BallsBreakFast

A worthy winner! 🫡 https://golfweek.usatoday.com/story/sports/golf/amateur/2025/07/26/us-junior-amateur-2025-scores-hamilton-coleman-highlights/85390636007/

Any thoughts why Korean and Japanese boys are absent in the US Jr? Can't be just a country thing as girls from those countries show up in the fields regularly of the US Girls as well as some of the larger US events (though they don't seem to play many AJGAs). I liken the Girls and Jr Am to March Madness...there are background and storylines for each participant and their journeys to get to the event. And in the end, I really do believe the cream rises to the top - has there been any boy or girl in recent years that lucked their way all the way into winning it all?

I had looked into this the previous year and found many of the state golf associations I looked at (didn't look at all tbh) did not restrict membership only to residents. So nothing would stop you if willing to pay the annual fee to join that state's GA.

I haven't done the breakdown but I would strongly expect that if you applied the same "top-75 americans and top-25 ranked internationals" exemptions criteria to the Girls Am, you will get a much much weaker field. The relative depth of international talent on the girls side is the flipside of the depth of American talent on the boys. 🍿 🍿 🍿 🍿 🍿...

I think match play to stroke play is like tournament poker to cash games. Controlled aggression is not something many Asian girls (esp non-US based Asians) are accustomed to. 🤷‍♂️

I don't know....I think some of these girls are playing with college recruiting on the back of their minds. Do well and they're off to a top-10 program on a scholarship. So yeah some may not be playing just for fun but with the huge weight of expectations by families and countries, as well as money implications (i.e. scholarships).

USNDP grants and most other US govt athletic support not provided to kids with US citizenship unless they live in US even though parents paying US taxes.

On the girls side two of top-5 in stroke play from Hong Kong though exited first round of match play. Will have to see how they do in college as they incoming freshmen...

How about winning gold at Asia Games holding off PGA pros SungJae Im and SiWoo Kim? Not a college event though... https://www.asiantour.com/blog/unstoppable-taicho-kho-takes-gold-medal-at-19th-asian-games?id=undefined%3Fseason%3D2024 Also booked a win on Asia Tour and was runner up at APAC losing playoff to Keita Nakajima who was #1 ranked am at time. Also barely missed getting a LIV spot in the qualifier https://www.thestandard.com.hk/sports-news/article/68622/Kho-misses-out-on-LIV-Golf-spot-as-Taiwanese-wins-promotions-event

Does Scheffler smile when he is struggling and not in contention? I think the only players who smile when they not winning are LIV guys as they still banking coin even if DFL... 😂

Probably also easier for a US-based kid to go play in some obscure event in the middle-east or Asia for WAGR points, then for non-US-based kids to play in an AJGA event for JGS or AJGA rankings. (subject to time and budget) 😂

Can't be a school, academic or administration thing as otherwise the womens team would have equally stumbled. Must either be their recruiting methodology and evaluation, or how they run the men's program.