Four AJGA alums stood in winner’s circles Sunday, as Jason
Dufner, Stacy Lewis (pictured), Luke List and Esther Choe captured professional
victories this weekend.
Jason Dufner notched
his first career PGA TOUR victory Sunday at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.
A birdie on the second playoff hole secured the win over Ernie Els. Dufner’s AJGA
career included five tournaments, with his best showing being a 14th-place finish
at the 1995 Ray Floyd Turnberry Isle Junior Classic. He went on to play college
golf at Auburn University, where he won three tournaments and was named an
honorable mention All-American in 1997.
At the Mobile Bay
LPGA Classic,
Stacy Lewis captured her second career LPGA victory
by narrowly defeating
Lexi Thompson, who carded a career-best 65 Sunday
to finish one shot off the lead. Lewis competed in nine AJGA tournaments as a
junior before becoming a four-time All-American at the University of Arkansas.
In 2012, Lewis will host the inaugural
Stacy Lewis Junior Open (July
2-5) in Bella Vista, Ark.
Luke List was
the only player to record four rounds in the 60s at the South Georgia Classic
Presented by First State Bank and Trust Company, which helped him to a tournament
record-tying 272 total and his first Nationwide Tour victory. List tallied four
career AJGA top 10s and was a two-time Rolex Junior All-American (2002, 2003) before
playing college golf at Vanderbilt.
On the Symetra Tour,
Esther Choe won for the second week in a row after a 12-under-par performance
at the Riviera Nayarit Classic. As a junior, Choe notched three AJGA victories,
including the 2005 Rolex Tournament of Champions, and was named the 2006 Rolex
Junior Player of the Year. In just her third career Symetra Tour start, Ginger
Howard fired a final-round 69 to finish tied for second.