt Jr., Zachary Bauchou, Michael Pisciotta

9:40 a.m.: Victor Wiggins, Carl Yuan, Alexander Matlari

9:50 a.m.: Dominic Foos, Zachary Olsen, Adam Wood

10 a.m.: Davis Riley, Patrick Kelly, Romain Langasque

10:10 a.m.: Rigel Fernandes, Austin Connelly, Jacob Joiner

10:20 a.m.: Max Orrin, Andrej Bevins, Jorge Garcia

10:30 a.m.: Thomas Lim, Peter Kim, Cameron Champ

10:40 a.m.: Max Greyersman, Maximilian Mehles, Dylan Wu

10:50 a.m.: Robby Shelton, Aaron Wise, Sam Burns

11 a.m.: Doug Ghim, Austen Truslow, Matt Gilchrest

11:10 a.m.: Brad Dalke, Benjamin Griffin, Gordon Neale

11:20 a.m.: Carson Young, Jack Maguire, Derek Castillo

11:30 a.m.: Greyson Sigg, Austin Langdale, Kyle Sterbinsky

11:40 a.m.: Matthew Fitzpatrick, Corey Pereira, Kristoffer Ventura

11:50 a.m.: Sam Horsfield, Rico Hoey, Jaime Lopez Rivarola

GRANITEVILLE, S.C. – The lesson of the afternoon Friday at Sage Valley came courtesy of a slender Englishman. An unassuming Matthew Fitzpatrick had the first-round lead at the Junior Invitational for most of the afternoon, until going 4 over on the final two holes.

He went into the scoring tent smiling and he came out smiling, and then he spoke casually of the chunked chip and four ensuing putts that sent him from 4 under on the day to 1 under.

“Into the grain is not my forte,” said Fitzpatrick, an 18-year-old Northwestern commit from Yorkshire, England.

Fitzpatrick is No. 12 in the World Amateur Rankings and the player with perhaps the best chance at a (GB&I) Walker Cup bid of anyone in the field. He had five birdies plus an eagle at the par-4 13th, and had gotten it to 5 under by the time he stepped up to the 17th tee. Bogey there left Fitzgerald comfortably in the lead before his triple-bogey finish inflated his score to 1-under 71. Still, Fitzpatrick, the reigning British Boys champion, didn’t lose so much ground that he can’t make it up. He is three shots behind solo leader Sam ...

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