Question: Are there too many "World Championships" for kids?

Answer: Yes. My main concern is protecting the integrity of junior tournaments and the increasing promotion of them as either a "World Championship" or "World Masters" or whatever, as should the term be used in association with a tournament, then there needs to be a minimum criteria set to protect the integrity of the term. We saw the debacle of the Veritas Junior Worlds this week where a proposed "World record" field of 3944 players saw just a few hundred players register, with only 1 single player in the Girls 16 years age division. Is there any prestige in claiming to be a world champion in a field of just 1 or 2 players in your age division? When the Veritas people approached numerous parents at Pinehurst last year and told us that they had no problem in staging their tournament the same week as 2 existing tournaments, they failed to heed our concerns which we expressed in regards to the chaos that it would create, and it itself suffered as a result of not listening to the parents. Apparently they intend to stage their tourney a week later next year. Good idea, but a year late. Listen to the parents, as we have our kids best interests at heart.

The Odyssey Junior Worlds is a well run, respected tournament played on world-class courses at PGA West in Palm Springs and which we attended last year, yet its numbers suffered this year due to the confusion created by the innaugural staging of the Veritas Junior Worlds on the exact same week. Hopefully they bounce back next year with a bigger field in the 9-10 years, as last year they had around 50 players, and this year had just 11 players due to all the confusion.

Hopefully, either the USGA will step in somewhere or perhaps the major stakeholders have a sit-down to protect the integrity of what are supposed to be the very best junior tournaments