Girls Junior PGA Championship tees off this week at Keney Park

Connecticut will be the host state for two PGA of America golf tournaments for the first time ever.

Keney Park Golf Course in Hartford will be the host site for both the Girls and Boys Junior PGA Championships. The 44th edition of the girls championship begins Tuesday and runs through Friday.

“I think the golf course is a challenging golf course for both the boys and the girls championships,” said Tim Hantke, the executive director of the Connecticut Section PGA. “Some of the hole locations can stretch out the golf course.”

The official announcement came last November — coinciding with Suzy Whaley, a Connecticut resident, becoming the first female president of the PGA of America.

The two tournaments will showcase Keney Park, which underwent a major renovation that the Connecticut Section oversaw. Hantke said Keney Park closed in October of 2013 and reopened on May 1, 2016. The clubhouse reopened in 2017.

The Section has used Keney Park for the Hartford Women’s Open (201619) and the Connecticut PGA Championship (201618).

“The green complexes are my favorite thing about the golf course,” said Trenton Blundell, the championship manager for both events for the PGA of America. “Who putts best is probably who wins. There are some severe slopes. We can trick the place out if we wanted to.”

Blundell made the trek from Florida to Connecticut during the last week in June. He will remain in Connecticut through the boys tournament, which will be held July 30Aug. 2.

“It’s the only time in our history that I know of with a section taking the lead on restoring or renovating a golf course,” Blundell said. “It’s the first time a sectoon is involved in the entire process, the overall preparation from the ground up. We have sections come out and volunteer, but not compete management of the volunteers.”

Blundell said the course is shorter than the normal length for its junior championships. Keney Park plays to approximately 6,450 yards from the back tees.

This is the third year the PGA of America is splitting its two championships, increasing the field for each to 144 players. Blundell said Keney Park remained open through Saturday before closing.

“First of all, one event means you give up the course for six days. In our market, it’s difficult for any golf course, either public or private. This is two events in 12 days,” Hantke said.

Yealimi Noh is not back to defend her title, having turned professional earlier this year. But three of the top six are, including Rose Zhang from Irvine, California, who won this event in 2017 and finished second last year. She tied for 55th at the U.S. Women’s Open.

Darien native Emily Cohen won the Junior PGA state event at the Course at Yale, defeating Irene Wang (Athens, Georgia). Because neither player reside within the Connecticut Section (Darien is a part of the Met Section), neither received one of the four exemptions Connecticut was awarded for hosting the event.

Those went to: Julia Kashimura of Watertown (third in the state event), Angela Garvin of Feeding Hills, Massachusetts (fourth), Sophia Sarrazin of Westport (fifth) and Alexsandra Lapple from Ridgefield (tied for sixth). Katie Dzialga of Greenwich and Maisie Filler of Bloomfield are the other state players competing for the national title on home soil.

The field will be cut to the low 70 players plus ties for the final two rounds Thursday and Friday.

CT JUNIOR

Keney Park isn’t the only course hosting a junior event this week. The top boys juniors reconvene at Watertown GC for the 78th edition of the Connecticut Junior Amateur starting Monday.

Connor Berlcastro will be back to defend his crown. He tees off at 9 a.m. Monday, along with Jake Bennett of Madison CC, who helped Hand High win both the SCC and Division II state championship this past season.

Chris Fosdick of Middlefield, the threetime Area MVP for the Register and the GameTimeCT.com State Player of the Year heading to play at Florida Southern in the fall, tees off at 11:20 a.m., along with Darien’s Alex Gu, who won the CIAC State Open championship at the Black Hall Club.

Ben James of Milford, a rising sophomore at Hamden Hall Country Day who has verbally committed to play at Virginia, tees off at 11:10 a.m., along with Kevin Morris from Hamden. Alex Aurora of Hamden, who will play at Lehigh beginning this fall, tees off at 11:30 a.m.

Billy Nail from the twotime reigning Division I state champion Greenwich, goes off at 11:50 a.m. along with Tyler Woodward of Durham, who joined Nail on the GameTimeCT allstate team. Matt Doyle of Madison and Kyle St. Pierre of Shelton go off at 12:10 p.m.

The low 32 players from Monday’s opening round advance to match play beginning Tuesday. The two golfers who each win four matches will play in the 18hole final on Thursday morning.