After a pandemic-related break, the Taiwan Junior Open is back in full swing

2023-08-08

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.

青少年高爾夫錦標賽疫情後再次舉行

2023-08-08

台灣青少年公開賽是一年一度的青少年高爾夫錦標賽，過去幾年因新冠疫情停辦賽事，而在今年正式恢復舉辦。來自13個國家、18歲以下的選手將爭奪金牌，除了比賽，他們還有機會見到美國大學的高爾夫教練。

隨著選手揮動球桿，高爾夫球高空飛過。因新冠疫情而停辦幾年的台灣青少年公開賽，今年再次舉辦，賽事集結了來自13個國家，年齡9至18歲的青少年球員，將拚盡全力爭奪金牌。

[[球員Kashika Misra]]
"我剛滿16歲，目前就讀11年級。我希望能在這次機會中，與大學教練見面交流，以及豐富我的資歷，因為我明年將申請大學。"

[[球員林湛奇]]
"我參加這個比賽是因為我需要經驗，沒有經歷過，就無法成長，你必需學習該怎麼做。當緊張的時候，要知道如何控制自己的情緒。未來我希望自己可以變得更專業。"

台灣青少年公開賽創立於2011年，由台灣高爾夫學院(TIGA)與台灣高爾夫推廣發展協會(GPAT)主辦，是台灣第一個獲得多個國際組織認證的青少年高球公開賽。獲得的認證包括美國青少年高爾夫積分、英國R&A協會世界業餘積分、亞太青少年高協巡迴賽等。來自台灣和世界各地最優秀的年輕高爾夫球手，將在知名的高爾夫度假村，美麗華高爾夫鄉村俱樂部比賽。

[[主辦單位翁士棻]]
"此次賽事將大量國際資源帶入台灣，我們與亞太地區其他11個國家合作。我們共享我們的資源和錦標賽的資訊，孩子們也可以在這些國家旅行。今年我們有來自13個國家的選手來台灣參賽，很重要的是，孩子和家人可以與他們有互動、互相交流。"

[[主辦單位何智靈]]
今年第10屆台灣青少年公開賽，我們有54名國際選手，其中很多來自印尼、印度、日本、新加坡和馬來西亞的頂尖選手參加比賽。"

除了錦標賽之外，8月12日和8月13日還將舉辦全國大學體育協會教練訓練營，年輕球員能與來自美國的大學高爾夫教練見面交流，並了解更多大學比賽的過程。

[[主辦單位何智靈]]
"我們與哥倫比亞等名校的三名大學教練合作，將會有常春藤聯盟，在這裡觀看球員，然後舉辦一個訓練營，讓球員了解他們的招募過程、如何成為一名大學運動員以及大學運動員的條件。"

[[主辦單位翁士棻]]
"我們申請了美國青少年高爾夫積分，這是美國的排名系統。基本上所有大學教練都會看，他們會根據排名和比賽成績來尋找球員。只要在亞洲有相關的賽事申請，球員們就不必總是去歐洲或美國參加錦標賽來獲得這種曝光度。"

比賽將於林口美麗華高爾夫鄉村俱樂部舉行至8月11日。