US Junior T202, T251, 256, T258 all exempt

[LawGenius305]

 

15 hours ago, WesternRacing said:

 

So those players either didn’t even try to qualify, or they tried and failed to qualify, but it’s someone else’s fault that they’re not there?  Even though every other player in the qualifying round had to play by the same rules they did?

 

(Scratching my head…)

Say you don't understand without saying it. I have not bee a big contributor to this thread, but I understand what everyone's argument is. No one has mentioned fair, has not blamed fault, and have not pointed fingers. They are talking about making it a better event.

[golferdad8]

You sound like a great dad you’re doing a fine job trying to navigate your son’s golf journey.
 

Keep up the great work, and my only suggestion is to make sure your son enjoys “getting better” as the results will come. Also I suggest playing in amateur tournaments as he will compete w college players & learn a lot from them on course mgmt, set up, and see how good he needs to be on the short game in order to shoot par/below at the next level. 

My son was late into AJGA also (from playing multiple spots) and didn’t have JGS ranking and couldn’t break par until after 9th grade. We had one star for joining AJGA & we did fly to a few places and do qualifiers to gain entry. Good news is that we had some wonderful father/son trips & he was able to get 2nd place (and AJGA exemption) on his third try. 
 

At the end of the day, don’t worry too much about the AJGAs if your son’s getting better. If he can shoot par/below at open events, his confidence will build and the key will be to find out how low he can go. Aim low - it’s amazing what can happen with a positive mental mindset (ie getting many D1 offers from top programs). 
 

PS. Pick tournaments with lower star entries from prior years. Player services at AJGA can help. However, make sure to also choose courses that ideally matches his game. You can use Google Earth and Decade to see course set ups. 
 

Good luck! 

[WesternRacing]

1 hour ago, LawGenius305 said:

 

Say you don't understand without saying it. I have not bee a big contributor to this thread, but I understand what everyone's argument is. No one has mentioned fair, has not blamed fault, and have not pointed fingers. They are talking about making it a better event.

 

Please.  There are numerous comments in this thread that are connecting a supposedly ‘weaker field’ to questionable exemptions, USGA decisions around a single round qualifying event, differences in state competitiveness, etc.  Excuses for why their kid, or other kids somehow considered deserving, didn’t get in.

 

The kids who deserved to get in, got in.  Those that didn’t, didn’t.  And those that didn’t even try to qualify shouldn’t even be in the conversation around strength of field.  No matter what the USGA does, somebody’s not going to be happy, and usually that unhappiness stems from their personal situation rather that some altruistic desire to improve the game.

[LawGenius305]

2 hours ago, WesternRacing said:

 

Please.  There are numerous comments in this thread that are connecting a supposedly ‘weaker field’ to questionable exemptions, USGA decisions around a single round qualifying event, differences in state competitiveness, etc.  Excuses for why their kid, or other kids somehow considered deserving, didn’t get in.

 

 

You are easily persuaded, you would be a good juror for someone.  Goes back to my original statement "Say you don't understand this thread without saying it." These are legitimate reasons to discuss. There seems to be a serious discussion somewhere every year about the same topic from high level golf instructors like Jim McClean. However, someone posts it here and it is parents making excuses. Not one poster in this thread brought up anything about their kid not getting in. You did, however, come to that conclusion based on nothing.

 

2 hours ago, WesternRacing said:

rather that some altruistic desire to improve the game

This is exactly what this thread is about, you just don't like it. Maybe just dip out instead of sounding like the Archie Bunker of the internet. 

 

 

[golfdad1]

12 hours ago, BallsBreakFast said:

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. 

🍿 🍿 🍿 🍿 🍿...

Basically talking  boys. And if you look at the latest College Golf Commits article about how the class of 2024 did in college , you are 100% correct. 17 of top 20 freshman we're from outside the US.

[wegobomber31]

On 7/24/2025 at 2:20 PM, golferdad8 said:

 

Congrats to your son, and I'm sure your son's great and deserving and the venue is fantastic! 

However, there were a TON of great junior golfers who were left out or not there (for a variety of the reasons that have already been mentioned).

This reminds me a bit of the Academy Award...not all the people nominated are deserving, and often times the most deserving are not even up there.

 

As for the strength, consider that unlike more recent years, a ton of 2025 commits to top 40 golf colleges are not there (many didn't even try for it). 

Congrats to all these who got to experience this, but I think it's ok to look at the bottom 75+ golfers and say objectively that relative to prior years, the recent US Jr Ams has been diluted by too many international exemptions and one-hit wonders and it's ok to say: "it's a weaker field." 

 

Who are these 2025's that didn't bother trying to qualifying? Are we sure they aren't just too old to compete now?

 

19 year olds:
Kihei Akina

JD Culbreth
Willie Gordon

Peyton Blackard

Jon Ed Steed

Griffin Barke

Duke Heise

Cameron Phillips

Kent Karlstrom

[WesternRacing]

On 7/25/2025 at 10:49 AM, LawGenius305 said:

You are easily persuaded, you would be a good juror for someone.  Goes back to my original statement "Say you don't understand this thread without saying it." These are legitimate reasons to discuss. There seems to be a serious discussion somewhere every year about the same topic from high level golf instructors like Jim McClean. However, someone posts it here and it is parents making excuses. Not one poster in this thread brought up anything about their kid not getting in. You did, however, come to that conclusion based on nothing.

 

This is exactly what this thread is about, you just don't like it. Maybe just dip out instead of sounding like the Archie Bunker of the internet. 

 

Way to start and end your response with a personal attack.  🤣  Based on your screen name (and tone of your response), am I to assume that you’re the FIGJAM of this sub forum?

 

Edited July 27 by WesternRacing

[LawGenius305]

22 hours ago, WesternRacing said:

 

Way to start and end your response with a personal attack.  🤣  Based on your screen name (and tone of your response), am I to assume that you’re the FIGJAM of this sub forum?

 

There was no personal attack. What is that saying "First to complain are always offended"?

Edited July 28 by LawGenius305

[wegobomber31]

On 7/25/2025 at 2:26 AM, BallsBreakFast said:

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. 

🍿 🍿 🍿 🍿 🍿...

 

 

Rather than manipulating the exemption criteria, they could just fix the rankings to do what it's supposed to.  Then you wouldn't have to force anything.  

To your point, there are only 18 American's in the top 100 of the Women's Rolex rankings.  The men's OWGR is about 50/50.  You'd expect similar splits in WAGR if it's doing it's job, unless American junior (boys) suddenly get better when they get to college.

[golferdad8]

51 minutes ago, wegobomber31 said:

 

Rather than manipulating the exemption criteria, they could just fix the rankings to do what it's supposed to.  Then you wouldn't have to force anything.  

To your point, there are only 18 American's in the top 100 of the Women's Rolex rankings.  The men's OWGR is about 50/50.  You'd expect similar splits in WAGR if it's doing it's job, unless American junior (boys) suddenly get better when they get to college.

 

23 hours ago, wegobomber31 said:

 

Who are these 2025's that didn't bother trying to qualifying? Are we sure they aren't just too old to compete now?

 

19 year olds:
Kihei Akina

JD Culbreth
Willie Gordon

Peyton Blackard

Jon Ed Steed

Griffin Barke

Duke Heise

Cameron Phillips

Kent Karlstrom

 

What happened to the 3 UCLA men's team commits from 2025 and 2026 - did they even try or perhaps didn't make it?

[leezer99]

5 minutes ago, golferdad8 said:

 

 

What happened to the 3 UCLA men's team commits from 2025 and 2026 - did they even try or perhaps didn't make it?

'26 went out of state and was +2. Cut was -2.