What You Need To Know!

The JCJI Tournament Committee reserves the right to evaluate/restructure the on-going qualifier process each year. The Invitation process begins anew each year immediately after the final putt is holed at the championship. All former Joe Cheves Junior Champions are exempt, providing they are still eligible, as well as the Top 5 from the previous year. Meet a criteria and you will receive a JCJI Invitation, as long as you are still enrolled in high school. If a qualifier is a duplicate invitee or will not be eligible for the JCJI it does not cause the qualifier list to slide down to the next eligible player at each criteria event or within the rankings.

Invitations begin going out on May 1st. Each invitation has a "Deadline to Accept" Date. We are not responsible for incorrect addresses. If you have met a criteria and your Invitation is not received in due time after June 1st, please contact us at 919-801-7360 or email to agagolf@nc.rr.com. If the qualifying process has need, a limited number of at-large bids may be extended to players with national, regional and state tournament victories and a quality resume. There are many ways to earn a JCJI invitation. If you want to play, please earn one.

2011 Schedule of Events

Friday, August 26th

All Day- Official Practice Rounds at Mimosa Hills CC

6:00pm- Little Ceasers Pizza Fest and Long Drive Contest (#1 Tee)- All players and family/friends are invited

Saturday, August 27th

8:30am- Opening Ceremonies and Scholarship Presentations

8:55am - 2:16pm- First Round Tee Times- #1 Tee
Box Lunches Available for Players on 9th hole from 11:00am - 4:00pm

Sunday, August 28th

7:30am - 12:30pm- Final Round Tee Times- #1 Tee
Lunch Available for Players in Clubhouse from 11:00am - 4:30pm

5:00pm- Awards Ceremony and Trophy Presentation- #18 Green

Past Joe Cheves Junior Champion Austin Ernst Captures NCAA Division I Golf Championship

Congratulations to 2011 NCAA Women's Division I Golf Champion Austin Ernst. A freshman at LSU, Ernst fired rounds of 72-66-77-66=281 (9-under) to win the NCAA title at the Traditions Club in Bryan, Texas. Her final round 66 included an ace at the second hole.

Ernst, from Seneca, SC, is a former Joe Cheves Junior Champion. She cruised to an easy eight-shot victory at the fifth annual JCJI in 2007 with rounds of 70-71=141.

Ernst played in three JCJI's. She finished eighth in 2006 (75-78=153) as a prep freshman. She won in 2007 and she was the 2008 runnerup with rounds of 71-72, finishing two shots behind Haley Stephens, a current player at the Univ. of Texas.

The Tigers' Ernst became the first freshman to win the NCAA crown since Southern California's Jennifer Rosales in 1998.

Way to go Austin. You have made all of us associated with the Joe Cheves Junior Invitational and Mimosa Hills CC very proud.

Kendall Martindale and Wilson Day Capture Eighth Joe Cheves Junior Invitational

The Joe Cheves Junior Invitational @ Mimosa Hills had a little bit of everything in its eighth annual edition. The boy’s competition included a three-man sudden-death playoff, while the girl’s division saw one of the nation’s top players run away from the field in a record-setting performance.

Explosive opening rounds of 65 by Will Long of Gastonia and 66 by Cody Proveaux of Leesville, S.C. forewarned of a two-man shootout on the final day. That scenario didn’t materialize on Sunday, as both players went over-par.
This allowed a slew of players back in the hunt. When regulation play ended, three players had edged lose from the pack to tie for the lead at 139 (5-under) — Wilson Day, Raleigh (71-68), Taylor Zoller, North Charleston, S.C. (72-67) and Caleb Sturgeon, Laurens, S.C. (70-69).

The playoff lasted just one hole. Day made a routine fairway-to-green par, while Zoller and Sturgeon found bunker difficulty at Mimosa’s 18th hole.

Day opened with a first round 71, which left him six shots back heading into Sunday’s final round. Not the kind of number that keeps the average golfer in contention. But these aren’t average golfers. “My Dad didn’t think I had a chance, but I did,” laughed Day at the awards ceremony. “I heard him talking to my Mom last night and he said, ‘he’s six shots back, I think he’s out of it. I’m not sure he can make it up. But, hopefully he’ll play good tomorrow.’

Day made it up with a blistering 32 on Mimosa’s tight tree-lined back nine, and that included a double bogey on 15. He birdied 10, 12, and 13, and really got into the mix with an eagle at the par 5 14th. Even a double-bogey at 15 didn’t dampen his spirit, as he parred 16, and quickly followed that with a deuce at Mimosa’s treacherous little par 3 17th hole. Blake Kennedy of Moore, S.C. came to the 18th hole in the lead, at 6-under for the tournament. A disastrous triple bogey on the 435-yard par 4 took the Clemson commitment (2012) out of contention, knowing a par would have sealed him a victory, or a bogey would have at least earned a playoff opportunity.

When Sunday’s final round started under beautiful sunshine skies, seven girls were within four shots of one another. Everyone was chasing first round leader Kendall Martindale of Jefferson City, Tenn., who opened with a first round 68. Spectators were anticipating a thrilling down-to-wire finish. Martindale, however, would have none of it, as she produced a record-setting performance enroute to a six-shot victory.

Martindale extinguished any suspense early in the final round. The No. 1 ranked junior player in Tennessee reeled off four birdies (1, 5, 6, 7) to distance herself from the rest of the field. Collins Bradshaw of Columbia, S.C., who began the day one shot back, kept pace with Martindale through the front nine with her own 32, but a back nine 41 derailed her chances.
Martindale, who came to Morganton ranked 24th in the country in the Golfweek/Titleist rankings, was unbeatable on the weekend, shooting 68-67. Her 135 total (9-under) was a tournament record by six shots. The previous best winning total was 141 (3-under) by Blair Lamb (2004), Austin Ernst (2007) and Haley Stephens (2008). It was Martindale’s second victory of the week. On Labor Day, she won the AJGA Woodward Video Junior title at The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.
After an opening round 74, United States Junior runnerup Katelyn Dambaugh of Goose Creek, S.C. made a final run with a front nine 31 and got with 5 shots. She fired a final round 67.

Dambaugh and East Carolina commitment Katie Kirk (70-71) of Davidson, N.C. finished second with 141 totals (3-under). Raleigh’s Taelor Rubin (71-71) and Bradshaw (69-73) finished at two-under. North Carolina’s No. 1 ranked player, Sarah Bae of Cary (71-72), was sixth at 143 (1-under).

Both Joe Cheves Junior champions have made verbal commitments to colleges for next year. Martindale has chosen Vanderbilt, while Day will attend N.C. State. Both were selected as the Junior Players of the Week by Golfweek.

Click here to view full 2010 Results

Parents & Spectators Are Welcome: We welcome and desire all golf fans at the JCJI. All must keep a 30-yard distance from players during play. The giving of advice or coaching is strictly prohibited and is grounds for disqualification. To get the true flavor of Mimosa Hills, we will allow spectators to follow their favorite players by walking inside the ropes so to speak. You may walk down the fairways, but only behind the players. Therefore you must observe and be keenly aware of what’s going on in front and behind you. Do not abuse this privilege. Spectator carts, which must remain on the cart paths at all times, will be available.

In keeping with the tradition of our great event, spectators are encouraged to surround the 9th Green (Nicknamed "The Hill") in much of the same spirit as the 16th Hole at the Phoenix Open. Pack a picnic and cooler or order-up from the Snack Shack. Bring your lawn chairs and blankets and come cheer all of the great shot and sympathize for the not so great. You'll get pairing sheets and there will be a leaderboard to follow.