Alexa Melton and William Mouw (AJGA photo)
The final round of the Thunderbird International Junior concluded with two first-time invitational champions. William Mouw of Chino, California, went wire-to-wire to win his second tournament in the past month. Alexa Melton of Covina, California, came from behind to win in the Girls Division.
This was the 20th anniversary of the Thunderbird International Junior, an event that has been hosted by Grayhawk Golf Club every year on Memorial Day since 2000. The tournament has had notable past champions such as Ryan Moore, Brian Harman, Morgan Pressel and Ariya Jutanugarn. The field this year included nine of the top-10 boys in the Rolex AJGA Rankings and seven of the top-10 girls.
Mouw shot a 3-over 73 in his final round that included 10 pars in his first 11 holes. He finished the tournament at 1-under-par 209 to earn his first invitational win. Last year, Mouw finished fifth at the Thunderbird International Junior and earlier this year he won his first AJGA event, the 2019 PING Heather Farr Classic. Mouw is No. 12 in the Rolex AJGA Rankings and the high school senior has signed a National Letter of Intent to Pepperdine University.
Stephen Campbell Jr. of Richmond, Texas, finished in solo second after finishing the tournament with a total of 3-over-par 213. Campbell Jr. shot a final round 3-over-par 73 and had three birdies on the day. The University of Oklahoma verbal commit is currently No. 43 in the Rolex AJGA Rankings.
Jake Beber-Frankel of Miami, Florida, finished the weekend in solo third after shooting a 5-over-par 75 in his final round. Beber-Frankel had two birdies on his back nine to help him down the stretch and he finished with a tournament total of 5-over-par 215. The high school junior is a verbal commit to Stanford University and is currently No. 89 in the Rolex AJGA rankings.
Connor Creasy of Abingdon, Virginia, finished in solo fourth after shooting a final round 2-over-par 72. Creasy ended the weekend at 7-over-par 217. He had three birdies on the day and birdied his last hole to secure the fourth-place finish. He has signed a National Letter of Intent to the University of Georgia and is currently No. 32 in the Rolex AJGA Rankings.
Taehoon Song of (South Korea) Buena Park, California, Cannon Claycomb of Bowling Green, Kentucky, Ian Siebers of Bellevue, Washington, and Luke Potter of Encinitas, California, finished T5 at 8-over-par 218 for the weekend.
Alexa Melton started the day one shot off the lead and had a tight battle down to the end with her fellow competitors. In the end Melton birdied two of her last three holes to come away with a two-shot victory and her first invitational win. The Pepperdine University commit shot a three-day total of even-par 216 and had 11 birdies on the weekend.
Rose Zhang of Irvine, California, and Sadie Englemann of Austin, Texas, finished T2 after shooting a three-day total of 2-over-par 218. Zhang shot the low round of the day for the girls with a 1-under-par 71 to move her up the leaderboard. Englemann shot a 2-under-par 34 on her back nine to make her way back into the top-3. She shot a 4-over-par 76 in the final round.
ABOUT THE Thunderbird International Junior
Conducted by the American Junior Golf
Association, the Thunderbird International
Junior is a 54-hole stroke play competition
played on the par-72, Raptor Course at
Grayhawk Golf Club. The event features 48
boys and 30 girls, ages 12-18, from 17 states
and 14 countries. The Boys Division is playing
the course at 7,112 yards while the Girls
Division is playing the course at 6,342 yards.
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