Saratoga Country Club Junior Golfers Shine

The Saratoga Country Club junior golf team recently defeated a strong team from Los Altos Country Club to win the tough Southwest Division of the Bay Cities League of Junior Golfers. Saratoga juniors had an overall record of 5-1 and won big matches against Palo Alto Hills Country Club and San Jose Country Club where they beat some of the best college players in the league.

Saratoga Country Club juniors have had success well beyond league competition. Megan Yang, a senior at Lynbrook High School and nationally ranked junior, qualified for the 118^th USGA Women’s Amateur in Kapolei, Hawaii finishing 56^th in stroke play after having won the San Jose City Junior Championship and the Crystal Springs Junior Championship. She also has several Top 10 finishes this summer in national junior tournaments including four AJGA tournaments and 11th at America’s Cup Junior Girls. Megan became fully exempt on the AJGA Tour by finishing 2nd place in at the 2017 Killington AJGA Junior Championship in Killington, Vermont.

“Saratoga Country Club has a long history of excellent junior players that have gone on to successful college and professional golf careers”, says Dave Gragnola, team coach. Some of those players include the duo of Shintaro and Shotaro Ban. Both players finished their college careers as California State Amateur Champions and Shintaro recently competed in the USGA Open Championship at Shinnecock Hills. Women’s professional tour player and Saratoga junior, Jenni Jenq, won the California Women’s Amateur Championship in 2011 and played golf at Wellesley College.

“Saratoga Country Club has a big commitment to junior golf with strong support from its members”, according to Micah Hall, PGA Head Professional at Saratoga Country Club. “The junior program starts with excellent practice facilities, state of the art teaching equipment and a very popular Junior Summer Camp for children starting as young as 7. Saratoga is also unusual in having no course restrictions on junior play”, added Hall.

Saratoga’s 2018 team was a young team. Saratoga High sophomore, Michael Burry, was a 1^st team player throughout 2018 and he recently won the Junior Club Championship at Saratoga. Michael also recently placed 4^th in the California Junior Amateur Championship gaining his full exemption on the AJGA Tour. The Saratoga Junior Team will have most of its members returning next year making it a strong contender to repeat its 2018 victory.

Saratoga Country Club is a member owned golf and tennis club located in the Saratoga foothills at 21990 Prospect Rd., Saratoga, CA 95070, phone 408-253-0340.

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