Golfweek

Eric Soderstrom is still in the lead after the Golfweek Junior Invitational, but Sean Martin bumped Julie Williams for the second-place spot. Check out the next set of Junior Fantasy picks for the Polo Golf Junior Classic (Nov. 21-27):

Eric Soderstom: Earned 50 points to move to 415.

Sean Martin: Earned 50 points to move to 330.

Julie Williams: Earned 20 points to move to 315.

Dan Mirocha: Earned 20 points to move to 220.

Scoring: Win (50 points), runner-up (30 points), top-5 (20 points), top-10 (10 points), top-20 (5 points). Zero points for anything outside the top 20. Bonus points when specified. (Only rule: You can’t pick the same player two consecutive weeks.)

I remember the first time I met Mallory Code. It was a mixed-team event at her home course, Avila Golf and Country Club, and she appeared to have a crush on my partner. She was elementary-school age, and I was in high school (as was my partner). Mallory left a big impression on me that day in Tampa, Fla.

She made a habit of big impressions.

I followed Mallory’s health and career for years after that first meeting, though I never knew her well. When I received word Nov. 9 that she had died at age 25, I immediately thought of how many heavy hearts would be scattered around the country. Her inspiration was far-reaching. Her faith unyielding.

Code fought cystic fibrosis, and the complications that come with it, her entire life. She quit playing golf after her freshman year of college because her body wouldn’t cooperate. 

Golf was a family affair in the Code household. All three Code children played for the University of Florida.

Her last brush with the game came in the summer, when the USGA allowed Code the use of a cart to caddie for her father, Brian, at U.S. Senior Amateur qualifying ...

ORLANDO, Fla. – Jonathan DiIanni and Andrew Vu could have had a lightning round at the Golfweek Junior Invitational at Reunion Resort’s Legacy Course Sunday.

DiIanni, 15, and Vu, 14, ended up as a twosome when Thomas Wicker withdrew. The pair was the first off No. 1 tee, and walked off the ninth green just one hour and 35 minutes later, opening up a two-hole lead on the next threesome behind them. From there, however, the waiting began. The players quickly ran into the final group of girls to start off the 10th, and had to put the brakes on coming in.

The pace must have worked well, however, as both players shaved eight strokes from their first-round score. DiIanni shot 82-74 to finish T-21, and Vu had 84-76 for a T-27 finish.

ORLANDO, Fla. – Daniela Lendl delivered a handful of surprises Sunday at the Golfweek Junior Invitational. Lendl popped around the corner of the 16th hole at Reunion Resort’s Legacy Course, announcing that she was there to watch a future teammate.

That teammate was Stephanie Meadow, the tournament champion. Lendl will join Meadow at Alabama in the fall of 2011 after verbally committing to the school Friday.

Lendl’s older sisters Marika (a sophomore) and Isabelle (a freshman) both play for Florida. Daniela almost became a Gator as well, but fell in love with everything about Alabama: the coach, the campus, the weather and the list goes on.

“I didn’t want to follow my sisters’ footsteps,” Daniela said. “I loved Florida but I wanted to be able to create my own identity.”

With more than a year and a half of high school left, Daniela is happy to have her college decision out of the way. That leaves her free to focus on other things, like a schedule full of tournaments the 16-year-old can name rapid fire.

Watching Meadow (which was the other surprise, as her friend didn’t know she would be dropping in for the final round), Daniela ...

Just a few days ago, Simin Feng had the best playing partner in the world.

The 14-year-old was paired with top-ranked Lorena Ochoa for the final round of the LPGA’s Hana Bank Kolon Championship in Incheon, South Korea, last weekend. The experience allowed her to see first-hand what it’s like to be No. 1.

“You know how people follow Tiger? Whenever Lorena hits a shot they just walk, they don’t care about other players,” Feng explained.

Feng, who entered the tournament on a sponsor’s exemption and finished 70th at 16-over 232, also got caught in the middle of the action when many fans whipped out their cell phones to get pictures of Ochoa as the group was shuttled from No. 18 to No. 1.

Despite the chaos of an Ochoa-hungry crowd, Feng didn’t escape the experience without learning a thing or two.

“Their mistakes are not exaggerated, like I did,” she said of LPGA players like Ochoa. “Their mistakes are very small.”

The extended course length and quick greens also made Saturday’s round at the Golfweek Junior Invitational at Reunion Resort in Orlando, Fla., seem a little easier for Feng. She shot 3-over 75 ...

With the Golfweek Junior Invitational coming up this weekend, Golfweek staffers have made their Junior Fantasy picks for the tournament.

Eric Soderstrom (365): Richard Werenski. Highest-ranked player from the field, and he’s from Massachusetts. Can’t pass up a fellow Bay Stater.

Stephanie Meadow. Knows how to win, with a pair of AJGA victories this year, including one in September.

Julie Williams (295): Michael Werenski. This player is on a roll, and I see it continuing, possibly even with a new personal-best round (he’s shot 68 in two of his last four tournaments, and his career-low is 65).

Yueer Cindy Feng. She has two big AJGA wins already this summer, and I think she can get another victory.

Sean Martin (280): Richard Werenski. I’m trusting the rankings on this one, and Werenski leads the pack.

Stephanie Meadow. Two words: title defense.

Dan Mirocha (200): Michael Werenski. He’s coming off a T-2 at the Golfweek Junior Series event at Pine Needles.

Yueer Cindy Feng. She’ll win by five shots. 

With the Golfweek Junior Invitational coming up this weekend at Reunion Resort in Orlando, Fla., consider this your cheat-sheet for the field.

In the girls’ division, Stephanie Meadow, ranked No. 9 in the Golfweek/Titleist Junior Rankings, has a title to defend at Reunion after winning the event last year. She played in the Ladies Irish Open in June, but missed the cut at 16-over 160. That performance was sandwiched by a win at the IJGT Tournament of Champions in May, and a second-place finish at the AJGA Girls Championship in September. Meadow also qualified for the U.S. Women’s Amateur and the U.S. Girls’ Junior, and has committed to Alabama for next fall.

Simin Feng, 14, hits the Golfweek Junior after a week spent in South Korea at the LPGA Hana Bank Kolon Championship. Feng finished 70th at 16-over 232 in her first LPGA event. She won big at the AJGA Annika Invitational in January, and just barely missed qualifying for match play at the U.S. Girls’ Junior.

Yueer Cindy Feng, 13, is also one to watch at Reunion after a whirlwind summer that saw wins at the Thunderbird International Junior in May and the McDonald ...

Apparently winning the U.S. Amateur doesn’t get you much in the junior golf world. The AJGA announced its All-Americans this week, and the player holding the Havemeyer Trophy, Byeong-Hun An, was only an honorable mention.

An also finished runner-up at this year’s Rolex Tournament of Champions, the AJGA’s flagship event.

Tough crowd, that AJGA.

I’m sure An isn’t concerned with his placement on the All-American teams – he has a bigger prize, the Havemeyer Trophy.

Still, An should be a first-team selection. Any player would gladly trade all the AJGA trophies in the world for a U.S. Amateur title and the perks that come with it. An’s Amateur victory earned him spots in next year’s Masters, U.S. Open and British Open, and a handful of PGA Tour events.

The AJGA All-American teams are taken straight from the Polo Golf Rankings (which don’t count the U.S. Amateur), but some sort of exception should be made for a player who won the biggest prize in amateur golf.

(In fairness, An wouldn’t be a first-team selection based on the Golfweek/Titleist Junior Rankings, either. Our rankings only include the results of ...

In the field this week at the Hana Bank Kolon Championship in Incheon, South Korea is Simin Feng, a 14-year-old from Orlando, Fla.

It’s her first taste of the LPGA, though Feng is a regular on the Florida Junior Tour, which has also seen the likes of Vicky Hurst and Alexis Thompson.

As for being younger than the rest of the field? Well, that’s nothing new either. Feng was given special permission to play in FJT events at the age of 12, and never finished worse than fifth in eight tournaments played in the 13-15 age division. So she bumped up another division, and grabbed four top-5 finishes among the 16-18-year-olds.

Feng’s biggest win came at the AJGA’s Annika Invitational in January, but she hasn’t been able to score another AJGA win since. At the U.S. Junior Girls’ Championship in July, Feng shot out of the gate with a 75 in the first round of stroke-play qualifying, but a second-round 84 left her two shots short of making match play.

Ranked No. 40 in the Golfweek/Titleist Junior Rankings, Feng represented the East team in the 2009 Canon Cup, and won her singles match ...

SOUTHERN PINES, N.C. – Walking down the 18th fairway at Pine Needles with the boys’ final group Sunday at the Golfweek Junior Series event, I caught up with course owner Peggy Kirk Bell, an LPGA Hall of Famer.

Bell, who turns 88 Wednesday, had walked over from her home just off the fairway with her neighbors and her dog. She had just enough time to tell me about an exchange she had recently with one of the course’s maintenance workers, whom she had asked to fix her car. In exchange, the maintenance worker asked Bell for help with his swing. In telling the story, Bell demonstrated her pupil’s flat plane with a cane she was holding.

Bell and her neighbor then sent me on down the fairway, wanting to make sure I didn’t miss the end of the round.

Turns out the legendary player and teacher still knows the ins and outs of the golf swing.

SOUTHERN PINES, N.C. – There were two sets of siblings at the Golfweek Junior Series event at Pine Needles this weekend. The most interesting part? All four were left-handed.

Will (18) and Jonathan (15) DiIanni were paired together for the final round, and tied for eighth at 7-over 149. The pair, from Kernersville, N.C., were far from what you might expect two teenage boys to be like when paired together in a competitive tournament, and actually cheered each other on throughout the day. Of course, there was plenty of ribbing after the round, when Jonathan caught site of the Golfweek photographer editing some footage from the day. The boys and their dad, William, spent about 10 minutes watching the tape, and found plenty of material to make fun of each other.

Kyle and Brooke Kochevar, 15-year-old twins from Glen Ellyn, Ill., were the other set of siblings. Kyle solved the problem of which parents would watch who play, since his grandfather is the only person he lets follow him during competitive rounds because of superstition. Brooke had her mom, dad and grandmother following her.

Kyle and Brooke’s dad, Dan, is a teaching pro at Oak Brook Golf Club ...

SOUTHERN PINES, N.C. – Grayson Murray’s 3-under 68 at Pine Needles has a lot of people talking at the Golfweek Junior event, especially because of the soggy conditions. The 16-year-old from Raleigh, N.C., is ranked No. 25 in the Golfweek/Titleist Junior Rankings, has five top-5 finishes in AJGA events and was the youngest player to advance to U.S. Open sectional qualifying this summer.

What might not be as well-known is the number of ties Murray has to North Carolina golf history, both past and current. Murray met Arnold Palmer when he was nine, and ever since has kept the idea of playing for Palmer’s alma mater Wake Forest in the back of his head. Murray also takes lessons from Ted Kiegiel, the same instructor who works with PGA Tour player Webb Simpson (who has four top-10 finishes this season on the PGA Tour, including an eighth place finish at The Barclays). Murray and Simpson, also from Raleigh, play golf together, and Murray even made the switch to a belly putter when Simpson began to have success with his.

Murray’s dad Eric also is the co-director of the recently founded Tarheel Junior Golf Tour ...

SOUTHERN PINES, N.C. – The umbrellas are popping open at Pine Needles this afternoon for the Golfweek Junior Series event. After an overcast and windy morning, the rain began to pick up enough to cause about a 30-minute delay just after 2:30 this afternoon.

Even though it’s been raining steadily for almost an hour, players are making their way back to the course to finish Round 1. The course is looking pretty saturated, and every player I’ve talked to agrees that it’s a rough day for golf.

There’s another interesting detail here in Southern Pines when it comes to weather. The golf course is about 30 miles from Fort Bragg, where they’re doing artillery practice. Lots of booming going on, which sounds a lot like thunder.

Startled at the first boom I heard this morning, a spectator standing next to me simply said, “That’s those guns at Fort Bragg – playing war.”

Eric Soderstrom maintained his sizable lead, while Dan Mirocha (finally) cracked 200 points. Upcoming events: Golfweek Junior Invitational (Nov. 7-8), Polo Golf Junior Classic (Nov. 21-27).

Eric Soderstrom: Earned 15 points to move to 365.

Julie Williams: Earned 5 points to move to 295.

Sean Martin: Earned 30 points to move to 280.

Dan Mirocha: Earned 30 points to move to 200.

Scoring: Win (50 points), runner-up (30 points), top-5 (20 points), top-10 (10 points), top-20 (5 points). Zero points for anything outside the top 20. Bonus points when specified. (Only rule: You can’t pick the same player two consecutive weeks.)

It’s time again for the Ping Invitational, and Golfweek staffers have made their picks for the tournament, hoping it will put them in the top spot as the Junior Fantasy Season winds to a close.

Eric Soderstrom (350): Jeffrey Kang. With only two events left and the lead, I need to finish strong. Kang is ready to break through after a pretty good year, and will set me up nice for a Jordan Spieth victory at Polo.

Alexis Thompson. I think she's riskier at Polo than Speith, so I have to take her now.

Julie Williams (290): Yaroslav Merkulov. This name just keeps popping up in all the right places this summer. Most recently, Merkulov snuck into second place in the final round of the Junior Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass.

Karen Chung. I like when a player has momentum, and Chung certainly has it. She just secured her second AJGA victory at the AJGA Girls Championship last month, and also finished second at the Rolex Tournament of Champions in July.

Sean Martin (250): Jordan Spieth. He's No. 1 for a reason.

Alexis Thompson. Looking pretty strong right now coming off a stellar performance at the Navistar ...