While the golf world’s attention has been focused on the Players Championship this week, another elite tournament was taking place about 300 miles north of TPC Sawgrass: the Junior Invitational, held annually at Sage Valley Golf Club in Graniteville, S.C.
The tournament is ultra-exclusive, extending only a few dozen invitations to the top junior amateurs in the world: 36 boys and 24 girls, who compete over 72 holes of stroke play.
Sage Valley’s location just 17 miles northeast of Augusta National has helped the tournament develop a Masters-like reputation for junior players, complete with a presentation of a gold jacket for the winners.
Past champions of the prestigious tournament reads like a who’s who of recognizable stars in men’s and women’s collegiate and professional golf. In its 15-year history, winners have included the likes of Scottie Scheffler, Akshay Bhatia, Joaquin Niemann and Anna Davis. The girls’ competition at Sage Valley was added in 2022, while the boys’ history dates to 2011.
This year, two rising stars punctuated to their entries in the tournament’s illustrious history. Asterisk Talley won her second gold jacket in three years with a four-round total of eight under par (69-75-69-67).
On the boys’ side, Miles Russell, the world’s top-ranked junior, became the first player in the history of the tournament to win back-to-back years. His 15-under total (64-70-72-67) gave him a three-shot cushion over his closest competitor.
Both Talley and Russell are the first players ever to win the Junior Invitational twice.
“It feels great. It gives me a lot of confidence on such a tough course to be able to do it twice,” Talley told Golfweek. “It’s just so nice to win here again. I love the atmosphere here so it’s nice to win again.”
“It’s pretty special,” Russell concurred. “Especially at a place like this that has so much class. You’re just lucky to be here. So, to be able to do it back-to-back, it’s quite an honor.”
Talley graduates from high school next year and has verbally committed to play collegiately at Stanford. Russell is currently committed to play collegiately at Florida State, alongside Charlie Woods.
