On Saturday, March 16, the Peggy Kirk Bell Girls’ Golf Tour plays the North Carolina Series at Longleaf Golf and Family Club in Southern Pines, NC.
Spring is in the air and with that comes the first event of the 2019 PKBGT North Carolina Series! The series includes 12 One-Day tournaments and three Two-Day events in North Carolina, concluding with the Series Finale. These events offer innovative yardage-based divisions to girls aged 9-17. The PKBGT Series Progression allows players to progress towards playing collegiate golf by playing yardage/skill appropriate tournaments as they develop their game.
Regional tournaments are designed for golfers of all skill levels but are a great place for development golfers to “get into the swing of things” playing tournament golf. The goal of the One-Day Open Series events is to provide a fun and friendly tournament on a premium golf course. The North Carolina Series at Longleaf Golf and Family Club features a field of 78 players from the PKB Girls’ Golf Tour, the nation’s largest “girls’ only” junior tour.
Prep Series
Headlining the 21 player Prep Series field is Kelly Topiwala (Matthews, NC 2020). Topiwala is currently ranked 37th on the PKBGT Performance Index. On the National Series, Topiwala competes in the Bell division, the top level of play in the PKBGT. Her top performance in the current National season is a T9 finish at the PKB Junior in late December. Topiwala looks for a strong performance at Longleaf G & FC to begin her Regional season.
Halynn Lee (Cary, NC 2021) returns to the Regional Series as the 71st ranked player on the Performance Index. Lee finished in fourth place at last year’s North Carolina Series Finale at Colonial Country Club. With a clean slate, Lee looks to jump towards the top of the North Carolina Prep Order of Merit standings in the first event of the season.
Mary Sears Brown (Wake Forest, NC 2021) enters the event fresh off of an exhilarating performance in the Futures National division at the 2019 Tar Heel Classic. Sears Brown entered a tiebreaker playoff sitting in a tie for the lead following the completion of regulation. She finished the event in second place and hopes to carry that momentum into her first event of the Regional Series.
Futures Series
Madison Dial (High Point, NC 2025) makes the leap into 18-hole competition on this year’s Regional Series. Last season, Dial finished in second place on the North Carolina Discovery Order Of Merit. She won the event at Monroe Country Club and transitions into the next level in the field of 38 Futures National competitors.
Kennedy Brady (Charlotte, NC 2022) will participate in the first event of the North Carolina Regional Series. Brady has competed on the National Series and earned a Top 10 finish at the Orange Whip Classic at Clemson University. She finished in ninth place in the Futures National division.
Claudia Winterberg (Harrisburg, NC 2021) also makes the transition into her Regional Series season at Longleaf G & FC. Winterberg competes on the National Series and saw her top performance at the RocketTour Players Championship with a fifth-place finish.
Discovery Series
Ashnoor Kaur (Draper, VA 2027) competes in the Discovery Series for another season. Last year she finished in third place on the North Carolina Discovery Order of Merit. She won two events in the 2018 Regional season including the North Carolina Series Finale at Colonial CC.
Gracie Song (Waxhaw, NC 2026) plays in her first event on the North Carolina Series. Last season, Song won the North Carolina Series at Statesville CC. This season, she competed in and won the Central Florida Series Kickoff at Walt Disney Resort (Lake Buena Vista).
Leah Edwards (Greensboro, NC 2025) returns to action in another season on the North Carolina Discovery Series. Edwards competed in the inaugural Discovery Invitational in Hilton Head Island where she finished in seventh place. She also participated in the 2019 Linville Cup at Mid Pines Inn and GC.
Closing Remarks
Everyone looks for a successful season kickoff at the North Carolina Series at Longleaf G & FC! Awards will be presented to the top-5 finishers in the Prep and Futures Series, and the top-3 in the Discovery Series. We wish all of our competitors the best of luck at the event!
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 players’ 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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