Junior Presidents Cup teams announce first 11 players for 2024 competition

The Presidents Cup and American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) announced today the first 10 spots and captains picks for the 2024 Junior Presidents Cup, with the event’s fourth edition set to tee off on Sept. 22 at Le Club Laval-sur-le-Lac – Blue Course in Montreal, four days before the 2024 Presidents Cup begins play at nearby The Royal Montreal Golf Club. The 12^th and final Junior Presidents Cup players for the U.S. Team and International Team will be finalized September 5^th. The Junior Presidents Cup is a two-day, team match-play competition featuring the top 24 junior boys, 19 years old and younger. The juniors are split into teams of 12, half from the United States and the other half from around the world, excluding Europe. Taking place just days before the start of the biennial Presidents Cup, the Junior Presidents Cup was developed to give the world’s best non-European juniors a unique playing opportunity to compete in an international team match-play competition and showcase the global reach of junior golf. Le Club Laval-sur-le-Lac was founded in 1917 and is considered to be one of the most prestigious clubs in the country, ranking among the Top 100 golf courses in Canada. The Junior Presidents Cup will be played on the Blue Course, which was redesigned in 2013 by 2024 International Presidents Cup Captain Mike Weir and Ian Andrew, who had also worked as the restoration architect of the Green course at Le Club Laval-sur-le-Lac for some time prior. On the International Team, Xihuan Chang of China, tops the list of top 10 qualified players based on the World Amateur Golf Ranking® (WAGR®). At No. 37 Chang comes into the event with eight professional wins in China. With no Canadians represented in the top-10, the 10^th spot on the International Team was secured by Antoine Jasmine, the highest-ranked eligible Canadian in the World Amateur Golf Ranking® (WAGR®). Jasmine’s selection to the team is significant as he is from the Laval area of Québec where the tournament will be held. Also featured on the team are two returning players from the 2022 International Team. Rayhan Abdul Latief of Indonesia and Joshua Bai of New Zealand. Both players went 1-2-0 during the 2022 campaign. In total, eight countries are represented on the International Team, with China, Vietnam and Thailand having two players representing. International Team Captain Graham DeLaet selected Samuel Gonzalez of Colombia, as his captain’s pick. Gonzalez has nine top-10 finishes in 13 World Amateur Golf Ranking® (WAGR®) recognized tournaments this year and was the next player in the standings following the 10 automatic qualifiers. “I’m honored to be the captain of this team and to have so many quality players to choose from for the captain’s pick,” DeLaet said. “There are so many deserving players and simply choosing the next player up, Samuel Gonzalez, seemed to be the most logical and fair way to go about it. I’m also excited to have a Quebec native, Antoine Jasmin, on our team. I’m confident that with the 10 automatic qualifiers we have, along with Samuel and the final spot to come in a few weeks, our team will be incredibly competitive. I look forward to meeting all 12 of these young men and sharing a week that I hope and believe will be very memorable for them!” The 12^th and final spot on the International Team will be awarded to the leading player on the WAGR® list as of September 5, 2024, who is not otherwise qualified. In the event of a tie, the selection will be decided by the individual ranked highest on the most previous World Amateur Golf Ranking® (WAGR®) revision. Based on the Rolex AJGA Rankings, the top 10 players qualified for the U.S. Team as of August 11, 2024. The team features a number of young stars as eight of the 11 are rising juniors or younger. These include 2023 Rolex Junior Player of the Year and No. 1 Miles Russell of Jacksonville Beach, Florida. Russell became the youngest player to be named Rolex Junior Player of the Year, beating a record previously held by Tiger Woods. On the team at No. 4 in the Rolex AJGA Rankings is Blades Brown of Nashville, Tennessee, who made his PGA TOUR debut in May at the Myrtle Beach Classic, shooting 10-under-par and finishing tied for 26^th. Continuing the young trend, in 2023 team member Tyler Watts of Huntsville, Alabama, became the youngest Alabama State Amateur champion at 15 years old. Jackson Byrd of Saint Simons Island, Georgia, claimed the 10^th spot on the team. Byrd is the son of five-time PGA TOUR winner Jonathan Byrd. United States Team Captain Charley Hoffman selected Logan Reilly of Lovettsville, Virginia, as his captain’s pick. Reilly is No. 11 on the standings list and is No. 17 in the Rolex AJGA Rankings. He has two top-10 finishes in AJGA Invitationals in the last year and won the 2024 Scott Robertson Memorial in May. The 2025 grad has made a verbal commitment to play college golf at Auburn University. “Throughout this process of selecting the best juniors to represent the USA I wanted to look at a culmination of work,” Hoffman said. “He had one of the most consistent summers of golf out there and fell just short of an automatic bid. I am excited to welcome Logan Reilly to the U.S. Junior Presidents Cup Team.” The 12^th and final spot on the U.S. Team will be awarded to the leading player in the Rolex AJGA Rankings as of September 5, 2024, who is not otherwise qualified. In the event of a tie, the selection will be decided by the individual ranked highest on the World Amateur Golf Ranking® (WAGR®) list at that time.  The first 11 players for each team are listed below: United States Team Standings – Captain Charley Hoffman

1. Miles Russell (FL)Tyler Watts (AL)Blades Brown (SC)Pennson Badgett (NC)Asher Vargas (TX)Luke Colton (TX)Will Hartman (NC)Ronin Banerjee (CA)Tyler Mawhinney (FL)Jackson Byrd (GA)Logan Reilly (VA)*

 International Team Standings– Captain Graham DeLaet

1. Xihuan Chang (China)Nguyen Anh Minh (Vietnam)Rayhan Abdul Latief (Indonesia)Thanawin Lee (Thailand)Joshua Bai (New Zealand)Kartik Singh (India)Le Khanh Hung (Vietnam)Liangliang Gu (China)Warut Boonrod (Thailand)Antoine Jasmin (Canada)Samuel Gonzalez (Colombia)*

 *Captain’s Pick Click here for complete Junior Presidents Cup Team Standings. 

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