AJGA tourney: A setup to challenge players

~ The four-round tournament begins Wednesday morning.

If the American Junior Golf Association was trying to mimic the Bethpage Black Course, home of the 2009 U.S. Open Championship, it did an awfully good job.

Andrew Greenfield, tournament director for the AJGA's Rolex Tournament of Champions, expects the top junior golfers in the world to face a difficult task when they set out to tangle with Dalhousie Golf Club beginning with Wednesday's opening round.

"The players will have to play smart," Greenfield said. "There are holes that you can go for it, and there will be holes that a par is going to be a good score, but kids these days attack no matter what the course looks like."

The Rolex Tournament of Champions is one of the premier events on the AJGA schedule, while the field for this year's tournament is considered one of the five strongest fields in all of junior golf, according to the Polo golf rankings.

Alex Edfort, 17 of New Jersey, practices putting Monday in preparation for the AJGA's Rolex Tournament of Champions. (Kit Doyle)

"These are kids you will see on the tour in a few years," Greenfield said.

Part of Greenfield's job is to make sure the top juniors face a daunting task. Greens will be faster and hole locations will grow increasingly more difficult as the tournament progresses. While the rough normally is 2 inches high, players will tangle with 3 to 4 inches of thickness.

"If you miss the fairway, you should be punished," Greenfield said. "You should have to hit the fairway, and because the fairways are so wide here, we can allow the rough to be more difficult."

"It all depends on how you are hitting the ball," said Richard Werenski, the 64th-ranked golfer in the boys Polo rankings. "You will have to be hitting it straight. The greens are rolling good, but are tricky. There are some hidden breaks in there. The ball will fly weird out of the rough, but the bunkers are awesome."

"You have to hit the right spots," said Kristina Nhim, ranked 73rd in the girls Polo rankings. "I would rather be in a bunker around the greens instead of the rough."

Jamie Pearson, of Memphis, checks yardage for his son Will on the 15th hole Monday at Dalhousie Golf Club.

The course will play at 7,282 yards on the boys side, while the girls will start at 6,233 yards for Wednesday's opening round. Greenfield said the tee boxes will be moved forward or backward during the final two rounds, depending on the weather.

"It's possible that No. 14 could play as a drivable par 4 in the later rounds," Greenfield said.

Last year's Rolex Tournament of Champions was played at Victoria National Golf Club in Newburgh, Ind. The top male finished at 2-under par, while the top female carded a 3-over. Greenfield expects the winners this week to be around par.

"It's a really hard course," Nhim said. "You will have to be pretty careful because there is a lot of trouble and the rough is intense."