There are 109 players in the field who are competing in their first U.S. Girls’
Junior. For 97 of those, it is their first USGA championships.
The youngest player in the field is 12-year-old
Allisen
Corpuz
of Honolulu, Hawaii. There are two other 12-year-olds in the field:
Brooke
Henderson
of Canada and
Megan Khang
of Rockland, Mass.
The oldest player in the field is
Veronica
Valerio
of Temecula, Calif., who will turn 18 on Aug. 4.
In addition to the USA, there are 10 countries represented by the players in the 2010 U.S.
Girls’ Junior: Argentina, Canada, People’s Republic of China, Columbia, Korea, Mexico,
Philippines, Puerto Rico, Thailand and Trinidad and Tobago.
There is one individual USGA champion in the field –
Kristen
Park, 17, of Buena Park, Calif., who won the 2007 U.S. Girls’ Junior.
There is also a USGA team champion in the field –Mariah Stackhouse, 16, of
Riverdale, Ga., who helped her home state win the 2009 USGA Women’s State Team Championship.
There are two players who have represented their country in the Women’s World Amateur Team
Championship –Dottie Ardina, 16, of the Philippines, who played in the 2006 championship,
and
Kyle
Roig, 17, of Puerto Rico, who played in the 2006 and 2008 championships.
There are also two players who have represented their country at the 2010 Copa de Las
Americas -
Luz
Alejandra
Cangrejo
of Colombia and
Victoria
Tanco
of Argentina.
Park and Valerio are two of eight players who are making their fourth appearance in a U.S.
Girls’ Junior. The others are:Ginger Howard, 16, of Bradenton, Fla.;Danielle Kang,
17, of Thousand Oaks, Calif.;Alison Lee, 15, of Valencia, Calif.;Cyd Okino, 16, of
Honolulu, Hawaii;Emma Talley, 16, of Princeton, Ky.; andMariko Tumangan, 16, of
San Jose, Calif.
Roig is the only player in the field who is playing in her fifth U.S. Girls’ Junior.
Eight players in the 2010 Girls’ Junior field also played in the 2010 U.S. Women’s Open at
Oakmont (Pa.) Country Club:
Yueer Feng
, 14, of the People’s Republic of China;Jaye Marie Green, 16, of Boca Raton, Fla.;
Ariya Jutanugarn, 15, of Thailand;Danielle Kang, 17, of Thousand Oaks, Calif.;
Alison Lee, 15, of Valencia, Calif.;Tiffany Lim, 16, of San Jose, Calif.;
Victoria Tanco, 16, of Argentina; andGabriella Then, 14, of Rancho Cucamonga,
Calif.
Kang (64th) and Lim (68th) both made the cut.
There are four sets of sisters in the field:
Laura
(17) and
Lindsey
(14)
Murray
of Tipp City, Ohio;
Alexandra
(17) and
Anneliese
(14)
Newell
of Tampa, Fla.;
Mariana
(15) and
Sierra
(14)
Sims
of Austin, Texas; and
Katie
(14) and
Erynne
(17)
Lee
of Silverdale, Wash. The Lee’s cousin,Cherokee Kim, 14, of Dupont, Wash., is also in the
field.
Casey
Danielson, 15, of Osceola, Wis., has an older sister, Lindsay, who also plays golf. At
age 19, Lindsay was too old to play in the Girls’ Junior, but she did play in last month’s U.S.
Women’s Amateur Public Links.
While Stephanie Liu, 13, of St. Albans, Mo., plays in the Girls’ Junior this week, her older brother Brandon (15) is playing in the U.S. Junior Amateur at Egypt Valley Country Club in Ada, Mich. The same is true for John (17) and Christina (14) Foster of Canada.
There are three players in the field who attend the Punahou School, the
educational institution that produced President Barack Obama and LPGA star Michelle Wie: Corpuz,
Okino andKacie Komoto, 15, of Honolulu, Hawaii. In 2008, Corpuz qualified for the U.S.
Women’s Amateur Public Links at age 10 to become the youngest to ever qualify for a USGA
championship, beating Wie’s previous record by several months. Komoto helped Hawaii finish third
at the 2009 USGA Women’s State Team Championship. And Okino was
featured in
Sports Illustrated’s
Faces in the Crowd in 2008.
Other interesting player notes:
Grier Bennett
, 17, of Hot Springs Village, Ark., has had three knee surgeries in
less than a year. She says she is lucky just to be able to walk, let alone play
golf.
Elisabeth
Bernabe, 15, of Anaheim, Calif., plays the viola and participates in the
orchestra at her high school. She has also participated in musical theater.
Collins Bradshaw, 16, of Columbia, S.C., comes from a family of achievers.
Her mother, Sherry, was Miss South Carolina and first runner-up to Miss America. Her
father, Bill, played quarterback for the University of South Carolina. Both of her
brothers play college golf at Clemson University.
Alejandra
Cangrejo, 17, of Colombia, started playing golf when she had an accident and fell off a
horse. She was a semifinalist in this championship last year.
Gabriella
Dimarco, 16, of West Chester, Pa.,
is the producer of her school’s in-house television studio. She loves to make movies.
Brooke
Henderson, 12, of Canada, also plays ice hockey. Her pee wee team won the 2009 state
championship.
Hannah
Kim, 14, of Chula Vista, Calif., used to go on an annual ski trip when she was younger.
While on a ski trip in the third grade, Kim had an accident that caused a swollen nerve in her
head, causing half her face to be paralyzed. A helicopter took her to the nearest hospital,
where a five-hour surgery saved her life.
Alessandra Kutz , 15, of Sanford, Fla., keeps a medal her father got while he was stationed in Afghanistan in her golf bag so she always has a piece of him with her when he’s away. Her father was deployed again in January to Kuwait for another 12 months.
Daniela
Lendl, 17, of Goshen, Conn., is the daughter of tennis great Ivan Lendl.
Briana Mao, 16, of Folsom, Calif., was paired with Mark O’Meara in the leaders’ group on
the final day of the 2009 Walmart First Tee Open at Pebble Beach. Mao made a 61-foot putt on the
final hole on national television.
Michelle
Mayer, 17, of Flossmoor, Ill., was named the 2010
Chicago Sun-Times
Female Athlete of the Year. In addition to golf, Mayer is a two-time all-state water polo
player.
Lindsay
McGetrick, 17, of Highlands Ranch, Colo., is the daughter of noted golf instructor Mike
McGetrick, who coached two-time U.S. Women’s Open champion Meg Mallon, among others.
Anna
McMullen, 17, of Monroe, La., served as the editor-in-chief for her school’s newspaper,
which took third place in the state’s newspaper competition.
Maggie
Neece, 15, of Colleyville, Texas, is playing in her first USGA championship. But her dad
has played at one at The Country Club of North Carolina before – he lost in the first round of
the 1980 U.S. Amateur contested at the club.
Brenna Nelson, 16, of Monte Sereno, Calif., is a former competitive figure skater but was
diagnosed with tarsal coalition, a rare foot condition that prevents her from doing any sports
that impact her foot. Four years ago she picked up golf for the first time and quickly got
hooked.
Bryana
Nguyen, 14, of Columbia, Md., is a black belt in taekwondo and received a bronze medal at
the Junior Olympics.
Elyse
Smidinger, 16, of Crofton, Md., is a state champion in two sports. During her eight years
in gymnastics, she won the level 6 Maryland State Championship. And in 2009, she won the
Maryland State Junior Golf Championship.
Emma
Talley, 16, of Princeton, Ky., disqualified herself after winning the state golf
tournament by five strokes because she realized she had signed for a wrong score.
Bailey Tardy, 13, of Norcross, Ga., holds numerous swimming records for The Atlanta
Athletic Club and The Field Club swim teams and has been selected the Most Valuable Swimmer for
both clubs.
Emily
Wright, 17, of Mason, Ohio, is the youngest winner in the 90-year history of the
Cincinnati Women’s Metropolitan. She won the 2009 championship.
Compiled by Beth Murrison, manager of championship communications for the USGA.