-- USGA Photo
FAR HILLS, N.J. – Scottie Scheffler, 17, of Dallas, the reigning U.S. Junior Amateur champion, and 2013 U.S. Women’s Amateur semifinalist Alison Lee, 18, of Valencia, Calif., were named 2013 Rolex Junior Players of the Year on Tuesday by the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA).
Scheffler, No. 8 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, defeated Davis Riley, 3 and 2, in the championship match of the 2013 U.S. Junior Amateur at Martis Camp in Truckee, Calif., becoming the fifth Texan since Hunter Mahan in 1999 to win the title. It also ended a string of runner-up performances over the previous seven months for the high school senior, who was second in the 2012 Polo Junior Golf Classic, the Jones Cup Junior Invitational, the HP Boys Championship and the Thunderbird Invitational.
Three weeks after his Junior Amateur triumph, Scheffler, who has verbally committed to attend the University of Texas in the fall of 2014, advanced to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Amateur at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass., losing to co-medalist Brady Watt of Australia, 1 down.
Lee, the 2012 U.S. Girls’ Junior runner-up, ended her junior career in style this summer with victories in all three of her AJGA starts, including the Rolex Girls’ Junior Championship in June. The following week, she claimed the ClubCorp Mission Hills Desert Junior for a second time and tied the AJGA 18-hole scoring record with a 9-under-par 63 in the first round. She capped her junior career in July with a win at the Rolex Tournament of Champions.
In August, Lee, No. 3 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking, advanced to the semifinals of the U.S. Women’s Amateur at the Country Club of Charleston (S.C.) where she rallied from an early 4-down deficit against Emma Talley, only to lose, 1 down. Talley went on to win the championship.
Since enrolling at UCLA this fall, Lee already has two collegiate victories at the Betsy Rawls Longhorn Invitational in Austin, Texas, and the Stanford Intercollegiate Hosted by Condoleezza Rice.
Both players will receive their awards at the Rolex Junior All-America Awards Banquet at PGA National Resort & Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., on Nov. 24.
Past recipients include nine-time USGA champion Tiger Woods, 1990 U.S. Amateur champion and six-time U.S. Open runner-up Phil Mickelson, two-time U.S. Junior Amateur champion Jordan Spieth, 2002 U.S. Girls’ Junior and two-time U.S. Women’s Open champion Inbee Park, 2010 U.S. Women’s Open champion Paula Creamer and 2005 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion Morgan Pressel.