From Scottie Scheffler and Hideki Matsuyama to Rose Zhang and Ayaka Furue, the Toyota Junior World Cup boasts many talented past players. Since the inaugural tournament in 1992, the Junior World Cup has become one of the biggest events in junior golf.
“It’s an event that creates really good players and hopefully it will keep creating good players,” Jon Rahm said in 2017, five years after he played in the event. “I loved it.”
Next week, 63 of the best junior golfers in the world representing 14 countries will tee it up at the Chukyo Golf Club’s Ishino Course in Japan. The Junior World Cup is a four-day team competition with 12 boys teams and nine girls teams made up of three players each. At the end of the final round, the players’ individual scores will count towards their team score and the lowest team score will win.
While the Junior World Cup has been played for more than three decades, its success was never guaranteed. For William Kerdyk Jr., co-founder and chairman of the tournament, it took a lot of hard work to get here. However, he says the hard work was certainly worth it.
“We’ve had a lot of great golfers in the tournament but sometimes it’s not only about the golfers who become pros,” Kerdyk said. “A lot of times it’s about giving experiences to the best players in their countries.”
Kerdyk grew up in a golf family. His father, William Kerdyk Sr., founded the Junior Orange Bowl International golf tournament in 1964, an event with a list of champions that includes Tiger Woods and Lexi Thompson. Kerdyk’s sister, Tracy Kerdyk, played on the LPGA Tour and won the 1995 JAL Big Apple Classic.
Kerdyk says there’s a reason he likes golf so much.
“It’s a gentleman’s sport,” Kerdyk said. “People play golf with honor and dignity. There’s no other sport like it.”
In 1989, Kerdyk followed in his father’s footsteps and became chairman of the Junior Orange Bowl. The following year, an opportunity presented itself to him during the tournament. He met Yasumasa and Eiji Tagashira, father and son and his future co-founders of the Junior World Cup.
“They had a junior golf academy for Japanese players in Tampa, and I think one of their boys was in the tournament,” Kerdyk said. “We were talking and they asked me if I could think of a tournament for Japan.”
While Kerdyk says he didn’t immediately give it much thought, the Tagashiras were persistent. Kerdyk thought this might be an opportunity to create something different in the world of junior golf. Something where players could represent their countries on the world stage.
“I didn’t want just a medal play because there are so many of those tournaments,” Kerdyk said. “I wanted an international team championship.”
While Kerdyk and the Takashiras had the concept, they had difficulty finding a sponsor and a tournament host for the inaugural event. Then, Kerdyk connected with the mayor of Izumo, a city Kerdyk says was celebrating an anniversary and welcomed the tournament at Taisha Country Club.
At the inaugural tournament in 1992, 98 players representing 14 countries competed. Despite the diverse field, Kerdyk says he wasn’t sure about the tournament’s future success.
“I thought it was going to be a one and done,” Kerdyk said.
Then something unexpected happened. Former Japan prime minister Noboru Takeshita showed up to support the event. He even gave Kerdyk a special putter made of bamboo.
“He gives me this bamboo putter and tells me the only other bamboo putter I’ve given to anybody was to president George H.W. Bush,” Kerdyk said.
Kerdyk says this sentiment is exactly what he and the Tagashiras wanted when they founded the event. Kids dream of playing in it. They dream of being golf’s next superstars.
This was a sign of things to come, but difficulties remained after 1992. With Izumo no longer able to host the tournament, Kerdyk had to keep finding new hosts and sponsors. After a lot of hard work to not only grow the tournament but to keep it alive, Kerdyk says everything changed in 2002 when Toyota Motor Corp. became the title sponsor.
“I never thought it would get this far but once we got Toyota on board that was a whole different game,” Kerdyk said.
Toyota provided stability and opportunity for the Junior World Cup to grow even more, an opportunity the tournament took in 2014 when it held its first girls competition. Japan came out on top, with South Korean Sojung Kim claiming individual medalist honors.
“We needed to incorporate [girls] into our overall tournament and we’re happy we did,” Kerdyk said. “It worked out extremely well.”
Of course, the tournament wouldn’t be successful if the players didn’t buy into the spirit of international team competition.
“This is probably the biggest junior event there is,” said Jasmine Koo, a member of the U.S. Elite Amateur National Program who claimed medalist honors and helped the United States secure victory last year. “To come back and win it – this is so special, because golf [can be] such an individual sport. I think the individual title is great but the happiness comes from our team winning. Our entire team can share in it.”
Kerdyk says this sentiment is exactly what he and the Tagashiras wanted when they founded the event. Kids dream of playing in it. They dream of being golf’s next superstars.
“To see the players come into the event with excitement in their eyes and the feeling of accomplishment, I think that’s what it’s all about,” Kerdyk said.