Greensboro, NC – The Peggy Kirk Bell Girls’ Tour returns to historic Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club for the PKBGT Tour Championship at the home of our Tour namesake, Ms. Peggy Kirk Bell. Champions and top performers of the season will gather to Pine Needles, which has been voted annually as one of the top tracks in the Carolina’s. The best of the tour converge at the home of golf in North Carolina for this 54 hole championship event.
** Tour Championship Leaderboard
The field of 84 competitors will be split into two separate divisions of play; the Bell National Division and the Futures National Division. There will be representatives from twelve different states along the east coast, ranging from Georgia to New York. We delve deeper into each division with our players to watch at the strongest junior golf event on the East Coast next week.
Bell National
The Bell National Division field features 48 of the tour’s top players, including 24 of the top 100 players on the PKBGT Performance Index and 25 players ranked in the top 1000 on Junior Golf Scoreboard rankings.
Ranked #2 on the PKBGT Performance Index is Kathryn Ha (Roanoke, VA 2025). Ha returns to the PKBGT Tour Championship as two-time defending champion and will be aiming for the rare three-peat. Not only did she win this event the past two years, but tied for fourth at the 10th PKBGT National Tournament of Champions and won the 2023 Spring Bell Invitational.
Only four spots behind Ha is Emerson B. Dever (Durham, NC 2025), at #6 on the PKBGT Performance Index. The Durham native has had quite the season with top-5 finishes at the 14th Peggy Kirk Bell Junior, Cape Fear Girls Classic, Katherine Perry Hamski Tradition, Spring Bell Invitational, and the Precision Girls Jr. Championship.
At the conclusion of the TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP, the Bell National Order of Merit title will be awarded to the champion of the season long points race!
Highest Ranked Players
- Kathryn Ha — Roanoke, VA — Class of 2025 — #2 on the PKBGT Performance Index — Best Finish at Tour Championship: WON (2021 & 2022)
- Emerson B. Dever — Durham, NC — Class of 2025 — #6 on the PKBGT Performance Index — Best Finish at Tour Championship: 2nd (Futures National)
- Macie Rasmussen — Chesapeake, VA — Class of 2027 — #8 on the PKBGT Performance Index — Best Finish at Tour Championship: First Appearance
- Karsyn Roberts — Pikeville, NC — Class of 2024 — #9 on the PKBGT Performance Index — Best Finish at Tour Championship: T9
- Riley Grimm — Pinehurst, NC — Class of 2028 — #11 on the PKBGT Performance Index — Best Finish at Tour Championship: T4 (Futures National)
Futures National
The Futures National Division features 36 rising talents, 32 of which are placed #50 or lower on the Futures National Order of Merit.
Ira Joshi (Charlotte, NC 2029) is the highest ranked Futures National player in the field this week at #80 on the PKBGT Performance Index. Throughout this season, Joshi has won three National Series tournaments: the Eastern NC Girls Classic, Katherine Perry Hamski Tradition, and the Queen City Girls Classic.
Aspen Bikowski (White Plains, MD 2027) is ranked both #198 on the PKBGT Performance Index and #4 on the Futures National Order of Merit rankings. Bikowski impressed this season with nine finishes inside the top-10 highlighted by a victory at the River Landing Girls Classic.
Highest Ranked Players
- Ira Joshi — Charlotte, NC — Class of 2029 — #80 on the PKBGT Performance Index — Best 2023 PKBGT National Season Finish: 1st (Thrice)
- Aspen Bikowski — White Plains, MD — Class of 2027 — #198 on the PKBGT Performance Index — Best 2023 PKBGT National Season Finish: 1st (River Landing Girls Classic)
- Gabriella Collelo — Pinehurst, NC — Class of 2029 — #199 on the PKBGT Performance Index — Best 2023 PKBGT National Season Finish: 1st (PKBGT Open)
- London Fitzgerald — Pinehurst, NC — Class of 2029 — #231 on the PKBGT Performance Index — Best 2023 PKBGT National Season Finish: 4/T4th (Twice)
- Sydney Dinh — Fairfax, VA — Class of 2028 — #236 on the PKBGT Performance Index Best — 2023 PKBGT National Season Finish: 1st (Kandi Comer Girls Classic)
The 2022 US Women’s Open host site, Pine Needles, awaits ready to challenge the top players from the PKBGT season this weekend. Follow PKBGT on social media to catch live action and updates from the season-ending PKBGT Tour Championship!
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 2022 season will feature over 138 tournaments in 12+ states and with over 1,000 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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For complete coverage of the Peggy Kirk Bell Girls’ Golf Tour, follow the PKBGT on social media @PKBGirlsTour (Twitter), facebook.com/girlsgolftour (Facebook), @pkbgirlstour (Instagram), or visit our website at www.pkbgt.org.
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