Oakville, ON – Golf Canada and the United States Golf Association (USGA) announced today that the Team Canada – NextGen program and the U.S. National Junior Team will compete in a two-day international friendly match play event, April 12-13 at Champions Golf Club in Houston, Texas.
The event will feature 12 players (six girls and six boys) representing each team in a mixed competition that will be World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) sanctioned. The match play format will be as follows:
Saturday, April 12: Foursome Team matches (a.m.) and Four-Ball Team matches (p.m.)
Sunday, April 13: Individual Single matches
“We are excited for our young Canadian athletes to participate in this match play event and give these talented aspiring players another opportunity to compete internationally. We have seen great success with our NextGen players over the past couple years, especially at the World Junior Girls Golf Championship and these matches provide great experience to continue to learn and grow,” said Jeff MacDonald, head coach of the Team Canada – NextGen Girls team. “We also want to extend our thanks to the USGA, as these unique matches help to strengthen an already strong relationship between our two national golf federations.”
The Team Canada – NextGen squad will feature 10 current members of the High-Performance program. Two additional U17 players were selected on the boys’ side to round out the team. The roster for the event will include:
BOYS
Charlie Gillespie – 18, Calgary, Alta.
Antoine Jasmin – 19, Blainville, Que.
Austin Krahn – 17, Christina Lake, B.C.
Dawson Lew – 15, Toronto, Ont.
Jager Pain – 16, Woodbridge, Ont.
Alex Zhang – 16, Richmond, B.C.
Coaches: Darcy Dhillon – Calgary, Alta., Dr. Charles Fitsimmons (Mental Performance Coach) – King City, Ont.
Denotes selected player
GIRLS
Aphrodite Deng – 15, Calgary, Alta.
Clara Ding – 14, White Rock, B.C.
Shauna Liu – 16, Maple, Ont.
Eileen Park – 15, Red Deer, Alta.
Nobelle Park – 15, Oakville, Ont.
Michelle Xing – 16, Richmond Hill, Ont.
Coaches: Jeff MacDonald – Halifax, N.S., Jennifer Ha – Calgary, Alta.
For more information on Team Canada, please click here.
Team USA will be comprised of:
BOYS
Ronin Banerjee – 16, Irvine, Calif.
Luke Colton – 17, Frisco, Texas
Phillip Dunham – 17, Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.
Trevor Gutschewski – 17, Omaha, Neb.
Will Hartman – 18, Marvin, N.C.
Tyler Mawhinney – 17, Fleming Island, Fla. (2024 Canadian Men’s Amateur Champion)
GIRLS
Shyla Brown – 16, McKinney, Texas
Ryleigh Knaub – 18, DeBary, Fla.
Jude Lee – 17, Walnut, Calif.
Nikki Oh – 17, Torrance, Calif.
Scarlett Schremmer – 18, Birmingham, Ala.
Amelie Zalsman – 16, St. Petersburg, Fla.
For more information of the U.S. roster, please click here.
“Team match play has long been an important part of international competition and introducing our nation’s top junior talent to these formats, competitive situations and championship level courses early in their development is crucial to building confidence and preparing them for success on the game’s biggest stages,” said Chris Zambri, head coach of the U.S. National Teams. “We’re thankful to partner with Golf Canada on this initiative in support of friendly competition and development for all of our athletes.”
Champions Golf Club was founded in 1957 by World Golf Hall of Fame members and past Masters champions, Jack Burke Jr. and Jimmy Demaret. The Cypress Creek course opened in 1959 and five years later the Jackrabbit course was built. Champions Golf Club has hosted numerous events including the Ryder Cup (1967), U.S. Open (1969), U.S. Amateur (1993), The TOUR Championship (1990, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003) and the 2020 U.S. Women’s Open.
In addition to the match play competition, there will be a joint team dinner following practice rounds on Friday, April 11 and a closing awards ceremony following play on Sunday, April 13.
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