
Sir Nick Faldo with IJGA’s Ryley Hendry.
Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, United States: The Faldo Series, the global circuit of junior events created by six-time Major winner Sir
Nick Faldo, has appointed the International Junior Golf Academy (IJGA) as its Official Golf Academy Partner.
Rory McIlroy and fellow multiple Major champion
Tseng Ya-ni are among past winners on the Faldo Series, which was founded in 1996 and is supported by The R&A (The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews).
Recognised as the only global amateur series for boys and girls, the annual circuit features thousands of young golfers competing in 40 tournaments in over 30 countries across Europe, Asia, Oceania, and North and South America.
Faldo, a former world number one, was closely involved in the new partnership after recently visiting IJGA, which is based in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, and attached to the Heritage Academy, a private school dedicated to scholar-athletes.
“I am excited to appoint IJGA as the Official Golf Academy Partner of the Faldo Series as it feels like a proper addition to the guidance offered by the Series. It offers our junior players the advice or opportunity from a first-class academy to further their golf journey and education. It also provides expertise in the process or opportunity to play college golf in America,” Faldo said.
“We’ve been looking at the US-based academy model and when I visited the IJGA and Heritage Academy earlier this year, I knew it was a special partner. IJGA offers a safe, inspiring environment at Hilton Head, where students benefit from top-quality instruction and practice facilities, and a great variety of golf courses nearby. In addition, the staff has an expertise in the US college process and many of our players have questions on how to approach that system properly.
“It’s an amazing place, with aspiring athletes from all around the world. When I visited the academy, I was impressed by the variety of countries sending students to the Academy and the staff’s understanding of players from around the world. I would have enjoyed something like this when I was young!”
LPGA stars
Feng Shanshan (China) and
Kim In-kyung (South Korea), four-time European Tour winner
Pablo Larrazabal (Spain) and PGA Tour star
Morgan Hoffmann (USA) are among IJGA’s alumni over the past two decades.
Ryley Hendry, CEO of IJGA, said: “The International Junior Golf Academy is proud to become an Official Partner of the Faldo Series, the premier global circuit for young golfers. This new partnership underlines IJGA’s reputation as one of the world’s leading junior academies for aspiring golfers from across the globe. We look forward to counselling student-athletes on US golf academies and the college scholarship system in the US as we work with the Faldo Series.”
Founded in 1995, IJGA offers high-school students the opportunity to hone their game year-round on courses at six nearby golf clubs on Hilton Head Island while also enjoying top-class academic education and a wide variety of extra-curricular activities.
The Heritage Academy, which caters to grades six to 12, is dedicated to students pursuing an extra-curricular passion and is also attached to tennis and horse riding academies.