2019 was a banner year for the North Coast Junior Tour and here are some of the major highlights:
2019 started with NCJT wining the Joe Haase Cup in dramatic fashion. NCJT won that last 3 matches to pull out a 1 point cup win over the Northern Ohio PGA juniors. NCJT has won the Joe Haase Cup 6 times since 2000 and leads in most wins overall in the famed cup competition. 2019 Results
Robert Kimmel led the tour with 11 wins over 13 events.
Ella Wong was second in wins with 8 total wins over 11 events. Ella was also a stand out as a freshman in High School last year, making it to the state championship and was honored as the News Herald Player of the Year, which were two of her many great fall golf achievements.
Jaydon Thammachack became the first player in NCJT history to make 2 Hole-In-Ones in one season. He claims the title of Mr. Ace for NCJT!
2019 was a record year for Pace of Play. We had a record 6 tournament days were the last flag in for the final group was under the 4 hour mark. The 3 hour and 46 minute pace at Stonewater was the best of the season, however the 3 hour and 48 minute pace at Pine Ridge was the most significant due to the thunderstorm that stuck immediately after play completed.
The Denny Spaulding Scholarship had two winners in 2019. Ian Diffenbacher and Thomas Coyne were awarded the scholarships at the Jr-4Am event at Sand Ridge.
At our year-end Awards & Hall of Fame Dinner, we inducted 6 amazing people into the NCJT Hall of Fame. The Class of 2019 included; Zach Glassman, Nick Gustin, Jim Dawson, Danielle Nicholson, Halley Morell, and Nick Popely. The NCJT Hall of Fame has now recognized 38 former junior tour individuals that have made an significant impact playing, teaching or giving back to the game. And we feel confident that NCJT played a role toward some of the greatness each of our Hall of Famers have achieved, which is a major reason we continue NCJT year after year.
As we look forward to 2020, we’d first like to thank all the players, parents, sponsors and host facilities for all the support we received in 2019. We also appreciate all the Tour News followers and look forward to keeping all our followers up to speed leading up to and during the 2020 season.
The outlook for 2020 is looking bright for our 29th tour season.
The tournament schedule will be similar to 2019 and will launch on February 1st.
The Joe Haase Cup qualifiers will be announced soon and invites will go out next week.
We have an impressive amount of new followers already for 2020, which usually equals more tour players once registration opens. We are also hearing about more girl interest this year, which is a good sign for a division we’d love to see growth. Current tour players can be a huge help on that regard by referring NCJT to their friends and teammates. The more teammates on the tour, the better your team will perform this fall. That’s a proven fact for more that 28 years.
The highlights of the 2020 schedule will be the Sand Ridge Junior Invitational, The Four-Ball Championship at Quail Hollow and the JR-4Am at Sand Ridge.
The 2020 Tour is coming soon and we look forward to seeing you on tour!