Written By: Megan Morris
Brier Creek Country Club – NC – Sunday, April 25th, four young and already very accomplished women golfers will team up and compete for the Dogwood Duchess title Presented by Brier Creek Orthodontics, at Brier Creek Country Club in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Maria Atwood, a Holly Springs local and a quick 30-minute drive to Brier Creek, is a junior in high school and a recent James Madison University commit. Atwood is currently the highest-ranked junior girl in the North Carolina Tar Heel Youth Golf Association rankings and has had countless impressive finishes including being the 2020 Carolina’s Golf Association Mimosa Hills Jr Invitational Champion, the 2018 CGA Junior Girls Champion, and runner up in the 2021 Peggy Kirk Bell Spring Invitational, PKB Tournament of Champions, and the CGA NC Junior Girls Championship. Maria is also already quite familiar with the Junior Golf Live community. When she isn’t playing she is a commentator and course analyst for Junior Golf LIVE.
Katherine Schuster, Atwood’s partner, also has a very decorated resume. The Clemson golf commit is the 2019 Dixie Women’s Amateur Champion, the 2019 Joanne Winter Arizona Silver Belle Champion, the 2019 North and South Girls Jr Champion, the 2020 CGA Twin States Champion, the 2019 Beth Daniel Jr Azalea Champion, the 2019 North Carolina Jr Girls Match Play Champion, and a 3 time 1A/2A High School Individual champion. Schuster also has spent some time at the championed Augusta National. She drained the thirty-foot putt on the famous 18th green on her way to becoming the 2018 Drive Chip and Putt Champion. In the same year, she was also named the Carolinas Junior Player of the Year.
Savannah Hylton, of Hilton Head, South Carolina, is a senior in high school and committed to Furman University to continue her academic and golf career at the impressive age of 15. Hylton is no stranger to the top of the leaderboard and being in contention. She finished tied first in the 2020 South Carolina Women’s Amateur Championship and also in the 2020 AJGA Oldfield Junior. Hylton has countless other notable finishes including her third place finish in the prestigious 2021 Dustin Johnson World Junior Championship, her fifth place in the 2020 North-South Junior Championship, and two fourth place finishes at the 2020 Beth Daniel Junior Azalea and the 2020 AJGA Rome Junior Classic. Hylton is currently ranked in the top 40 in the Golfweek Junior rankings and the AJGA Rolex rankings, and fired a very impressive 64 in the 2019 USGA Girls Junior Championship.
Isabella Rawl, a junior in high school from Lexington, South Carolina, is another fellow Clemson golf commit and a very impressive player. In 2018, Rawl was the Individual High School State Champion and the South Carolina High School League’s Player of the Year. Rawl unfortunately suffered a severe back injury in 2019, but has come back even stronger than before. She’s had many very impressive finishes in the 2020 season including a top 10 finish in the AJGA Girls Championship, a runner up finish in the Vicki DiSantis Championship, and also is the 2020 Beth Daniel Junior Azalea Champion. Rawl is currently ranked 4th in her home state of South Carolina and also ranked 5th in the Carolina Golf Association Junior Girls rankings.
Four of the most accomplished girl’s golfers in the Carolinas will team up and compete on Arnold Palmer’s turf for the Dogwood Duchess title, and all the excitement will be available to viewers around the world through Junior Golf Live. You won’t want to miss it.
