Jasmine Koo and Wheaton Ennis (AJGA Photo)
Wheaton Ennis of Litchfield Park, Arizona, and
Jasmine Koo of Cerritos, California, won their first Invitationals at the 2023 AJGA Invitational presented by PING.
Ennis finished with a 6-under-par 207 to win the Boys Division, while Koo had a tournament total of 3-under-par 210. Both champions won wire-to-wire, holding the outright lead all three days of competition.
Ennis started the final round with a nine-stroke advantage. He had three birdies on the front nine but dropped two shots on Nos. 6 and 8. After making the turn, he finished 2-over-par on the back nine but had enough of a lead built in to secure the victory.
"It feels awesome to win this week," Ennis said. "I've wanted to win this tournament for a long time, and to get it done at this course means a lot."
At No. 11 in the Rolex AJGA Rankings, Ennis won in his debut at the AJGA Invitational presented by PING and has two AJGA victories already this year at the PING Heather Farr Classic and PGA WEST Junior Championship.
The Texas A&M commit finished six shots clear of the Boys Division field, which included two of the top 10 players in the Rolex AJGA Rankings, with the event's defending champion.
Behind Ennis, Nathan Miller of Dallas, Texas, had three birdies on the back nine to finish in second place at even-par 213 for his best AJGA finish this year. In a tie for third, Stanford commit Jay Leng Jr of San Diego, California, and TCU commit Charlie Wylie of Houston, Texas, finished at 3-over-par 216.
Rounding out the top five was Princeton commit Eric Yun of Menlo Park, California, and Vanderbilt commit Michael Riebe of Encinitas, California, in a tie for fifth place at 4-over-par 217.
In the Girls Division, Koo entered the final round with a solid four-shot lead over the field. She made the turn at even-par and was able to add three birdies on the back nine to keep her momentum. Koo ended with a birdie on No. 18 to seal the five-stroke victory.
The University of Southern California commit is a two-time Rolex Junior All-American and No. 14 in the Rolex AJGA Rankings. She was a member of the United States PING Junior Solheim Cup team and has had two top-10 finishes in Invitationals this season.
"I'm super happy," Koo said. "I feel like I have been preparing and waiting for this moment to come for a while. For this event to be my first Invitational win just proves that I can win any event."
In solo second place, Oregon commit Yana Wilson of Henderson, Nevada, finished at 2-over-par 215 for her fifth finish in the top three this year. In solo third, Northwestern commit Megan Meng of Pennington, New Jersey, had a tournament total of 3-over-par 216.
UNC commit Helen Yeung of Clarksville, Maryland, finished in fourth place at 5-over-par 218. Rounding out the top five was Irene Kim of Woodstock, Maryland, and Michelle Liu of Vancouver, British Columbia, at 6-over-par 219.
The 17th AJGA Invitational, presented by PING, showcased the best of the next generation of future college and professional stars. The tournament was hosted at The Pfau Course at Indiana University. The venue change took place after Karsten Creek undergoes renovations.
There were 25 Rolex Junior All-Americans and 57 AJGA champions in the field. In addition, 33 college commits and eight countries represented.
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ABOUT THE
AJGA PING Invitational
One of the AJGA series of tournaments that
require an invitation to participate. Format is 54
holes of stroke play.
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