TALENTED FIELD TO TAKE ON GREENBRIAR HILLS COUNTRY CLUB
KIRKWOOD, Mo. (June 26, 2023) – Greenbriar Hills Country Club in Kirkwood, Missouri, is set to host the Women’s Western Junior for the first time this week, bringing a decorated field of rising international stars to the historic St. Louis-area club on June 27-30.
First played in 1920, the Women’s Western Junior is one of the oldest junior golf tournaments in the United States. The 96th edition marks the first time the championship will be held in the St. Louis area.
Competition begins with 36 holes of stroke-play qualifying, after which the field of 78 will be cut to the low 16 players for match play. The winner will join past champions like Nancy Lopez and Candie Kung, Cristie Kerr and Grace Park and receive an exemption into the 2023 Women’s Western Amateur at White Eagle Golf Club in Naperville, Illinois, in July.
The 2023 field is one of the most accomplished in the history of the event with 29 players currently committed to compete at the NCAA Division I level. The field features standouts from 21 states and nine countries worldwide, including:
Lisa Copeland of Naperville, Illinois. The runner up at the 2022 Women’s Western Junior at Prestwick Golf Club in Frankfort, Illinois, Copeland will have an opportunity to hoist the trophy after falling in 19 holes in last year’s final. Since then, Copeland has placed in the top 10 of five AJGA championships and made the cut at the 73rd U.S. Girls’ Junior.
Lisa Herman of Jenks, Oklahoma. Currently No. 43 in the Rolex AJGA Rankings, Herman finished in the top three of her first three tournaments this season. Herman also won the 2022 Accenture Northwest Arkansas Junior, posting rounds of 70-69-69.
Brynn Kort of Henderson, Nevada. After a victory at the 2022 Justin Thomas Junior, Kort is No. 36 in the Rolex AJGA Rankings. Kort recently broke the Nevada High School State Championship record by four strokes and reached match play of the 2023 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball. Teammate Hadley Ashton, of Erie, Colorado, is also in the field this week.
Charlotte Cantonis of Tampa, Florida. Cantonis has placed in the top 10 in her last two AJGA tournaments, including a fourth-place finish at the AJGA Junior at Canebrake. She has also won three consecutive Florida Junior Tour championships and qualified for the 2023 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball.
Kennedy Swedick of Albany, New York. Swedick won the New York State Women’s Amateur Championship in 2022 and finished second in the 2023 Golf Performance Center Junior. A 2023 graduate, Swedick will begin her college career at the University of Virginia in the fall.
“The players in this championship are among the best and brightest rising stars from across the country and the world,” said WWGA President Susan Buchanan. “We look forward to watching the future of women’s golf at Greenbriar Hills Country Club for the first time this week.”
Founded in 1937, Greenbriar Hills was designed by Ron Pritchard, a strategic golf course architect known for producing challenging layouts with rolling hills, contoured greens and wide fairways with strategically placed bunkers. The course has played home to the Missouri Valley Conference Women’s Golf Championships and Missouri Girls Junior Championship.
Greenbriar Hills has also been a steadfast supporter of both the Women’s Western Golf Foundation and the Evans Scholars Foundation. The WWGF has been awarding scholarships to young women who play golf since 1971, while the ESF is a nonprofit administered by the WGA that has awarded full college tuition and housing scholarships to more than 13,000 youth caddies since 1930. Two Greenbriar Hills caddies are currently enrolled as Evans Scholars.
Attendance and parking for the Women’s Western Junior are free. For more information, visit www.womenswesternjunior.com.
For tee times, click here.