Duke junior Phoebe Brinker started realizing the importance of mental health during COVID. Like all of us who struggled at some point during the pandemic, she saw friends and relatives face countless challenges and heard too many tragic stories of college students taking their lives too soon. She even faced low moments of failure and overwhelming stress, herself.
With the help of her friend and fellow collegiate golfer at Florida, Taylor Roberts, the two are hosting the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) Impact Cup, July 25-26, at the Bobby Jones Golf Club and East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.
The Impact Cup aims to educate, support and foster awareness around youth mental health, while establishing a peer-to-peer network where no one feels alone. The goal is to raise $100,000 for the Generation Next Project and the AJGA’s Achieving Competitive Excellence (ACE) Grant Program. Each player has agreed to raise at least $1,000 for Generation Next Project and the ACE Grant Program. As of the posting of this article, the group has already raised $91,332.
Founded by Robert Jones Black, the great grandson of Bobby Jones, the Generation Next Project strives to make a positive impact on youth mental health and provide teens, families and coaches mental fitness tools and communication skills to thrive in today’s world through the game of golf. The AJGA’s ACE Grant provides financial assistance to young men and women who aspire to earn a college golf scholarship through competitive junior golf.
“It’s crazy to see how everything has come together,” said Roberts. “It’s amazing to see how many people are supporting it and the more you talk about mental health and sharing my own story, the more people that want to support it. It’s just something that it’s really prevalent in our lives.”
Roberts actually had the idea while she was going through therapy, so she took her thoughts to her buddy Brinker, and the two got to work.
“After therapy, I wanted to help other athletes or just anyone in general gain resources because I realized how lucky I was to have the opportunity to better myself,” explained Roberts.
Twenty-two players will compete in the tournament, including Brinker’s Blue Devil teammates, Megan Furtney and Rylie Heflin. The fun begins Monday, July 25, as golfers will play Bobby Jones Golf Club. On Tuesday, a mental health walk will be followed by tee times at East Lake Golf Club.
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