Junior golf is in the spotlight this summer in Central Oregon

Junior golf around Central Oregon will be featured this year with plenty of events that will attract some national attention.

It all starts June 23-26 with the 85th Bob Norquist Junior Amateur Championship for Oregon’s top junior players at Eagle Crest’s Resort Course. That same week, the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) will have a Tournament of Champions event at Sunriver’s Crosswater course, featuring the top boys and girls from around the Pacific Northwest and the country.

The Rocky Mountain Junior Golf Tour, a tour for college golf hopefuls that is held in six states plus Canada, will make a stop at Eagle Crest in August for a tournament.

Also in August, the AJGA returns with another tournament for boys and girls at Crosswater.

And that doesn’t include the typical local junior tournaments held around Central Oregon plus anything the Oregon Golf Association has planned on the books already.

The Oregon Junior Amateur is open to all golfers age 17 and under and will be held in Central Oregon for the first time since 2003 and just the third time since the tournament was first played in 1927.

Ron Buerger, the director of golf at Eagle Crest, has a highly ranked junior player in his 13-year-old son Issac and has always been a supporter of junior golf in the area.

“The more opportunities for the kids to play and for them to experience the different formats – that is just great for the game and great for the kids,” he said. Burger said he will always offer Eagle Crest as a venue for these national and regional junior championships when they need a site.