College Commitments on
National Signing Day
Congratulations to the IJGA students who have committed to play golf
at the collegiate level on National College Signing Day.
Felix van Kleef - University
of Nevada, Las Vegas (D1)
Felix van Kleef has committed
to play on the men’s college
team at the University of
Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV).
UNLV competes in the NCAA
Division I Mountain West
Conference.
Van Kleef is a former member of the German National Team.
He won the 2016 Austrian Junior Golf Tour and the 2018
Greg Norman Championship Golf Academy Open. Van
Kleef also made the cut at the PGA Tour’s 2018 Wyndham
Championship Pre-Qualifier with a score of 70 in a field of
150. He was the second-lowest of three amateurs to qualify.
Additionally, he won the 2018 SCJGA 24th Annual Fall
Challenge.
“I want to make my family proud of me. My role model is my
dad,” said van Kleef. He added, “I’ll miss my friends and the
great atmosphere at IJGA. Jonathan is such a great coach.”
4
Kotaro Murata - University of Hawaii (D1)
Kotaro Murata of Japan, has committed to play on the
men’s golf team at the University of Hawaii (UH), Manoa,
of Honolulu, Hawaii. UH is an NCAA Division I school and
competes in the Big West Conference.
Murata’s
career
golf
highlights include wins at the
Hurricane Junior Tour Elite
Series at Orange Lake Resort
2018, IJGT Orange Lake
Open 2018, IJGT Island Open
at Dolphin Head 2017, and
medalist at the IMG Junior
Qualifying Tournament and
the AJGA Davis Love III
Junior Open 2017. Murata is currently ranked 219 on the
Rolex AJGA Rankings.
“My dad encouraged me to start playing golf at eight years
old. He also played for fun. I hated it at first until I played
in a tournament. Then I realized that I needed to practice
harder to be competitive,” said Murata. “What I really enjoy,
is executing my golf plan and seeing results.”