The Dustin Johnson World Junior Golf Championship will return to TPC Myrtle Beach for the ninth consecutive year, attracting one of the strongest fields in junior golf to the Tom Fazio/Lanny Wadkins design.

TPC will host the 54-hole stroke play March 1-3 with a field of 90 players – 54 boys, 36 girls – competing for one of junior golf’s biggest prizes. Sixty-eight of the 90 players are ranked among the nation’s top 100 juniors by either Junior Golf Scoreboard or Golfweek, highlighting the strength of the field.

Headlining the boys tournament is Tyler Watts, the top-ranked junior boy in the world, according to World Amateur Golf Rankings. Watts is coming off a year that included wins at Jones Cup Junior Invitational, the Keith Mitchell Junior Championship, the Southern Junior Championship, and the Alabama State Amateur.

While Watts’ credentials are impressive, he enters the event as only the co-favorite, because Blades Brown is JGS’s No. 1 ranked boy in America. Watts also enjoyed a sterling 2023, winning at the AJGA Junior at Canebrake, the Huntsville.org Junior Championship, the Wyndham Invitational, the Tennessee Junior Amateur, and the Elite Invitational.

In all, 42 of the 54 boys are ranked among the nation’s top 100 juniors, and 26 of the 36 girls are top 100 players.

The girls’ field could be the most competitive in event history as the top three finishers from last year – winner Ryleigh Knaub, runner-up Alice Ziyi Zhao and third-place finisher Chloe Kovelesky – return for another shot at the title.

In the last 12 months, three former DJ World Junior champions have won on the game’s most prestigious tours. Akshay Bhatia (Barracuda Classic) and Nick Dunlap (The American Express) won on the PGA Tour, while Alexa Pano (ISPS Handa Invitational) earned victory on the LPGA Tour.

TPC Myrtle Beach has long been regarded as one of South Carolina’s premier public courses. From the daunting par four ninth hole to the short par 4 No. 12 and the risk-reward 18th, an unforgettable par 5, TPC rewards power, precision and more than a little nerve.

The course is regarded as one of Myrtle Beach’s leading big-event venues, a reputation it earned as the former host of the Senior PGA Tour Championship, the NCAA Division I Myrtle Beach Region Championship, and numerous other events.

TPC is in pristine condition as it prepares to host the game’s next generation of stars, and just as importantly, players who are preparing to descend on Myrtle Beach for their annual spring golf trip.