The IMG Academy Junior World Golf Championships are held in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

, United States each year, currently in July and conducted by the San Diego Junior Golf Association. They include tournaments for six age groups ranging from under-6 to 15–17 and for both boys and girls. Each age group plays at a separate course, ranging from a par-3 course for the youngest to Torrey Pines for the 15–17s, which is also the venue for the

Farmers Insurance Open The Farmers Insurance Open is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour, played in the San Diego, California, area in the early part of the season known as the "West Coast Swing". The tournament was noted for having singer-actor Andy William ...

on the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...

and the site of the 2008 U.S. Open. The event was founded in 1968. The inaugural tournament numbered 475 entrants from 20 U.S. States and six other countries. By 2003 there were 1,040 participants from 43 U.S States and 45 other countries. Qualifying events are held in the U.S. and elsewhere. However, European golf has largely opted out of participation; of around 30 countries that hold qualifying events, not one is in Europe, though a few European compete by other means. In 2005 the top 10s of the 15–17 boys' and girls' tournaments featured golfers from 10 different countries between them. The most notable trend in the results in recent years is a dramatic increase in the number of wins and top-10 finishes by boys and girls from

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea and ...

. This trend has already translated to

LPGA Tour The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female golfers. The organization is headquartered at the LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekl ...

level, but not so much onto the

. Beginning with the 2015 event,

IMG Academy IMG Academy is a preparatory boarding school and sports training destination in Bradenton, Florida, United States. IMG Academy is set across over 600 acres and features programs consisting of sport camps for youth athletes, adult camps, a board ...

became the event's title sponsor. Past boys' champions include

Notah Begay III Notah Ryan Begay III (born September 14, 1972) is a Native American professional golfer. He is one of the only Native American golfers to have played in the PGA Tour. Since 2013, Begay has served as an analyst with the Golf Channel and NBC Spor ...

Ernie Els Theodore Ernest Els (; born 17 October 1969) is a South African professional golfer. A former , he is known as "The Big Easy" due to his imposing physical stature (he stands ) along with his fluid golf swing. Among his more than 70 career victor ...

Phil Mickelson Philip Alfred Mickelson (born June 16, 1970), nicknamed Lefty, is an American professional golfer who plays for LIV Golf. He has won 45 events on the PGA Tour, including six Men's major golf championships, major championships: three Masters To ...

Corey Pavin Corey Allen Pavin (born November 16, 1959) is an American professional golfer who has played on the PGA Tour and currently on the PGA Tour Champions. He spent over 150 weeks in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking between 1986 and 1997 ...

Nick Price Nicholas Raymond Leige Price (born 28 January 1957) is a Zimbabwean retired professional golfer who has won three major championships in his career: the PGA Championship twice (in 1992 and 1994) and The Open Championship in 1994. In the mid-19 ...

Craig Stadler Craig Robert Stadler (born June 2, 1953) is an American professional golfer who has won numerous tournaments at both the PGA Tour and Champions Tour level, including one major championship, the 1982 Masters Tournament. Early life Stadler was bo ...

David Toms David Wayne Toms (born January 4, 1967) is an American professional golfer who currently plays on the PGA Tour Champions. From 1992 to 2017, Toms was a member of the PGA Tour, where he won 13 events, including one major, the 2001 PGA Championshi ...

Jason Day Jason Day (born 12 November 1987) is an Australian professional golfer, PGA Tour member and winner of the 2015 PGA Championship. He is a former world number one in the World Golf Ranking, having first achieved the ranking in September 2015. ...

and

Tiger Woods Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer. He is tied for first in PGA Tour wins, ranks second in men's major championships, and holds numerous golf records. * * * Woods is widely regarded as ...

. 1984 was a vintage year, with Toms winning the 15–17 event, Els winning the 13–14s (with Mickelson finishing second), and Woods winning the 9–10s (despite still being age 8). Past girls' champions include

Amy Alcott Amy Alcott (born February 22, 1956) is an American professional golfer and golf course designer. She became a member of the LPGA Tour in 1975, and won five major championships and 29 LPGA Tour events in all. She is a member of the World Golf Ha ...

Brandie Burton Brandie Burton (born January 8, 1972) is an American professional golfer. In October 2019 her induction into the Southern California Golf Association Hall of Fame was announced, noting that she competed in five Solheim Cups, recorded 88 top 10 f ...

Lorena Ochoa Lorena Ochoa Reyes (; born 15 November 1981) is a Mexican former professional golfer who played on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour from 2003 to 2010. She was the top-ranked female golfer in the world for 158 consecutive and total weeks (both are LPGA ...

, and

Jennifer Rosales Jennifer Rosales (born September 17, 1978) is a professional golfer from the Philippines, currently playing on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour. Amateur career Born in Manila, Rosales won the Philippine Ladies Amateur Golf Championship five times in a r ...

External links

Official site
Junior golf tournaments Golf in California Sports in San Diego World championships in golf