Junior America's Cup History

The Junior America's Cup first started in 1959. The original JAC started as matches between the Mexican, Alberta and the Southern California Junior Golf Associations with each association hosting every 3 years.

Junior America's Cup Oath:

In the name of all competitors I promise that we will take part in these Junior America's Cup Matches, respecting and abiding by the rules which govern them, in the true spirit of sportsmanship, for the glory of the game and the honor of our teams.

The Junior Americas Cup has showcased some of the best junior golfers throughout the western region. The competition brings together an elite international field of 17 teams of the top four boys representing 12 western states, 2 Canadian Provinces and Mexico competing in a team format.  Team results are based on the lowest three gross scores of the four team members.  Players also compete for low individual medalist honors.  

Many former participants have gone on to become successful Tour players, and its likely many of this year's participants will follow in the footsteps of other famous JAC alumni such as Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Fred Couples and Corey Pavin. Other notable participants include Ricky Barnes, Notah Begay, John Cook, Jason Gore, Charley Hoffman, Peter Jacobson, Steve Jones, Anthony Kim, Joel Kribel, Casey Martin, Billy Mayfair, Ryan Moore, Kevin Na, Pat Perez, Chris Riley, Scott Simpson, Duffy Waldorf and Mark Wiebe.

In 1972, a meeting was held at the Hogan Cup at Riverside Golf & Country Club in Portland, Ore.. The meeting's participants included: Bob Norquist Oregon; Lou Smith, San Diego; Walt McConalogue, Northern California; Bill Brandt, Southern California; Al Jones, Pacific Northwest GA and Fred Wellsby and Harry White, British Columbia. At the meeting the decision was made to expand the Junior America's Cup to include our western states plus Canada and Mexico. Those participating were: British Columbia, Idaho, Mexico (with two teams), Nevada, Northern California, Oregon, San Diego, Southern California, Washington and Utah.

In 1972, the Junior Golf Association of Northern California hosted the first event under the new expanded format.  Each team had five members. The competitors were housed by golfing families in the Pebble Beach area. What a great experience it was for all involved! The boys played Monterey Peninsula Country Club the first round, Spyglass Hill the second round, with the final round being hosted by the world famous Pebble Beach Golf Links.

 The Awards Ceremony was held on the lawn by the picturesque 18th green. San Diego captured the gold and one of the team members, Scott Simpson, is still active on the pro tour today.

 In 1974, a change was made to the team size, with four team members instead of five.  The format has remained the same since.  That year, Arizona and Hawaii were invited to participate.  British Columbia withdrew from the Matches for a few years.

 In 1975, Colorado became a part of the America's Cup Matches with Montana joining in 1976 and Alberta in 1977.  British Columbia also rejoined.  The field remained the same until 1989 when Sun Country (New Mexico and part of Northern Texas) were asked to join.  In 1995, Mexico asked to bring one team instead of two.  Wyoming was admitted to the group in 2001 which brought the team total to 17 with each golf association rotating hosting this prestigious event.       

The pairing format is quite unique in that each team member plays with a different player from two other associations the first two rounds.  The final day pairings are made according to the 36-hole team totals.  There are no playoffs in case of ties; duplicate medals (gold, silver and bronze) are presented to the tying team members.

In November of 2004, the Boys' Junior America's Cup lost its long-time Executive Director, Sally Pini (Northern California).  In her memory the Sally Pini Memorial Medal was awarded for the first time at the 2006 Boys' Junior America's Cup to the individual medalist.

 Established in 1973 - Pebble Beach, California