The race to number one in the world rankings is nearing the end, with 16 events in the books and currently only five events remaining on the schedule. So far a total of four events have counted as double points events. However not a single winner in those events holds the lead as our world number one. It just goes to show that consistent golf is rewarded in our table, just as it is on the course. Leading the boys is Ruperto III Zaragosa of the Philippines who placed second in Future Champions Golf Junior International Championship and took home first place at this year’s IMG Academy Junior World Championship. Taisei Negishi from San Diego holds the second place and less than 2000 points from first. Directly behind Negishi, Puwit Anupansuebsai trails second place by little more than 1200 points. Mason Overstreet from Kingfisher Oklahoma, Joaquin Niemann from Chile, and Sean Carlon from Albuquerque New Mexico, share a tie for fourth place. Koichiro Sato from Irvine, CA stands alone in seventh place with 9500 points with two top ten finishes. Through this date, Brody Blackmon of Sulphur Springs, Texas, Sahith Theegala from Chino Hills, California, and Nickolas Robinson from Palos Verdes Estates, California, share the eight place spot and finish off our top ten for the boy division. Though only five events remain in the schedule, is more than enough for many players to move into the top 10, or even into the number one position! Good Luck to all competitors in finishing out this years ranked events.
Moving on to our girls division we can see that, just as with the boys division consistent golf is rewarded as not a single double-points event winner holds the lead. Alli Kim holds an impressive 4000 point lead over the second place Yui Kawamoto. Kim, from Murrieta, has finished top 5 in four events, winning twice, and placed in the top ten for one of the double-points events. Kawamoto performs her best at larger tournaments as our point system shows her victory and top five finish during two double-points events. Nasa Hataoka from Japan and Alyaa Abdulghany from Newport Beach share the third place position while Karah Sanford takes fifth place outright with 8500 points. A four-way tie dominates the six place position with Paphangkorn Tavatanakit from Thailand, Pauline Del Rosario of the Philippines, Wanping Huang of Taiwan, and Rong Ji from Rancho Santa Fe all knotted up at 8000 points. Our final spot in our top 10 spotlight is a tie between Han Hsuan Yu of Taiwan and Abegail Arevalo hailing from Paranaque City. Though Alli Kim seems to be running away with the lead, there are plenty of points remaining in the schedule for many players to move into the top ten and even give the leader a run for her money. Good luck to all competitors in their rounds during the remainder of the year!