Girl Power: Brook Valley Country Club in Greenville, NC, ready to host 19th NC Junior Girls' Championship

Prestigious Carolinas Golf Association (CGA) event highlights a run of elite championships contested at McConnell Golf venues across the Carolinas in 2015

(RALEIGH, NC) — Brook Valley Country Club in Greenville, N.C., hosts one of the premier girls golf events in the state this week, when the new McConnell Golf club welcomes the 19th NC Junior Girls' Championship from June 16-19.

The prestigious Carolinas Golf Association (CGA) event arrives at Brook Valley CC for the first time to compete on the Ellis Maples designed course, which previously hosted the 1968 CGA North Carolina Amateur and the 2003 CGA North Carolina Four-Ball — along with many other prestigious amateur and professional events since opening in 1966, including an exhibition match between legends Sam Snead and Ben Hogan.

When McConnell Golf purchased Brook Valley last October, the owner of 10 premier private clubs across the Carolinas immediately jumpstarted a multi-million dollar capital improvements plan designed to transform BVCC into a McConnell Golf-caliber club. BVCC has been and continues to be rejuvenated to bring new life back to its facilities, including the clubhouse and historic golf course.

The NC Junior Girls' Championship highlights 14 elite 2015 events contested at McConnell Golf clubs across the Carolinas — capped in August with the PGA Tour’s Wyndham Championship at Greensboro’s Sedgefield Country Club Ross Course.

“We pride ourselves on providing a championship test for the finest golfers at every level,” said McConnell Golf Founder and CEO John McConnell, who has incorporated his computer software marketing expertise to help spread the word and coin the McConnell Golf mantra: “Pure Golf for the True Golfer.”

This week’s competitors at Brook Valley CC will play 36 holes of stroke play with the top 16 advancing to the championship flight for four rounds of match play. The remaining eight girls will compete in the tournament flight with three rounds of match play. The championship flight finals are scheduled for Friday morning, June 19 at 8 am. Play begins on Tuesday, June 16 at 8 am.

The girls will compete on the par-72 (75.0/136) course at approximately 5,900 yards. There are no age divisions among the female amateur golfers that enter in the range of 12-18 years of age as of June 19, 2015.

The participants should also be inspired by Brook Valley’s Katie Kirk, who became the 10th woman to win back-to-back Carolinas Women’s Amateur titles with her recent victory at McConnell’s Treyburn Country Club. The new East Carolina graduate is now working in the Brook Valley CC golf shop.

Five players to watch at this year’s tournament:
1. Sarah Spicer of Bahama and member at McConnell’s Treyburn Country Club. Spicer, a rising high school senior, is the reigning champion of the Carolinas Junior Girls’ and Peggy Kirk Bell Junior. Spicer is the No. 5-ranked junior girl in North Carolina and has verbally committed to play golf at Virginia Tech.

2. Catherine Ashworth of Fuquay-Varina and an ECU signee. Ashworth, a recent high school graduate, is ranked eighth in NC. She won the 2014 CGA Twin States Girls’ Championship, the 2015 Peggy Kirk Bell Open and was the runner-up in last fall’s 4A state championship. Ashworth will begin her college career in August playing for the ECU Pirates.

3. Jessica Spicer of Bahama and a member at McConnell’s Treyburn Country Club. Spicer, the twin sister of Sarah, is also a rising senior at Northern Durham High School. Last November, Spicer won the Peggy Kirk Bell Girls’ Tour Fall Preview at Forest Oaks Country Club in Greensboro. Spicer is currently ranked sixth in North Carolina and will join her sister playing college golf at Virginia Tech.

4. Callista Rice of Mars Hill. A rising high school junior, Rice won the 2014 CGA Dogwood State Junior and was named second team all state in 2014. She is currently ranked 16th in NC.

5. Haeley Wotnosky of Wake Forest and a member at McConnell’s TPC at Wakefield Plantation. A rising high school sophomore, Wotnosky has 11 top-ten finishes in the past year, including winning last summer’s Precision Golf Girls’ Championship. Wotnosky is ranked 12th in North Carolina.

Under the McConnell Golf umbrella, Brook Valley’s golf course and practice area have been renovated under the tutelage of renowned, Greensboro-based golf course architect Kris Spence. His work is expected to propel BVCC high into the North Carolina golf course rankings. Every one of the McConnell Golf clubs ranks among the very finest in their respective states and many are known for hosting top-tier championship events.