Yana Wilson and Miles Russell were named the 2023 American Junior Golf Association Players of the Year, the organization announced Thursday.
Russell, who turned 15 on Wednesday, is one of the youngest players to receive Rolex Junior Player of the Year honors. He is the first Florida native to earn top honors in the Boys Division since Peter Uihlein in 2007. Wilson is the first Nevada native to win Rolex Junior Player of the Year honors in either division.
In 2023, Russell had four wins in eight national junior golf events to end the season at No. 1 in the Rolex AJGA Rankings. The 2027 grad started his first full season of AJGA events with two Junior All-Star event wins in just three weeks. He also captured the Junior PGA Championship, the Junior Players Championship and was a member of the Junior Ryder Cup team.
Wilson, an Oregon commit, won the junior portion of the Mizuho Americas Open and the AJGA Girls Invitational. She’s also a two-time member of the United States PING Junior Solheim Cup Team and a 2023 Junior Ryder Cup team participant.
Russell, Wilson and the 2023 Rolex Junior All-America Teams will be honored at the Rolex Junior All-America Awards Banquet on Saturday, Nov. 18, in San Antonio, Texas. Then the duo, Rolex Junior All-Americans and a field of the top players in the Rolex AJGA Rankings will compete at the Rolex Tournament of Champions, Nov. 18-22 at TPC San Antonio – Canyons Course in San Antonio, Texas.
