One of the region’s top junior golf events returns to Hilton Head Island this weekend, and the 2022 Sea Pines Junior Heritage has once again attracted a top-flight field that includes 11 boys and eight girls who are ranked in the top 100 in the most recent Golfweek junior rankings.
Played since 1990, the Junior Heritage is one of the most prestigious junior tournaments in the Southeast and boasts a list of past champions who have found PGA Tour and LPGA Tour success, including Charles Howell III, Kyle Stanley, Paula Creamer, and Lexi Thompson, among others.
A field of 54 boys and 30 girls who represent the top level of junior golf in South Carolina and beyond will duel over 36 holes, playing at Atlantic Dunes on Saturday before contesting the final round over the famed Harbour Town Golf Links, home of the RBC Heritage Presented by Boeing.
Defending girls champion Adrian Anderson (Murrells Inlet) is back to defend her title against a stellar field that includes six of the top seven players in the most recent Heritage Classic Foundation South Carolina junior rankings, and another five of the top 20 players in the state are also competing this weekend. Among them is top-ranked Sydney Roberts, who has to be considered one of the favorites along with Anderson, Molly Hardwick (Golfweek No. 36) of Nashville, and Molly Pate (Golfweek No. 44) of Winston-Salem, N.C.
A number of Lowco area players have the potential to make a run at the girls title, including Hilton Head Prep standouts Bridget Wilkie (No. 15 in SC) and Camila Burnett (No. 19 in SC) and May River star Kylie Bowes (No. 17 in SC).
Jack Turner isn’t back to defend his boys title, but one of the players he ousted in a three-way playoff for the 2021 crown is. PJ Maybank III of Cheboygan, Mich., was the first man eliminated from a playoff with Turner and John Daly II last year, and at No. 59 in the Golfweek rankings, he will be among the favorites again in 2022.
Maybank and the rest of the field will have to take on a talent-laden group, including eight of the top 10 players in the Palmetto State. At the top of that list is Greenville’s William Jennings, who at No. 18 in the Golfweek rankings is the highest-ranked player in the field, narrowly edging No. 23 Jack Roberts of St. Mary’s, Ga.
Beaufort’s Jack Lubkin is the only Lowco area player in the boys field.
Play begins at 8:30 a.m. Saturday at Atlantic Dunes with the final round Sunday at Harbour Town, and we’ll have full coverage of the event on LowcoGolf.com and LowcoSports.com.