2009 USGA Girls' Junior Championship

Enjoy the sights from the 2009 USGA Girls' Junior Championship at Trump National Golf Club, in Bedminster, N.J. These photos are of Karen Chung competing match play against Ginger Howard. Keep an eye open for Ginger's adorable little brothers, Donald Trump's Rolls Royce, Karen's very sweet cousins who came out to watch, and the really, really awesome golf head cover in Karen's bag.

The younger fans had fun today, too!

View from the clubhouse... not bad.

This is R.J. He's six-years-old, almost seven. He is a good dancer, can do cartwheels and likes being a big brother. I know this because he told me.

Karen's cousins came out to see her play. They were wonderfully sweet and kept me company while walking the back nine. I wish them well in their college endeavors!

What a swing. What a course.

Mr. Howard watched every swing like it was his own. He was almost as fun to watch as Karen and Ginger were!

Ginger had some monsterous drives today. Her swing is so powerful. It was beautiful!

The 14th green on the New Course.

This was just such a neat event, I felt it needed photo documentation. These photos are from Thursday, July 23rd, when the "sweet 16" and "elite 8" were determined. Friday, the golfers will play 36 holes to determine the final four and the championship pairings, and Saturday will be 36 holes for all of the marbles.

Most of us would deem 36 holes of golf in one day to be quite the vacation, but for these kids, this is work. A lot of physical and mental preparation goes into these rounds, and in match play, the level of aggressive play is multiplied.

Karen Chung, 14, of Livingston, is the last New Jersey golfer in the field. She was runner-up at last year's competition (as a 13-year-old), to Alexis Thompson of Florida, who is also still in the field. She played against Ginger Howard today, who she beat in the first round last year.

I would like to say a big thank you to the Chung and Howard families for letting me photograph their daughters during the round. It was absolutely a blast getting to know the families! Also, thanks to the USGA and Trump National Golf Course for being such gracious hosts- this is a once-in-a-lifetime event!

No Rest for the Wicked

So maybe it took me until a few days ago to realize I hadn't blogged since... oh... five months ago. Oops. I guess it's a good thing that life has kept me busy enough to forget to write.


Some exciting things have been happening since February, especially in my work-life.


I took on the Central New Jersey high school golf beat for our newspapers, which was a challenge and a whole lot of fun.


Sometimes, the worst part of being a sports writer is interviewing high school kids. They're shy and unable to express themselves in anything more complex than one syllable answers. Luckily for me, this was not the case with most of my golfers.


Both the boys and girls were polite, articulate and genuinely excited to be playing their chosen sport. What a treat.


My job was also made easier by the fact that the girl's state champions and the boy's state third place teams were in my coverage area (actually, the same school). And no one won more than one major tournament during the season, so we had features and photos of at least a half dozen deserving golfers over the course of the season.


Which brings me to today. I'm sitting in a den of a mansion formerly owned by the creator of the DeLorean car (and supposedly Mike Tyson), which happens to be dark green and decorated to look much like Don Corleone's office in "The Godfather."


The reason I'm sitting under chandeliers this morning is because it is day two of the 62nd USGA Junior Amateur Championship and the 61st Girls' Junior Championship Tournaments. Hosted by Trump National Golf Club (yes, that Trump), which happens to be in the proverbial back yard of Somerset County, there are 312 boys and girls playing 18 holes of golf in the rain, trying to add their names to an amazing list of golfers who have won this tournament before.


Tiger Woods was a three-time champion. Nancy Lopez took home the trophy.


Even more recent winners have had success. Last year's Girls' champion, Alexis Thompson, made the cut at the Women's U.S. Open a few weeks ago. Did I mention she's 14 years old?


This is an amazing experience. Not only am I enjoying the views of the most beautiful golf course (and clubhouse) I've ever seen, but I'm meeting the future of professional golf AND the USGA staffers who put it all together.


Turns out, the lead media contact for the Girls' tournament spent time in Indiana and worked for ABC's Indy Car broadcast team, in the same position I had last summer. To say it's a small world is really an understatement.


You can check out my work on the Championship at http://www.mycentraljersey.com/.


But this is how my spring has gone- lots of good luck, tempered with a few minor let-downs, but mostly a great experience.


This includes covering Martin Brodeur breaking the all-time win record for goalies, and the Devils' ridiculous melt-down in the final 1:20 of game seven in the first round of the playoffs. It includes surviving a round of layoffs to go on and have three front page/front section stories run the next week. It includes setting myself up to break a state-wide story on girls' golf, only to be thwarted by the evil, omnipotent Newark Star-Ledger (I kid- most of the folks at the Ledger are great people. It just so happens the paper is "in bed" with the N.J. high school sports association, so they get everything first).


You take the good with the bad in this business, just like any other. Sometimes the bad is even more frustrating than usual, but only because the good is so good, the "high" is way too hard to come down from.
My friend Michelle Kenneth, of http://www.insidehockey.com/, snapped this picture of Brodeur during his press conference after win number 552. And yes, that's my head poking out from behind Rich Chere (of the Star-Ledger. of course) and next to Eric Marin of http://devils.nhl.com/. Michelle was kind enough to share this with me, a moment of my own minute glory in the midst of all that Brodeur and the Devils were celebrating.
I'm right there. You may not notice me, but I'm right there.