Observations of Watching AJGA Play at Warwick Hills

Observations from a week at Warwick.

Talia Campbell of Dallas, Texas and Henry Do of Ypsilanti, Michigan were worthy winners at the Randy Wise Jr. Tournament at Warwick Hills.

1. Watching Henry Do golf for parts of all three rounds, was a pleasure watching him play at Warwick Hills. All I know is if Do is ranked 30th on tour going into the tournament I wonder just how good the other 29 golfers are? This young man truly has game and when he was down two shots with one to play he never batted an eyelash. While he had no idea that Michael Nagy mady bogey on 18 Henry Do took care of business. He split the fairway on 18 with a clutch tee shot and then pitched a laser to about three feet for a birdie which he promptly made to force overtime. Then while Nagy went into the trees and had to pitch, Do took the drama out of the tournament and split the fairway and then put it once again about 2 to 3' from the hole and once again made bird. Do now sits 10th in the AJGA rankings.
 
2. Quality of Depth- On the boys side, there was not much of it based on the Polo rankings. Besides Do, only Beau Titsworth of Ohio is currently ranked in the top 60. Do is now ranked 10th after his win this past week. Saying that, there are plenty of great players who participated. Max Kollin, Francesco Ruffino and Bailey Truesdell are super and so are many others that I didn't mention.  The lack of players on these rankings gives you an idea how deep the quality of junior golf is. One reader said to check other rankings. I will tell you these are connected directly to the AJGA site. They just are not in the top 75. For the girls, this is especially alarming. Talia Campbell of Dallas, Texas the only player among the girls in the top 70 that played last week. Campbell is currently ranked 28th. Ali Cowan, also of Texas is now ranked 111th. Campbell is a load to handle in any circumstances but she finished five strokes ahead of Elisabeth Bernabe of Anaheim Hills, California and 13 strokes ahead of the fourth place finisher and that would be Cowan.

3. Quality of Field- The saying Pure Michigan was certainly pure during the past week. While the field was not nationally ranked by Polo, 11 of the top 12 are from the mitten state and to give you perspective the top 15 found 13 Michigan golfers. Can you imagine if Michiganders could golf nationally if they had all year to sharpen their games?
Here is the list of the top 15.

1	* Henry Do	2013	Ypsilanti, Mich.	72-73-72--217
2	Michael Nagy	2012	Manistique, Mich.	75-71-71--217
3	Reed Hrynewich	2013	Muskegon, Mich.	73-77-69--219
4	Max Kollin	2012	Farmington Hills, Mich.	75-74-71--220
T5	Bailey Truesdell	2012	Grand Blanc, Mich.	74-70-77--221
5	Joo-Young Lee	2013	Hilliard, Ohio	75-78-68--221
T7	Otto Black	2012	Pinckney, Mich.	76-75-73--224
7	Blaze Hogan	2012	Big Rapids, Mich.	77-71-76--224
9	Beau Titsworth	2012	Avon Lake, Ohio	74-76-75--225
T10	Francesco Ruffino	2013	Bloomfield Hills, Mich.	73-73-82--228
10	Aaron Knutson	2012	Lake Orion, Mich.	75-75-78--228
12	Alexander Jones	2011	Dewitt, Mich.	76-73-80--229
T13	Nick Carlson	2015	Hamilton, Mich.	74-80-77--231
13	Jeremy Ball	2014	Bloomfield Hills, Mich.	79-72-80--231
T15	Griffin Billups	2012	Ada, Mich.	75-80-77--232

4. Randy Wise is one hands on sponsor. He helped fund the tournament for the players and was on hand each day to make sure the tournament ran smoothly and I think his money was well spent. I  definitely will consider his vast dealerships the next time I purchase a new or used car and I think that is part of the point.

5. The college scouts were out in droves to watch players. They cannot contact junior until September first but there were there from many Michigan programs. The student athletes acted well and remember college students, while you do need to have 'game' to get into college, you better act well and fit in with your prospective teammates. If you do not, you will not be signed and on top of that you probably should look into a school that is a better fit for you.

6. One Classy Tournament-

The 17th Green has no empty beer cans or rowdy fans but still gives you goosebumps.

The AJGA ran a super tournament. nary a player had a bad word to say about the AJGA and that speaks volumes. Players will travel from around the United States to play for a mediocure organization and the AJGA has thought about everything from activities for players, charities to donate money to, have scholarships for players in need and making sure that everything from tee to green runs as smoothly as possible. Well Done!