HARTFORD, Conn. — Keney Park Golf Course will host the Boys and Girls Junior PGA Championships this summer.
The girls tournament will be July 9-12 and the boys event July 30-Aug. 2. Each will feature 144 players in a four-round, stroke-play format, with past champions including Tiger Woods and Lexi Thompson.
“It is a thrill for both championships to be held in Connecticut for the first time,” said Suzy Whaley, a longtime Connecticut resident who became the PGA of America’s first female president at the PGA Annual Meeting on Nov. 9 in Palm Springs, Calif. “Both championships continue to reach new heights each year. We are excited to partner with Keney Park, the Connecticut PGA Section and the City of Hartford to showcase the game’s brightest junior players competing at the highest level.”
Keney Park opened in 1927 with a nine-hole course designed by Devereux Emmet, and the Robert “Jack” Ross-designed back nine opened four years later. In 2014, the Connecticut PGA Section signed an agreement to serve as consultants to help Hartford regain operational ownership of Keney Park and oversee a course restoration to enhance the facility’s level of sustainability.
“This will be the maiden voyage for the Connecticut PGA Section with respect to hosting PGA of America championships, and we cannot be more excited to welcome the nation’s most talented girls and boys,” Section executive director Tom Hantke said. “We’re not only proud that we were chosen to host these prestigious championships, but we’re equally appreciative to be able to showcase the restoration of Keney Park as part of the revitalization efforts ongoing in the City of Hartford. It has been one of the original and central purposes to re-establish a first-class golf experience to help lead the way to improving the quality of life.”
Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin said, “It will be exciting as local spectators will have the opportunity to see some of golf’s brightest future stars play on the Keney Park Golf Course. We look forward to these young competitors and their families visiting our City. Golf has a long tradition in the city of Hartford, and these two premier events will add to our story.”
Keney Park is led by PGA Director of Golf Peter Seaman, who has been on the staff since July 2015. The course was recently ranked by Golfweek as the No. 2 place to play in Connecticut, as well as tied for first on Golf Inc.’s 2016 Public Renovation list.
The PGA of America and Connecticut Section welcome the Greater Hartford community to register to volunteer for the championships and be part of a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Those interested in volunteering should visit ctpga.com. The Section contact is Sofia Alvarez at 860-430-2302 or Salvarez@pgahq.com.
https://www.keneyparkgolfcourse.com/
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