The Taiwan Junior Open is an annual golf championship for youngsters and teens. After a few years’ break caused by the COVID pandemic, this year it’s back in full swing. Talented players under the age of 18 from 13 countries will be competing for coveted gold medals. And they’ll also have opportunities to meet American college golf coaches. FTV reporter Stephany Yang takes us to the venue, the Miramar Golf & Country Club , which has one of Taiwan’s nicest putting greens .
A golf club swings, a ball soars through the air. The Taiwan Junior Open is back in action again. Following a break of a few years caused by the COVID pandemic, this year’s tournament brings together talented young players aged 9 to 18 from 13 countries. They are all vying for gold
medals.
Kashika Misra
Player
I just turned 16. I am in grade 11. That is one of the aims meeting the college coaches over here and make a portfolio because I will be applying for colleges for next year.
Freddy Ling
Player
I joined this tournament because I need experience. Without experience, you can’t grow up. You need to learn what to do. These type of circumstances like when you are nervous, you know how to control your emotions. I want to try to be professional one day.
Held by the Taiwan International Golf Academy and the Golf Promotion Association Taiwan since 2011, the Taiwan Junior Open has become the first junior golf competition in Taiwan to be recognized by various international bodies, including the U.S. Junior Golf Scoreboard, the World Amateur Golf Ranking, and Asia-Pacific Junior Golf Association Elite Junior Tour. The best young golfers from Taiwan and around the world will be competing at the Miramar Golf & Country Club, one of Taiwan’s most prestigious golf resorts.
Steven Weng
Organizer
This tournament brings a lot of international resources into Taiwan. We align with 11 other countries in the Asia pacific region.We share our resources and our tournaments. Kids can travel in these countries. This year, we got players from 13 countries to come to visit Taiwan to play. That is important that kids and families can interact and exchange their ideas.
Alice Ho
Organizer
This year in our 10th Taiwan Junior Open, we have 54 internationals playing in our tournament. A lot of them are from Indonesia, India, Japan, Singapore, and Malaysia. The top-notch players are in this tournament.
Aside from the tournament, there’s also an National Collegiate Athletic Association College Coach Camp on Aug. 12 and Aug. 13. The camp will allow the young players to meet college golf coaches from the U.S. and learn more about what it is like to play collegiate golf.
Alice Ho
Organizer
We teamed up with three college coaches from really prestigious schools like Columbia. There is going to be ivy league presence here. Be able to watch the players here and then have a camp for these players to attend to earn about the recruitment process, how to be a college athlete, and what it takes to be a college athlete.
Steven Weng
Organizer
We applied for the Junior Golf Scoreboard.Which is the U.S. based score ranking system. Basically, all college coaches will look at. They look at the ranking and tournament scores for scouting their players. Just by doing all these things in Asia, they don’t always have to try to travel all the way to Europe or United States to play tournaments to get that kind of exposure.
The tournament will be held at the Miramar Golf Country Club in Linkou till Aug. 11.
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