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Just like the U.S. women's soccer team took the world by storm, nearly 150 of the best junior girls golfers in the country are going to take the town of Warsaw by storm this week.
Thirty-four Hoosiers and 110 out-of-staters shot qualification rounds for the Western Junior Girls Championship Monday at Stonehenge Golf Club. Most of the girls are ages 14-18. Stonehenge professional Dave Schumaker says one of the contestants is nine years old.
Just what makes this particular tournament so special?
"The two biggest tournaments in the U.S. are the U.S. Junior Championship and the Western Junior Championship," said Schumaker. "The Western is about the same thing that Tiger Woods won a couple of weeks ago. We have 144 of the best girls golfers in the country. A number of these girls will be tour players after they get out of college."
How did Stonehenge happen to be named as host of the event that will run July 12-16?
"There's never been a national tournament this close," said Schumaker. "Our boss in Indianapolis, Tom Rodems, somehow got ahold of the people at Western."
Rodems is the president of H.G. Properties, a company that owns Stonehenge as well as three other courses.
Schumaker said tournament scores don't mean a thing. Yesterday's qualification round will be used to put the girls into flights where they will begin match play. Only the top 32 will make the championship flight.
Schumaker said most of these girls haven't been home in months as they spend most of their summer on golf courses. Schumaker said at least seven college scouts will be on hand with more arriving as the tournament progresses throughout the week.
"A lot of these kids flew in and we had to go get the ones who didn't have cars because they've been on tour all summer," said Schumaker. "All the hotels are full and we have some host families."
Said Schumaker "The winner gets a plaque and builds a reputation. And the really good players get college offers."
And there are some talented golfers in town for the tournament. The first three golfers teed off at 7 a.m. Monday. Included in that trio was Candie Kung (Fountain Valley, Calif.), last year's champion, and Leigh Ann Hardin (Martinsville, Ind.), who has won the U.S. Junior National Championship. Schumaker said he thought Kung and Hardin were ranked Nos. 1 and 2 in the country.
Of the 34 Indiana natives in the tournament, most are from the Fort Wayne area. The only local competitor is Warsaw's Kerri Wrobel, who teed off at 2:20 p.m. with two golfers from Illinois.
