The 29th annual Terra Cotta Invitational, featuring 75 of the world's best junior, mid-amateur and collegiate golfers, gets underway in Naples this week.
The 54-hole stroke play tournament starts Friday and runs through Sunday at Naples National Golf Club. The field includes 39 of the top 50 golfers in the Rolex American Junior Golf Association rankings, 32 of which are Rolex Junior All-Americans.
Defending champion Luke Colton, who won last year's Terra Cotta by one stroke over Tyler Watts, will look to become the first repeat winner since current LIV Golf League pro Caleb Surratt in 2021 and 2022. Other top juniors competing include Miles Russell, who won the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley in March and is the AJGA's No. 1 ranked golfer.
In addition, former Gulf Coast High School standout Noah Kent, a two-time Southwest Florida Boys Golfer of the Year, will play in the Terra Cotta just days before teeing off at the Masters Tournament in Augusta, Kent, a University of Florida golfer, earned his spot at the major thanks to a runner-up finish at the U.S. Amateur Championship last August. The 20-year-old Naples resident will catch a plane to Georgia Sunday night in advance of his practice round Monday at Augusta National.
"I can't say we've ever had that happen before," said Denny Glass, who's been the Terra Cotta's tournament director for two decades. "That's pretty good."
Glass said initially Kent wasn't sure about participating at the Terra Cotta but that members of his advisory team convinced him to play, noting that the speed of the greens at Naples National is comparable to what he'll experience at the Masters. Kent made his PGA ...
