Pine Meadow set to host Midwest junior golf tourney

The American Junior Golf Association has set the field for the Midwest Junior Players Championship, a 54-hole stroke play event to be held July 20-23, at Pine Meadow Golf Club in Mundelein.

The 78-player field will include two Rolex Junior All-Americans and 11 players who have signed a National Letters of Intent to continue their golf career at the next level.

Players from 13 states, Canada and Thailand will be represented, including 39 from Illinois.

Patrick Rodgers of Avon, Ind., will headline the Boys Division as the highest ranked player in the field. Currently No. 5 in the Polo Golf Rankings, Rodgers is a 2009 Rolex Junior All-American who finished second at the 2010 Rolex Tournament of Champions and has earned 10 additional top-10 finishes in national junior golf competition.

Theodore Lederhausen of Hinsdale will also be a strong competitor. Lederhausen was a 2008 HP Scholastic All-American and completed the 2009 season with two third-place finishes in addition to a victory at the Deutsche Bank Partners for Charity Junior Shoot Out. He finished third at the 2008 Midwest Junior Players Championship and will play for Harvard in the fall.

Other local players to watch include Patrick Cermak of Chicago, who tied for seventh at the AJGA Junior at Quad Cities in June. Kansas State signee Jack Watson of Lincolnshire returns after a top-20 finish in 2009, along with Blake Biddle of St. Charles, who has signed with UNLV and recently tied for third at the AJGA Junior at Quad Cities.

In the Girls Division, Kaira Martin of Paradise Valley, Ariz., will return to defend her title. Martin was a 2009 honorable mention Rolex Junior All-American and has earned 10 top-10 finishes in national junior golf competition in addition to three AJGA victories.

Elizabeth Doty of Palos Verdes Estates, Calif., will be another strong competitor in the field. Doty has eight top-10 finishes in national junior golf competition.

Local junior girls competing in the event include Elizabeth Szokol and Isabelle Kane of Winnetka, Stephanie Miller of Wauconda, and Taylor Quinn of Barrington Hills.

First- through final-round tee times will run from 7 a.m. to 8:48 a.m. off the Nos. 1 and 10 tees of Pine Meadow Golf Club from July 21-23. An awards ceremony will be held immediately following final-round play.

Guests are welcome to attend and admission is free.

During the tournament week, some of the top juniors will also take part in the Junior-Am Fundraising Tournament at 1:30 p.m. July 20 at Pine Meadow Golf Club.

Tiger Woods, Charles Howell III, Lucas Glover, Paula Creamer and Morgan Pressel are among the thousands of players who participated in AJGA Junior-Ams when they were teenagers.