Inside the Field: the 16th PKBGT Invitational

We are five days away from the most prestigious event on the year-long PKBGT circuit: the 16th PKBGT Invitational. With players from 18 states and Canada– let’s take a look inside this year’s field of 66 at the 2024 PKBGT Invitational!

Strength of Field in a Class by Itself

The PKBGT Invitational is perennially top 25 ranked tournament in the country as ranked by Golfweek Junior Golf Rankings. While this event typically boasts a strong field, the 16th playing of the Invitational will feature one of its highest-ranked fields yet, with 52 players inside the Top 1,000 on Junior Golf Scoreboard national rankings. Even more notably, 30 of these players rank inside the top 500, and 14 inside the top 250.

Every player that finished in the top 10 of last year’s PKBGT Invitational will return this year (not including those now playing collegiately) including the defending champion, Macie Rasmussen (Chesapeake, VA 2027). Macie won last year’s Invitational by six strokes highlighted by her first round 65 (-7)!

Past Champions Achieve Great Heights

13 different ladies have raised the championship bowl at the PKBGT Invitational in its 15 year history (View the Event History).  Inaugural Invitational champion Katherine Perry Hamski played professionally on the LPGA Tour and now is the assistant coach at her alma mater, UNC-Chapel Hill.  2011 & 2012 champion Lucia Polo and 2013 champion Anna Redding are members of the LPGA Epson Tour.  The Wake Forest University duo of 2014 champion Emilia Migliaccio and 2015 champion Rachel Kuehn are two of the top amateur players in the world and helped lead the Demon Deacons to a National Championship.  2022 champion Macy Pate is another past champion who now plays for Wake Forest where she was named the 2024 ACC Freshman of the Year. 2017 & 2019 champion Amanda Sambach who is a junior at the University of Virginia and 2018 champion Anna Morgan, who is staring at Furman University have been named to the Annika Award watch list which is awarded to the best women’s collegiate player in the nation.  These are just a few of the impressive accolades of our past Invitational champions! We’re excited to watch these ladies as they continue their success at the higher levels!

A New Venue in 2024: 

We’re excited to head to a new venue this year: the Country Club of Landfall! The Country Club of Landfall is one of the finest private, member-owned clubs in the South with two championship courses with a total of 45 holes designed by Jack Nicklaus and Pete Dye, which will host the Invitational.

The Country Club of Landfall annually hosts one of the top women’s collegiate events in the country, the Landfall Tradition each October. With the Landfall Tradition having been played just a couple weeks before hand, players will be able to directly compare themselves to the nation’s top collegiate players in a competitive environment!

Order of Merit Champs in the Field:

At each PKBGT event players earn season-long Order of Merit points based on their performance with events being weighted based on strength, size, and classification of the tournament. Through the standings, players are invited to the season-ending PKBGT Tour Championship at Pine Needles where the Order of Merit champion is decided for the season in each division. All of the 2024 Order of Merit Champions will be in the field next week at the PKBGT Invitational and aim to add another impressive title to their resume.  

Riley Grimm (Pinehurst, NC 2028) won the Bell National Order of Merit title in 2024 and joins Amanda Sambach as the only two players to have won the Bell National, Prep Preview, & Futures National Order of Merit titles in consecutive years! Grimm won three times in 2024 highlighted by her win at the inaugural LPGA*USGA Girls Golf National Championship! She also had four runner-up finishes including a T2 finish at the 2023 PKBGT Invitational.

Mallory Pitts (Greensboro, NC 2028) clinched a narrow Prep Preview Order of Merit victory with her T6 finish at the PKBGT Tour Championship. She had two wins on the Prep Preview series in 2024 at the PKB Foundation Classic and the Precision Jr. Girls Championship. This will be Pitts’ first Invitational appearance.

Arley Jennings (Spartanburg, SC 2030) clinched the Futures National Order of Merit victory with her win at the PKBGT Tour Championship. This was her first win of the year to go along with five additional top-10 finishes. This will also be Jennings’ first Invitational appearance.

The Best of the Best:

The 16th PKBGT Invitational has a star-studded field leading the pack are three players ranked inside the top 100 in the country by Junior Golf Scoreboard. Jenna Kim (Raleigh, NC 2027) comes into the Invitational as the highest ranked player in the field ranked #55 on Junior Golf Scoreboard. This will be the second PKBGT Invitational appearance for Kim who has had two Bell National victories at the PKBGT Masters & the Precision Jr. Girls Championship.

Zoe Cusack (Potomac, MD 2026) comes into the Invitational as the second highest ranked player in the field ranked at #57 on Junior Golf Scoreboard. Cusack recently committed to the University of Virginia and is the defending champion at the PKBGT Spring Bell Invitational.

Macie Rasmussen (Chesapeake, VA 2027), the defending champion, comes into the weekend ranked as the #73 ranked player on Junior Golf Scoreboard. Macie looks to join Lucia Polo and Amanda Sambach as they only players to have won the PKBGT Invitational multiple times!

Highest Ranked Players

In addition to our featured players, 8 other players in the field are currently ranked inside the top 200 players in the country by the Junior Golf Scoreboard.  They are:

  • Hannah Hall (Rockledge, FL 2026) — 113
  • Yvette O’Brien (Greenwich, CT 2025) — 118
  • Riley Grimm (Pinehurst, NC 2028) — 153
  • Grace Ridenour (Raleigh, NC 2025) — 161
  • Hallie Wilson (Winston Salem, NC 2027) — 166
  • Ellie Hildreth (Wrightsville Beach, NC 2025) — 174
  • Alexis Faieta (Tujunga, CA 2025) — 185
  • Elsie MacCleery (Crozet, VA 2025) — 186

Verballed, Sealed, Delivered

17 players in the 16th Invitational field have verbally committed to play collegiate golf:

  • Ava Cottis — University of North Florida
  • Zoe Cusack — University of Virginia
  • Leah Edwards — Western Kentucky University
  • Alexis Faieta — UNC Wilmington
  • Lillian Guleserian — Penn State University
  • Hannah Hall — University of Kansas
  • Hailey Han — University of Georgia
  • Danielle Higbee — Augusta University
  • Ellie Hildreth — NC State University
  • Joelle Johnson — Bucknell University
  • Grace Lindsey — Wofford University
  • Hannah Lowery — Jacksonville University
  • Elsie MacCleery — University of Virginia
  • Yvette O’Brien — TCU
  • Grace Ridenour — UNC Chapel Hill
  • Karsyn Roberts — East Carolina University
  • Lauren Paige Slatton — UAB

Follow the Action…

The first round of the 16th PKBGT Invitational, begins Saturday, November 9th, at the Country Club of Landfall. We look forward to a great event!


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