BRASELTON, Ga. – The American Junior Golf Association has announced its Rolex Junior All-America Teams, headlined by Rolex Junior Players of the Year Philip Barbaree of Shreveport, Louisiana, and Hannah O’Sullivan of Chandler, Arizona. For the second year in a row, the Rolex Junior Players of the Year also won the AJGA’s flagship event, the Rolex Tournament of Champions.
Introduced by the AJGA in 1978, the Rolex Junior All-America Teams annually recognize players who have proven to be the world’s premier junior golfers. This year’s Rolex Junior All-America Teams are comprised of 96 junior golfers, ages 13-19, from 21 states, China, Thailand and Japan. These young men and women distinguished themselves through their outstanding play in 127 national events, 112 of which were conducted by the AJGA. The teams were determined exclusively through the Polo Golf Rankings as of October 13, 2015.
The Rolex Junior Player of the Year award recognizes one boy and one girl who had the most outstanding year in junior golf events at the national level. Past recipients have gone on to become some of the most esteemed players on the PGA and LPGA Tours, including Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Jordan Spieth, Charles Howell III, Hunter Mahan, Brian Harman, Inbee Park, Paula Creamer and Morgan Pressel.
Barbaree, O’Sullivan and their fellow Rolex Junior All-Americans will be honored Nov. 22 during the Rolex Junior All-America Awards Banquet at PGA National Resort & Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. The awards ceremony, dubbed “The Greatest Night in Junior Golf,” will also celebrate the achievements of the AJGA Scholastic Junior All-Americans and Jerry Cole Sportsmanship Award recipient.
Philip Barbaree – Rolex Junior Player of the Year
Barbaree, 17, proved himself in both stroke and match play competitions during the 2015 season. At the Rolex Tournament of Champions, he made 25 birdies and shattered the 72-hole scoring record, finishing at 24-under-par and 14 strokes ahead of his nearest competitor. One month later at the U.S. Junior Amateur, Barbaree rallied from a 5-down deficit and won the championship match on the 37th hole. In October, he and O’Sullivan were two of the four players to help lead the United States to victory in the International Team competition at the Spirit International. Barbaree also won the individual and four-ball events, making him the only player to win three gold medals at the tournament featuring the top-20 ranked countries in the world.
It’s the second straight year Shreveport has been home of the boys Rolex Junior Player of the Year, as Sam Burns won the award in 2014. A senior at Byrd High School, Barbaree is No. 2 in the Polo Golf Rankings, No. 20 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, and has verbally committed to join Burns on the LSU golf team in the fall of 2016.
Philip Barbaree – Season Summary
- Won Rolex Tournament of Champions (66-68-64-66 – 264) at the Crosswater Course at Sunriver Resort
- Won the U.S. Junior Amateur, defeating Andrew Orischak in 37 holes
- Recorded a 2-2-0 record at the Wyndham Cup and tallied the Cup-clinching point for the West Team
- Won three gold medals at the Spirit International (International Team, Four-Ball, Individual)
- 71.10 scoring average in AJGA tournaments (19 rounds)
- No. 2 in the Polo Golf Rankings
- No. 20 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings
Hannah O’Sullivan – Rolex Junior Player of the Year
O’Sullivan, 17, won eight times in 2015 – three AJGA wins, one Symetra Tour victory, a win at the U.S. Women’s Amateur, and she was a member of three winning teams: the West Team at Wyndham Cup, the U.S. Team at the PING Junior Solheim Cup, and the U.S. Team at the Sprint International.
She became just the third girl ever to win the Rolex Tournament of Champions and Rolex Girls Junior Championship in the same season, and she won the Rolex Tournament of Champions with a tournament-record score of 14-under-par 274. A senior at Hamilton High School, O’Sullivan was also named an AJGA Scholastic Junior All-American for her outstanding academic achievements. She is No. 1 in the Polo Golf Rankings, No. 2 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, and has verbally committed to Southern Cal.
Hannah O’Sullivan – Season Summary
- Won Rolex Tournament of Champions (71-68-69-66 – 274) at the Crosswater Course at Sunriver Resort
- Won Rolex Girls Junior Championship (71-71-71-68 – 281) at The Country Club of North Carolina’s Dogwood Course
- Won Winn Grips Heather Farr Classic hosted by Longbow Golf Club (68-68-67 – 203)
- Won the Symetra Tour’s Gateway Classic at Longbow Golf Club (67-65-69 – 201), becoming the youngest winner in the Tour’s history at 16 years, 9 months, 11 days
- Won the U.S. Women’s Amateur, defeating Sierra Brooks in the championship match, 3 and 2
- Carded a 2-1-0 record as a member of the victorious U.S. PING Junior Solheim Cup Team
- Made her third appearance at Wyndham Cup and helped the West Team retain the Cup for the third year in a row (2015 record: 1-0-3, career record: 5-3-4)
- Was one of four players on the victorious U.S. Team at the Sprint International
- Competed in the Evian Championship (T50, 76-68-74-71 – 289) and U.S. Women’s Open (T53, 72-71-74-71 – 288)
- The only player to be named both a Rolex Junior All-American and AJGA Scholastic Junior All-American in 2015
- 70.13 scoring average in AJGA tournaments (16 rounds)
- No. 1 in the Polo Golf Rankings
- No. 2 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings
Rolex Junior All-America Teams
The 12 boys on the 2015 Rolex Junior All-America First Team hail from seven states and each player competed in the 2015 Wyndham Cup. Brad Dalke earned first-team honors for the fifth year in a row, and he’s the first player ever to accomplish that feat. He joins Sihwan Kim (2003-2007) and Andrew Yun (2005-2009) as the only boys to be named a Rolex Junior All-American five times. Philip Barbaree earned Rolex Junior All-America honors for the third year, and as the 2015 Rolex Junior Player of the Year, he earned first-team accolades for the first time. In all, the 12 male first-team Rolex Junior All-Americans combined for 13 national junior golf victories during the 2015 season.
The 12 girls on the Rolex Junior All-America First Team represent six states and combined for 13 national junior golf victories during the 2015 season. Four players are returning from last year’s first team – Nelly Korda, Bailey Tardy, Angel Yin and Andrea Lee, the 2014 Rolex Junior Player of the Year. Hannah O’Sullivan is a Rolex Junior All-American for the fourth year in a row, and she makes her debut on the first team as this year’s Rolex Junior Player of the Year. Additionally, 10 of the 12 girls on the first team helped the United States claim victory at the PING Junior Solheim Cup.
Among the 96 Rolex Junior All-Americans are four 13-year-olds: Sadie Englemann (Austin, Texas), Canon Claycomb (Bowling Green, Kentucky), Michaela Morard (Huntsville, Alabama) and Karah Sanford (Escondido, California). Additionally, two of the three youngest men to ever qualify for the U.S. Open are honorable mention Rolex Junior All-Americans. Andy Zhang (Winter Garden, Florida) became the youngest ever to qualify when he played in 2012 at the age of 14, and Cole Hammer (Houston, Texas) became the third-youngest to qualify when he played Chambers Bay in June at the age of 15.