6TH DOGWOOD STATE JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP MOVED TO CLUB AT 12 OAKS IN HOLLY SPRINGS

WEST END, NC (8/2/10) - With both the 2009 boys' and girls' winners out of this year's competition, the favorites in the 6th Dogwood State Junior Championship are likely to be those from the top 10 in the North Carolina junior rankings.

The Carolinas Golf Association event for North Carolina boys and girls will be played August 3-5 at The Club at 12 Oaks in Holly Springs, NC. The tournament was originally scheduled for Chapel Hill Country Club, but was recently moved. This will be the club's first CGA championship.

Neither Allison Emrey of Charlotte nor Michael McGowan of Southern Pines, the winners at Cabarrus CC in Concord in 2009, are in this year's field. The highest ranked girls entered in 2010 are No. 5 Sarah Bae of Cary, 9th-ranked Andrea Robbins of Liberty and 10th-ranked Kristi Ingram of Winston-Salem.

Among the boys, the only top-10 players entered are fourth-ranked Chad Cox of Charlotte and fifth-ranked Andrew Decker of Greenville.

The Dogwood State Championship is a 54-hole stroke play competition for boys in the 14-15 and 16-18 age divisions and the girls' division. Boys ages 11 and under will engage in 27 holes of stroke play. After 36 holes, the field is cut to the low half and ties in each division except for the youngest boys' division, in which there is no cut.

The par-72 Nicklaus Design Group course, which opened in 2008, is listed at 7,132 yards from the Gold tees, 6,571 yards from the Blues and 5,987 yards from the White markers.

There were 213 entries for this year's championship, with most of them in the boys' 14-18 age divisions. A sectional qualifying event at Wildwood Greens GC in Raleigh on August 2 will further reduce the starting field.