On December 7-8, the Peggy Kirk Bell Girls’ Tour takes over Pinehurst Resort as champions and top performers of the past season gather for the 2019 Tournament of Champions. The girls will take to the prestigious No. 8 Centennial Course at Pinehurst Resort in central North Carolina as they battle for the ultimate title: Champion of the Champions.
To earn an invitation to the event, players were required to have met the specific pre-tournament qualifications. The top participants punched their ticket to the TOC by winning a tournament on the 2019 PKBGT Tour circuit, winning the 2019 Storie Apparel Regional or National Order of Merit race in their respective division, finishing in the top of the field at 2019 PKBGT Championship Events or finishing runner up at PKBGT Classic events.
The field of 81 competitors will be split into two separate divisions of play; the Bell National Division and the Prep Preview Division. There will be representatives from nine different states along the east coast, ranging from Florida to Pennsylvania and a few international players as well. We delve deeper into each division with our players to watch!
Bell National
The Bell National Division field features 42 of the tour’s top players, including 34 of the top 100 players on the PKBGT Performance Index.
Entering the field ranked #2 on the PKBGT Performance Index is Cindy Song (Waxhaw, NC 2023). Song is coming off of 4 top 10 finishes and 3 wins. Her three wins came from 2019 CGA-PKBGT Jimmy Anderson Junior Girls (72 + 65 = 137 {-7}), PKBGT Prep Invitational (74 + 71 = 145 {+1}), and the PKBGT River Landing Classic (75 +75 = 150 {+6}). Her latest top finish was at the 11th PKBGT Invitational with a 7th place finish with scores of 69 + 79 + 75 = 223 {+7}.
Katherine Schuster (Kill Devil Hills, NC 2021) enters the field ranked #3 on the PKBGT Performance Index. Schuster finished T2 in the 2019 CGA-PKBGT Jimmy Anderson Junior Girls with scores of 68 + 73 = 141 {-3}. She also took home another top 3 finish at the LPGA Tour Pure Silk Girls Junior Championship at Kingsmill Country Club with scores of 70 + 34 = 104 {-3}.
Hailing from Duluth, GA, Sara Im (Duluth, GA 2023) has had five top 5 finishes this past year. Her most recent finish was 2nd at the 11th PKBGT Invitational with scores of 73 + 75 + 70 = 218 {+2}. Last year Im finished 4th at the Tournament of Champions with scores of 78 + 72 = 150 . {+6}.
Highest Ranked Players
- #2 Cindy Song (Waxhaw, NC 2023)
- #3 Katherine Schuster (Kill Devil Hills, SC 2021)
- #4 Sara Im (Duluth, GA 2023)
- #5 Mary Kathryn Talledo (Spartanburg, SC 2021)
- #6 Maria Atwood (Holly Springs, NC 2022)
- #7 Sue Lee (Lorton, VA 2022)
- #9 Adrian Anderson (Murrels Inlet, SC 2022)
- #10 Sydney Hackett (Ashburn, VA 2022)
- #12 Paris Fieldings (Suffolk, VA 2023)
- #13 Vynie Chen (Centreville, VA 2020)
Prep Preview
The Prep Preview Division features 40 rising talents who competed in both the Futures and Prep Divisions in their bid for an invitation to the 2019 Tournament of Champions.
Helen Yeung (Clarksville, MD 2024) earned her invite to the 2019 PKBGT Tournament of Champions by winning the Dupont Girls Classic @ Dupont CC with scores of 74 + 41 = 115 {+7}. Yeung also had another top 3 finish on the National circuit at the Terrapin Classic @ University of Maryland with scores of 68 + 77 = 145 {+3}.
Earning her entry into the event at the Palmetto Classic @ Furman University GC with scores of 78 + 81 = 159 {+15} was Grace Ridenour (Cary, NC 2025). Ridenour took home another victory this season at the PKB Foundation Classic @ CC of North Carolina posting scores of 83 + 80 = 163 {+19}.
Josephine Nguyen (Springfield, VA 2024) took home a victory at the Mid-Atlantic Championship at @ Bulle Rock Golf Club with scores of 74 + 79 = 153 {+9}. Nguyen had two other top 3 finishes this season on the National circuit: Tar Heel Classic @ UNC Chapel Hill Finley GC with scores of 77 + 77 = 154 {+10} and PKBGT MASTERS presented by Aunt Ruby’s Peanuts @ Greenville CC with scores of 79 + 84 = 163 {+19}.
Highest Ranked Players
- #68 Helen Yeung (Clarksville, MD 2024)
- #84 Grace Ridenour (Cary, NC 2025)
- #102 Josephine Nguyen (Springfield, VA 2024)
- #112 Anna Claire Bridge (Raleigh, NC 2021)
- #125 Madison Lynn Dixon (Inman, SC 2023)
- #126 Riley Quartermain (Bryn Mawr, PA 2021)
- #148 Madison Messimer (Myrtle Beach, SC 2025)
- #149 Sydney Gaines (Nottingham, MD 2023)
- #155 Hannah Jonely (Ashburn, VA 2020)
- #156 Abby Hunter (Blacksburg, VA 2021)
Verballed, Sealed, Delivered
12 of the 82 player Tournament of Champions field have verbally committed to play collegiate golf:
- Vynie Chen – High Point University
- Elizabeth Coffren – Delaware University
- Catie Craig – Western Kentucky University
- Jessica Rathbone – Anderson University
- Ffion Tynan – University of Arkansas
- Tatum Walsh – James Madison University
- Rory Weinfurther – University of Richmond
- Katherine Schuster – Clemson University
- Lauren Martin – UNC Pembroke
- Regan Clifford – Winthrop University
- Phoebe Carles – University of South Carolina
- Braelyn Pippin – Carson Newman University
Pinehurst No. 8
All 81 competitors in the 2019 Tournament of Champions will be challenged to Pinehurst Resorts “Centennial Course”, Pinehurst #8, designed in 1996 by Tom Fazio. The course pays homage to the Pinehurst golf experience in its entirety, including flashes of the infamous Course No. 2. The Course was included in Golf Digest’s America’s Top 100 Public Courses list in 2013-14 and has hosted two PGA Club Pro Championships as well as the 2017 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship.
Last Thoughts
We look forward to a stellar weekend at one of the premier golf destinations in the world. With a field of incredibly talented players, everyone looks forward to an electric competition in celebration of the success which came in the 2019 season!
About the PKBGT
The Peggy Kirk Bell Girls’ Golf Tour is an initiative of the Triad Youth Golf Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit foundation aimed at increasing learning and playing opportunities for youth golfers. Based out of Greensboro, North Carolina, the PKBGT offers affordable, high-quality nationally ranked girls’ golf tournaments designed to prepare junior girls’ golfers for high school and collegiate golf. The PKBGT is the nation’s largest “girls’ only” junior tour with over 900 members in 2019 and 900+ girls having played, playing in or committed to playing collegiate golf. Learn more about the tour at pkbgt.org or by contacting Tour Director Mike Parker at mparker@pkbgt.org or 336-347-8537.
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