The Peggy Kirk Bell Girls’ Golf Tour’s 2020 National Series peaks its head around the corner, but before we kick off another season, the Regional circuit wraps up its 2019 campaign. The past season on the largest all-girls golf tour in the nation featured vast expansion. Along with several new national events, the PKBGT expanded into two new regions: the Delaware Valley and Kentucky.
Each of the PKBGT’s six Regional Series provides junior girl golfers with a comfortable environment to compete and be recognized on the junior golf circuit while gaining experience in a tournament atmosphere. In the first phase of the PKBGT Series Progression, the series allows players to progress towards collegiate golf by playing yardage/skill appropriate tournaments as they develop their game.
This past weekend, the Middle Atlantic Series capped off a season featuring ten events: eight one-day tournaments and two multi-day classics. Between Virginia and Maryland, the PKBGT’s Middle Atlantic members were presented with a handful of challenging courses and heated competitions. The season concluded at Fawn Lake Country Club in Spotsylvania, VA this past weekend with the Middle Atlantic Series Finale.
Not only did three winners walk away with Middle Atlantic Series Finale trophies, but three individuals were crowned champion of the Order of Merit! Let’s take a look at who finished at the top of their division’s respective Storie Apparel Order of Merit race!
2019 Southeast Series Order of Merit, presented by Storie Apparel
Prep Division
With a T7 finish at Fawn Lake CC, Ester Choi (Midlothian, VA 2021) held on to the top spot of the Prep Middle Atlantic Order of Merit! Currently ranked inside the Top 100 on the PKBGT Performance Index, Choi finished the season with an average score of 77.57.
Choi competed in five events on the circuit, topped by her win at the Middle Atlantic Series Classic. She supplemented her two-day victory with a pair of runner-up finishes to jump ahead of the crowd in the rankings.
Taking her first OOM title, Choi punches her ticket to the inaugural PKBGT Regional Invitational at Carolina National Golf Club in late-October! A top finish at Carolina National could provide Choi a path to the prestigious PKBGT Invitational, held at Bermuda Run Country Club in November. She will also earn a trip to the PKBGT Tournament of Champions at Pinehurst No. 8 and the PKBGT Linville Cup at Mid Pines!
Other Prep Top Finishers
2) Rachel Detore (Fredericksburg, VA 2020)
3) Brenna Trombetta (Poquoson, VA 2021)
4) Catherine Qiu (Great Falls, VA 2024)
5) Alice Zou (Potomac, MD 2022)
Futures Division
A timely victory at the Middle Atlantic Series Finale catapulted Madison Lehr (Mechanicsville, VA 2024) ten spots in the Futures Middle Atlantic Order of Merit, earning the title of champion! Lehr posted a two-day total score of 154 (+8) in earning the final win of the 2019 Middle Atlantic Series.
Throughout her summer campaign, Lehr competed in five events with this past weekend serving as her lone victory. She sat at an average score of 80.00 with two other medaling finishes. Lehr took the top spot by a shallow margin of just 10.50 points!
She joins the party in Bolivia, NC at the PKBGT Regional Invitational in October and will be honored at a special Order of Merit ceremony during the event’s banquet. As with Choi, Lehr claims a spot in the PKBGT Tournament of Champions in Pinehurst and the 2020 PKBGT Linville Cup just down the round in Southern Pines!
Other Futures Top Finishers
2) Cailyn Park (Fairfax, VA 2025)
3) Fannie Sukhumparnich (Bethesda, MD 2024)
4) Makayla Grubb (Stafford, VA 2025)
5) Jennifer Osborne (Ashburn, VA 2024)
Discovery Division
Despite falling short in a thrilling playoff tiebreaker at the Series Finale, Sydney Neou (Leesburg, VA 2027) held on for the Discovery Middle Atlantic Order of Merit championship! Taking runner-up honors after Michelle Yeung’s (Clarksville, MD 2027) hole-in-one at Fawn Lake, Neou controlled the Order of Merit top spot by six points!
Neou earned her fair share of wins in the 2019 season: four to be exact! At Greene Hills Country Club, Bowling Green Country Club, Hanover Golf Club and Pendleton Golf Club, she took home the champions trophy. One the season, Neou’s scoring average was 71.56.
By winning the OOM, Neou will be eligible to compete in the second annual PKBGT Discovery Invitational at Palmetto Dunes Oceanfront Resort in Hilton Head Island. She will also receive an invite to serve as a returning competitor at the third annual PKBGT Linville Cup in January!
Other Discovery Top Finishers
2) Michelle Yeung (Clarksville, MD 2027)
3) Olivia Cho (Ashburn, VA 2028)
4) Raquel Walker (Burke, VA 2026)
5) Abigail Avallone (Adamstown, MD 2026)
Closing Remarks
We would like to thank all of our competitors for participating in the 2019 PKBGT Middle Atlantic Series! We would also like to extend our gratitude to all of our host courses who opened their doors to the nation’s largest all-girls golf tour!
About the PKBGT
Founded in 2007 by the Triad Youth Golf Foundation, a non-profit 501(c)(3) charitable organization, as a local girls’ golf tour in the Triad region of North Carolina, the tour began as a simple concept: create more effective competitive playing opportunities for girls. By utilizing innovative yardage-based divisions instead of the traditional age-based format, the tour focused on developing tournament experience at the player’s pace. The 2019 season will feature over 90 tournaments in 9 states on the East Coast and with over 900 members, the PKBGT is the largest girl’s only tour in the country. Learn more about the PKBGT at http://www.pkbgt.org/.
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