By David Tease

Jeffrey Guan has been automatically selected as part of the 12-member Junior International team to take on the United States in the third edition of the Junior Presidents Cup.

The two-day team match-play competition sees 24 of the world’s best under-19 junior boys compete in international team match-play competition just days before the start of the 2022 edition of the Presidents Cup.

The back-to-back Australian and NSW Junior Champion, Guan is the only Australian in this year’s international team which compete against the United States’ best juniors at Myers Park Country Club in Charlotte, North Carolina, on the 19th-20th of September.

Former Australian Open Champion, South Africa’s Tim Clarke, will lead the Junior Internationals, while Notah Begay will captain the US squad.

Guan was assured of selection in the team with the top 10 qualified international players (excluding Europeans) at the cut-off date of August 19th, automatically included.

Team captain Clarke will select the 11th player, while the final spot in the team will go to the leading player on the WAGR list not already chosen as of September 8th.

In a nod to its much larger brother, the Presidents Cup, the two teams will compete in six fourball, and six foursomes matches on day one, followed by 12 singles matches on day two.

The Australian Golf Club representative has had a solid string of results this year, including successfully defending his Australian Junior Crown and winning the Uniqlo Adam Scott junior Championship in California in February.

“I’m very excited,” Guan grinned. “To play one of the PGA Championship courses, it’s going to be long, it’s going to be tough, but it’s definitely going to be a good experience.”

In the United States competing in an extended run of tournaments, Guan continues to impress; a fourth-place finish in the Trans-Miss tournament and a quarter-final result in the US Junior Boys Championship at Bandon Dunes, Oregon, signs the 18-year-old’s game is peaking at the right time.

As part of the Junior International Team, Guan will rub shoulders with the stars the following week. Both junior teams will be embedded with their senior counterparts at the Quail Hollow Club in North Carolina when the Presidents Cup gets underway on September 20th.

Only three other Australians have earned selection for the competition in its previous two iterations; Karl Vilips made his second straight appearance alongside Joshua Greer in 2019, while Canberra’s Josh Armstrong took part in the contest’s first edition back in 2017.