Category: Mack Champ Invitational

Golf Digest Video Series Features MCI, Ward and Amezado

Post author By Charlie Hanger
Post date May 22, 2023

Golf Digest documented the 2023 Mack Champ Invitational for Girls with this video series, which features an overview of the tournament and profiles of Haven Ward and Afi Amezado.

Episode 1: The Mack Champ Invitational
Episode 2: Haven Ward
Episode 3: Afi Amezado

Episode 1: The Mack Champ Invitational

On April 13-15 at The Club at Carlton Woods, 47 young women from all over the world competed in front of family, friends and college coaches. From aces and playoffs to high-fives and hugs, the event offered several days of great golf and an abundance of inspiration.

Episode 2: Haven Ward

Haven Ward, the daughter of a single mother, has greatly benefited from the Mack Champ Invitational. Through exemptions and opportunities provided by Jeff Champ and the competitive atmosphere of the tournaments he has organized the last three years, the Atlanta native caught the attention of college coaches, and in fall 2023, she will be attending the University of Denver on a full golf scholarship.

Episode 3: Afi Amezado

Afi Amezado, a 14-year-old from an impoverished pocket of Accra, Ghana, boarded a plane bound for America on Wednesday, April 12, played a practice round at Carlton Woods in Houston on Thursday afternoon, and then competed in the Mack Champ Invitational on Friday and Saturday. She did it all with style, grace, humility and plenty of smiles.

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Girls Put on a Show at a Major Tournament Venue

Post author By Charlie Hanger
Post date April 21, 2023

Aleah Shields-Rodipe and Alaythia Hinds — Aleah Shields-Rodipe, left, won the 12-and-under division, and Alaythia Hinds won the 13-18 division.

Brenna Preap, Alexis Lamadrid, Alaythia Hinds and Cailla Ward with trophies — Aleah Shields-Rodipe, left, won the 12-and-under division, and Alaythia Hinds won the 13-18 division.

The Mack Champ Invitational girls tournament moved to a major tournament course this year, and the competitors were more than up to the challenge.

After two years at Memorial Park Golf Course in Houston, the MCI for Girls moved to the Nicklaus Course at The Club at Carlton Woods in The Woodlands, a Houston suburb. The course was prepped for the LPGA’s Chevron Championship, the first women’s major of the season, which started the week after the MCI.

Alaythia Hinds, a junior from the Sacramento area, won the 13-to-18 division after making a birdie on the par-5 18th in a playoff against Callia Ward, a sophomore from Albuquerque. Both players were even par after 36 holes of regulation play.

Aleah Shields-Rodipe, a 7th-grader from nearby Conroe, TX, shot 70-79 for a five-over total to win the 12-and-under division. Vivian Lott (Fayetteville, GA) was second at eight over, and Layla Phillips (Harbor City, CA) was third.

In a remarkable turn of events, Shields-Rodipe got the first hole-in-one in MCI history on No. 3 in the first round, and Lott scored her own ace on the 12th hole in the second round.

As always, though, the MCI was about more than golf. The tournament brings together diverse golfers and their families for a chance to build lasting relationships.

Brenna Preap, a senior from Stockton, CA, who will play college golf at Grand Canyon University next year, described the importance of the MCI this way: “People see golf as a rich sport, you have to come in with wealth, but with the Mack Champ, they bring a lot of diverse players in and show that we also are part of the golf world.”

Shields-Rodipe said that she appreciated the chance to play in a tournament with such a diverse field.

At the Mack Champ Invitational, she said, “other people that look like me and play golf like me can have the same opportunities as I do.”

Learn more about the tournament at mackchampinvitational.com.

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Video: Cameron Champ Interview by Babygrande Golf

Post author By Charlie Hanger
Post date April 13, 2023

Thanks to Babygrande Golf for this interview with Cameron! Scroll down to see all of the videos.

Life, Golf and Family

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Keys to Success

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Wisdom for the Next Generation

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Junior PGA WORKS Mack Champ Invitational

Foundation Partners With PGA to Revive Junior PGA WORKS

Post author By Charlie Hanger
Post date April 12, 2023

The Cameron Champ Foundation has partnered with the PGA of America to revive Junior PGA WORKS, a companion tournament to the PGA WORKS Collegiate Championship (PWCC).

The Junior PGA WORKS will feature 12 boys and 12 girls, most of whom were competitors in this year’s Mack Champ Invitational. The 36-hole event will be played at Shoal Creek Club on May 6 and 7. The PWCC, known as the “Most Culturally Significant Championship in Collegiate Golf,” will be played May 8 to 10 at Shoal Creek and Bent Brook Golf Course in Birmingham, AL.

“We are proud to partner with the Cameron Champ Foundation in the return of Junior PGA WORKS,” said PGA President and Director of Golf at the Country Club of Lansing, John Lindert. “Junior PGA WORKS is a terrific opportunity for elite high school players to compete on an elevated stage and experience the excitement of the PWCC.”

This year’s PWCC will feature a lineup of 30 teams and 52 individuals representing 44 Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-serving institutions and other minority-serving institutions from all over the country.

The 24 players competing in the Junior PGA Works, presented by Medical Property Trust, will have the chance to showcase their talents in front of these college coaches and to participate in the entire Championship week, including PGA WORKS Beyond the Green, a career exploration event designed to educate and inspire talent from historically underrepresented backgrounds to pursue careers in the business of golf and beyond.

“As a foundation, we believe that creating sustainable pathways for diverse juniors from underserved and underrepresented backgrounds is critical to changing the face of the game and providing opportunities for those same juniors beyond the course,” said Jeff Champ, CEO and Co-Founder of the Cameron Champ Foundation. “We also believe that the best way to build these pathways and increase access is by finding like-minded partners for collaboration. We are proud to partner with the teams at Medical Properties Trust and PGA WORKS to mark the return of this event so that the juniors will be able to showcase their talent.”

Junior PGA WORKS was part of the PWCC from its creation in 1986 through the late 1990s.

You can read more about the event on pga.com.

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Low Scores, Tough Weather and Big Changes at Third Annual MCI

Post author By Charlie Hanger
Post date March 22, 2023

Shiv Parmar, left, and Isaiah Diaz with Cameron Champ.

The 86 boys who came to Houston for the Mack Champ Invitational last week faced stiff competition, rough conditions and a new three-round format.

For the first time, the MCI at Memorial Park Golf Course was an all-boys event. The MCI for Girls will be played April 13-15 at The Club at Carlton Woods, site of The Chevron Championship, the first major of the LPGA Tour season.

The weather was a challenge. The players had to battle through rain, low temperatures and high winds all week. In the end, two Texas natives came out on top, with Shiv Parmar winning the 13-18 division and Isaiah Diaz winning the 12-and-under division. Parmar, from the San Antonio suburb of Selma, shot 4 under over three rounds to hold off defending champ KJ Ofahengaue by a shot.

Isaiah Diaz with second place finisher Luke An, left, and third place finisher Raiden Orille, center.

Diaz, from Del Rio, shot 65 in the third round to finish 4 over and win the 12-and-under division.

This was the most competitive MCI yet, with 20 rounds of par or better despite the challenging weather. Seventeen of the 25 high school seniors in the field have committed to play college golf. This was also the first year the tournament featured three rounds, which meant players could earn World Amateur Golf Ranking points.

Read more about the tournament at mackchampinvitational.com.

Mack Champ Invitational

MCI Introducing Big Improvements for 2023

Post author By Charlie Hanger
Post date November 25, 2022

2022 MCI champs KJ Ofahengaue and Alona Avery with Cameron Champ.

The Mack Champ Invitational is introducing significant changes in 2023 that will give our junior golfers even more opportunities to shine.

We are creating a separate girls’ event in April that will be played at the site of The Chevron Championship, the first major of the LPGA Tour season. Our boys’ event is adding a third round, which means players can earn World Amateur Golf Ranking points, a first for the MCI.

Learn More at MackChampInvitational.com

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Mack Champ Invitational Players Make College Commitments

Post author By Charlie Hanger
Post date November 18, 2022

What a thrill to see these great junior golfers moving on to college competition! We’ll be following them all and can’t wait to see what they do on the course and in the classroom.

Sofia Bastidas, Arkansas State
Rory Bennet, Lamar
Maya Beasley, Richmond
Marlon Jones, San Jose State
Emily Mayne, Howard
K.J. Ofahengaue, Utah Tech
Brenna Preap, Grand Canyon
Andrew Reyes, Rutgers
Trey Rusthoven, Central Michigan
Matthew Vital, Temple
Michael Vital, Temple
Haven Ward, Denver

Cameron Champ Foundation College Scholarships Mack Champ Mack Champ Invitational Scholarships

Foundation Announces First Class of Scholarship Winners

Post author By Charlie Hanger
Post date August 29, 2022

Meet the Students

The Cameron Champ Foundation is proud to announce our first group of scholarship winners. These young people are the first to benefit from a program that will be supporting student-athletes for years to come. You can learn more about our scholarships here.