Alison Lee
LANCASTER, Pa. — Alison Lee of Valencia, Calif.,
won the Girls Division of the Rolex Tournament
of Champions after carding an even-par final-
round 70 to become the first girl since Kellee
Booth in 1993 to win the Rolex Girls Junior
Championship and the Rolex Tournament of
Champions in the same year. Lee finished the
tournament at 4-under-par 276 and bested the
field by six strokes in her final AJGA stroke-play
event.
Benjamin Griffin of Chapel Hill, N.C., won the
Boys Division down the stretch, capturing his
first AJGA title. He made six birdies en route to
a 5-under-par final-round 65, part of his
tournament total of 8-under-par 272.
Conducted by the American Junior Golf
Association, the Rolex Tournament of
Champions was a 72-hole stroke play
competition played on the par-70 Lancaster
Country Club. The event featured 72 boys and
60 girls, ages 12-18, from 31 states and six
countries. The Boys Division played the course
at 6,679 yards, while the Girls Division played
the course at 6,082 yards.
Lee, the No. 1-ranked player in the Polo Golf
Rankings, made three birdies in the final round
and never relinquished her lead after the second
round.
After bogeys on Nos. 8, 9 and 10, Lee turned
things around on No. 11, where she made birdie
on the tough par-4. She took that momentum
and made par on every hole coming in.
“There’s not a word to describe this, it is a
feeling you just don’t experience,” said Lee, the
five-time Rolex Junior All-American. “This keeps
me playing.”
In her AJGA career, Lee has won four different
invitationals including; the 2012 ANNIKA
Invitational, the 2012 PING Invitational, the
2013 Rolex Girls Junior Championship and the
Rolex Tournament of Champions. In the three
events Lee has played in 2013, she has won
them all.
“[2013] has been crazy,” Lee said. “My first
AJGA tournament was supposed to be Heather
Farr, but I withdrew because my game was just
a mess, my confidence was nowhere to be
found, so I took a couple weeks off. “But after
winning Rolex Girls, it put me back to where I
was, with my game doing really well, it’s been a
really great year for me.”
After an illustrious AJGA career, Lee will attend
UCLA in the fall, and finishes her junior career
tied for 11th all-time in AJGA victories (9).
Andrea Lee of Hermosa Beach, Calif., finished
second with a tournament total of 2-over-par
282, followed by Casey Danielson of Osceola,
Wis., who finished at 3-over-par 283. Nicole
Morales of South Salem, N.Y., and Hannah
O’Sullivan of Paradise Valley, Ariz., tied for
fourth at 5-over-par 285.
In the Boys Division, Griffin’s final-round 5-
under-par 65 included six birdies and many
exciting putts. Griffin had a 2-under-par front
nine and added another birdie on No. 12.
No. 15 was fun for Griffin; he hit his approach
shot to the front of the green, 81 feet from the
hole.
“I was trying to get good speed, and get it on a
line, I was not thinking about making it,” Griffin
said. “I knew it was my day after that fell.” The
81-foot putt for birdie on the hole was just the
beginning.
Griffin separated from the field on No. 17, when
he made a 25-foot putt for birdie on the 182-
yard par-3. Good to break a tie with Adam
Wood of Zionsville, Ind.
“I just had to stay focused [on No.18] and pick
a target,” Griffin said. “It’s not over until all 72
holes are played.”
Griffin, who missed the green on No. 18, said he
was nervous about the chip because he knew he
had to get up and down.
Griffin knocked the chip to three feet for the
win, then made his 11th putt on the back nine
to win the event. He made 25 total putts in the
final round.
“It’s incredible looking at past names,” Griffin
said. “It just doesn’t get much better than this,
seeing guys like Phil Mickelson; it’s just an
awesome feeling to be able to put my name on
the list.”
Wood matched Griffin’s final-round 65 to come
in second with a tournament total of 7-under-
par 273. Matt Gilchrest of Southlake, Texas,
followed in third after he carded a 5-under-par
275. Theo Humphrey of Greenwich, Conn., and
Doug Ghim of Arlington Heights, Ill., tied for
fourth after posting 4-under-par 276. In sixth
was Sam Burns of Shreveport, La., with a 1-
under-par 279. Seventh belonged to Zecheng
“Marty” Dou of Beijing, China, who finished the
tournament at even-par. Cheng Jin of
Singapore, came in eighth at 1-over-par. Carl
Yuan of Lake Mary, Fla., finished ninth after
finishing 2-over-par.
For more information about the Rolex
Tournament of Champions, or the AJGA please
visit AJGA.org, or call AJGA headquarters at
(770)868-4200.
ABOUT ROLEX AND THE AJGA
The American Junior Golf Association is a
501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to
the overall growth and development of young
men and women who aspire to earn college golf
scholarships through competitive junior golf.
The AJGA provides valuable exposure for
college golf scholarships, and has an annual
junior membership (boys and girls ages 12-18)
of approximately 6,000 junior golfers from 49
states and more than 50 countries. To ensure
scholarship opportunities for all junior golfers
who have the skill, the AJGA created the
Achieving Competitive Excellence (ACE) Grant
program to provide financial assistance to
young players in need.
Rolex, which is in its fourth decade of support,
became the inaugural AJGA Premier Partner in
2004. Along with sponsoring the Rolex Girls
Junior Championship and the Rolex Tournament
of Champions, Rolex is the proprietor of the
Rolex Junior All-America Teams and founding
partner of the ACE Grant.
Titleist, the AJGA's National Sponsor, has been
the catalyst and driving force behind the
Association's success since 1989. In 2007,
after 12 years of support, Ralph Lauren became
the AJGA's second Premier Partner.
AJGA alumni have risen to the top of amateur,
collegiate and professional golf. Former AJGA
juniors have compiled more than 500 victories
on the PGA and LPGA Tours. AJGA alumni
include Brandt Snedeker, Bubba Watson, Webb
Simpson, Hunter Mahan, Phil Mickelson, Tiger
Woods, Stacy Lewis, Vicky Hurst, Paula
Creamer, Cristie Kerr, Brittany Lincicome and
Morgan Pressel.