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Tour highlights: Berger's first PGA TOUR win

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By Layne Saliba, AJGA Communications

Daniel Berger earned his first career PGA TOUR victory at the FedEx St. Jude Classic on Sunday in Memphis, Tennessee. The reigning Rookie of the Year held onto his 54-hole lead throughout the final round, despite a three-hour rain delay. He finished at 13-under-par 267 to win by three strokes, and became the 13th first-time winner on Tour this season. The victory propelled him 17 spots to No. 29 in the Official World Golf Rankings.

What an amazing week! Feels like a dream. Thanks to everyone for the kind messages. Toughest week of my life until... US Open week!

-Daniel Berger (@DanielBerger59 ) June 13, 2016

Early in the week, Berger switched to a TaylorMade M2 driver, built for him by representatives on-site in Memphis. With the new driver in play, Berger averaged 309.9 yards off the tee (T5) and hit 60 percent of his fairways for the tournament (T11). 

Berger competed in many AJGA events with a runner-up best second at the TaylorMade-adidas Golf Junior at Innisbrook hosted by Justin Rose in 2010, the same year he was named a Rolex Junior All-American. He attended Florida State University for two years before turning professional in 2014. Next week, Berger will host his first AJGA event, the Daniel Berger Junior Championship in his hometown of Jupiter, Florida, at his home course, The Dye Preserve.

Philip Barbaree also made his PGA TOUR debut at the FedEx St. Jude Classic using an exemption earned after being named the 2015 Rolex Junior Player of the Year. He has competed in 35 AJGA tournaments and collected 17 top-10 finishes, including three wins.

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Brooke Henderson became the youngest winner in the history of the KPMG Women's PGA Championship and the second-youngest to win an LPGA major. On June 12, she came from behind in the final round to force a playoff against Lydia Ko while holding off Ariya Jutanugarn who finished third, one stroke off the lead. At just 18 years old, Henderson is ranked No. 2 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings.

To @LydiaKo -- you're an inspiration to me and everyone in the game of golf and beyond. Let's do this more often eh?

Brooke Henderson (@BrookeHenderson ) June 12, 2016

Before she turned pro, Henderson collected five AJGA top-10 finishes, including two victories at the 2011 Genesis Junior at White Beeches and the 2012 Ravenwood Junior Championship.

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Max Homa won his second Web.com Tour title on June 12 at the Rust-Oleum Championship, where he shot a tournament total 13-under-par 275. He came from seven shots behind to win by one stroke and climb from No. 52 to No. 9 on the money list with $147,953.

Homa had six top-10 finishes as an AJGA member including third-place finishes at the 2006 Nike Golf Junior at Diablo Grande and the 2009 ClubCorp Mission Hills Desert Junior. He played college golf for the University of California-Berkeley where he won an individual NCAA Championship title as a senior in 2013.

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After fulfilling the 10-year membership requirement on Thursday, Inbee Park is the youngest player to officially qualify for the LPGA Tour Hall of Fame. Park has 17 career LPGA Tour victories, seven major championship wins and was named the Rolex Player of the Year in 2002.

As a part of the AJGA, Park competed in 15 events with nine top-five finishes. She won five events and was selected as a first-team Rolex Junior All-American from 2002-05.

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On Monday, five alternates were added to the U.S. Open field to take place starting June 16. The five alternates included Daniel Summerhays and Kevin Foley. If a player in the current field withdraws for any reason, Summerhays or Foley will have a chance to compete at Oakmont.

Summerhays’ best finish with the AJGA came in 2001 at the Independent Insurance Agents Junior Classic where he finished second. Foley finished T2 at the MindMatters Junior Championship and the AJGA Richmond Junior in 2005. Summerhays and Foley both went on to play college golf at BYU and Penn State, respectively.

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Great Britain & Ireland won the 2016 Curtis Cup June 12, 11.5 – 8.5, on the strength of Bronte Law’s record-tying effort for most points in a single match. Law became just the second player in Curtis Cup history to go 5-0, joining AJGA tournament host Stacy Lewis in the historical record. The all-AJGA United States team of Sierra Brooks, Mariel Galdiano, Andrea Lee, Mika Liu, Hannah O’Sullivan, Bailey Tardy, Monica Vaughn and Bethany Wu began singles matches down four points but Great Britain and Ireland added 3 1/2 points in eight singles matches to win the biennial competition for only the third time in 20 years.

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Sam Burns is headed to his first major championship after finishing at 6-under-par and sinking a birdie on the first hole of a six-man playoff at the U.S. Open sectional qualifier in Memphis, Tennessee.

Burns just completed his freshman year at LSU and had a successful career with the AJGA. He had three wins and was named a Rolex Junior Player of the Year in 2014.

Wow, what a day! We are headed to the @usopengolf ! Thank you to everyone for the support! #RoadToOakmont

Sam Burns (@Samburns66 ) June 6, 2016