Melbourne, Australia: Players from China, Chinese Taipei, India and Korea have qualified to represent the International Team at the 2019 Junior Presidents Cup.
International Team selection for the second edition of the team match play event that is to be held at Royal Melbourne Golf Club was based on the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR).
Led by nine-time PGA Tour winner and five-time Presidents Cup participant Stuart Appleby, the International Team also includes five players from South Africa and two Australians.
Set to take place on the Melbourne Sandbelt, the Junior Presidents Cup will kick off Presidents Cup week on Sunday and Monday (December 8-9). All 24 players will compete in six four-ball matches on Sunday morning followed by six foursomes matches that afternoon. The Junior Presidents Cup will conclude with 12 singles matches on Monday morning.
While China is represented in the Presidents Cup for the first time in 2019 by Li Haotong, it will have two players compete in the Junior Presidents Cup, with Bo Jin (ninth on the WAGR) and Andi Xu (10th) narrowly qualifying for their first appearance at the event.
Chinese Taipei’s Lin Chuan-tai is also in the team, while his compatriot CT Pan will make his debut in the Presidents Cup after a successful season on the PGA Tour, during which he won April’s RBC Heritage. Lin is also a participant of Pan’s junior golf programme in Taipei.
Bo, an Encinitas, California, resident, advanced to the Final of the US Junior Amateur before falling to US Junior Presidents Cup qualifier Preston Summerhays, 2 & 1, at Inverness Golf Club. Bo and Xu met earlier in the round of 64, where Jin was victorious, 5 & 4.
Jin is verbally committed to Oklahoma State University and was a 2018 Rolex Junior All-American.
India will have a representative in the Junior Presidents Cup for the second time with Kartik Sharma qualifying at number four in the standings. Sharma has already won in Australia this year, having captured the New South Wales Amateur Championship at Terrey Hills north of Sydney.
Korean Lee Jang-huyn, a member of the 2022 high school graduating class, is the youngest player on the International Team. Lee has primarily competed in New Zealand since relocating there in 2015 but qualified for both the US Junior Amateur and The Amateur Championship and finished tied seventh at the Junior Players Championship.
The US Team will be led by 12-time PGA Tour winner and AJGA alum Justin Leonard and represented by players from 10 States – Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Kentucky, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Ohio, Texas and Washington. North Carolina and Texas each have two representatives. Five of the US Team members are Rolex Junior All-Americans, nine have given a verbal commitment to play college golf and nine have competed in the AJGA’s annual East v West match play competition, the Wyndham Cup.