By Rahul Banerji
The PGA Tour and American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) on Thursday named Australia’s Stuart Appleby and Justin Leonard of the United States as captains of the International and US teams respectively for the 2019 Junior Presidents Cup.
The event will be contested for the second time on December 8 and 9 this year at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Australia just days before the Presidents Cup tees off at the same venue.
Appleby is a five-time representative for the International Team (1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2007) and nine-time PGA Tour winner, with his most recent victory coming at the Greenbrier in 2010, where he became the fifth player in PGA Tour history to card a 59.
Making history
His birdie from just outside 10 feet on the par-3 18th hole at The Old White TPC capped that historic round, erasing a seven-shot final-round deficit and led to a one-stroke victory.
“Junior golf has developed greatly from when I was a youth when we did not have opportunities such as this,” Appleby said.
“Having competed on the victorious 1998 International Team at Royal Melbourne I want to share that experience with these kids because they are future PGA Tour and Presidents Cup team members on both the US and International Teams.
“I owe so much to the game of golf. It has presented a kid like me to travel from the dairy farm around the world,” Appleby said.
Solid resume
Leonard joins Appleby with five Presidents Cup appearances on his resume (1996, 1998, 2003, 2005, 2009) as well as three Ryder Cup stints (1997, 1999, 2008) representing the US.
The Dallas native made his PGA Tour debut to become the fourth golfer to advance directly from college to the Tour without going through Q-School. He is a 12-time winner on the PGA Tour, including The Open Championship in 1997, which he followed up a year later with his triumph at The Players in 1998.
“It is a true honour to be named captain of this year’s Junior Presidents Cup team,” Leonard said.
“I am so excited to be part of representing the US with the best junior golfers our country has to offer. It will be so special for these young players to compete on the same course, Royal Melbourne, that the pros will play just a few days later.
“After attending the Junior Presidents Cup (in 2017) to watch my nephew, Turner Hosch, compete, I realised how special this event is for all involved. I look forward to sharing my experience as a player and watch with awe how these junior golfers play the game.”
Old foes
Leonard and Appleby faced off three times in the Presidents Cup, including twice at Royal Melbourne in 1998, where the two halved their first-day foursomes match before Appleby and Vijay Singh defeated Leonard and Tiger Woods in four-ball later that afternoon.
Team USA beat the Internationals 14-10 in the inaugural Junior Presidents Cup in 2017 at Edison, New Jersey, where David Toms captained the US and South Africa’s Trevor Immelman led the Internationals.
Also read: Move over Tiger and Lefty, is it time for SRT and KP to face off?
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