PLAYERS TO WATCH
Name: Julieta Granada
Age: 18
Residence: Paraguay
Golfweek/Titleist ranking: 2nd
Somewhere, Arizona coach Greg Allen may have breathed a sigh of relief last Friday. Julieta Granada, the reigning U.S. Girls' Junior champion, didn't fare as well in her second LPGA start, missing the cut at the Sybase Classic after rounds of 78-75.

Not to say that Allen would ever wish a poor round on anyone, but Granada's basing the crux of her college decision on professional finishes. And the Wildcats could use a little Paraguayan punch.

Granada, ranked No. 2 in the Golfweek/Titleist Performance Index, played in her first LPGA event last March at the Kraft Nabisco Championship. After finishing tied for 30th in California, Granada started having second thoughts about her verbal commitment to Arizona.

"Just seeing Paula (Creamer) and Brittany (Lincicome) do it I think, why not?" said Granada at the Kraft. "It tells you what the competition is like because I play with them so much. It kind of makes you hungry."

Creamer did more than outplay Granada at the Sybase last week, winning her first professional tournament and $187,500. But that's only one week, and Granada's summer hasn't even started. She's using her third exemption at next week's ShopRite LPGA Classic in New Jersey, leaving her with three possible exemptions left this season.

Name: Phillip Francis
Age: 16
Residence: Scottsdale, Ariz.
Golfweek/Titleist ranking: 14th
You could say Philip Francis has a few things going for him. The 16-year-old from Scottsdale, Ariz., has won four consecutive World Junior golf titles (one more than Tiger Woods), and his swing coach is Jim Flick, the former mentor to Jack Nicklaus. Francis talked to Flick on his cell phone May 22, after shooting a final-round 6-under 65 to win the Scott Roberston Memorial by a comfortable five shots.

"He always tells me if I'm in the lead or a few shots off the lead to just kill Œem with the sameness," Francis, No. 14 in the Golfweek/Sagarin Junior Boys Rankings, told The Roanoke Times. "Just repetition, just hit solid shot after solid shot and hit a lot of good putts. I know that sounds kind of crazy, but it's true. If you keep hitting good shots it kind of wears down the kid you're playing against."

Following that philosophy, Francis made seven birdies in the first 12 holes of his final round, and ended with eight on the day, 21 total for the 54-hole tournament. He finished at 12-under 201, tying the tournament record.

NEWS AND NOTES

• Kimberly Donovan (No. 30 in the Golfweek/Sagarin Junior Girls Rankings) of Hopkinton, Mass., won the girls' division at the 22nd Annual Scott Robertson Memorial Tournament. Donovan carded rounds of 71-69-71‹211 (2-under) to win by four shots. Donovan's victory comes a year after her high school teammate, Jon Curran, won in the boys' division.

"It's great to be able to follow up Jon's win here last year and take another (first-place trophy) back home," Donovan, who played No. 2 behind Curran (No. 5 in the the Golfweek/Sagarin Junior Boys Rankings) on the state champion Hopkinton High team, told The Roanoke Times.

• Brittany Lang's early departure from Duke may mean automatic playing time for incoming freshmen Jennie Lee and Amanda Blumenherst. Shortly after the Blue Devils won their third NCAA Championship May 20, Lang announced that she's forgoing her final two years in Durham. If coach Dan Brooks doesn't sign another player before the fall semester, Duke will remain a five-member squad for the 2005-06 season as Niloufar Aazam-Zanganeh graduates. Both Blumenhurst and Lee, ranked Nos. 6 and 13, respectively in the Golfweek/Titleist Performance Index, signed last fall.

• Carmen Bandea isn't your typical 14-year-old. She's an accomplished pianist and singer, a superb swimmer, a rising tennis player who hopes to turn professional in the fall, and one of only three female players who entered qualifying for this year's men's U.S. Open. But like 15-year-old phenom Michelle Wie and LPGA Tour professional Isabelle Beisiegel, Bandea failed to move on in her 18-hole local qualifier, shooting 76 May 23 at Planterra Ridge outside Atlanta. Bandea says she definitely has hopes of playing professional golf, but tennis is in the forefront of her mind. "I absolutely love playing tennis. Golf comes after that," Carmen said. "I like going at a high pace, and golf is definitely not a high pace. It definitely gets a little boring at times." (Associated Press)

Short shots: Highlighted by a state tournament-record 10-under 61 in the opening round, Bronson Burgoon of The Woodlands (Texas) High School, won the Texas Class 5A State Tournament. Burgoon, who will be playing next year for Texas A&M, finished with a 61-69--130 total, also a record. ...The Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA), the leader in the fight against Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, will launch the inaugural G3 Tour (Got Guts Golf) for junior golfers 7-19, beginning this August. Visit visit www.ccfa.org for more information.

NUMBER CRUNCHING
With summer play just around the corner, the 2006 class is being watched closely by college coaches. Below is a list of the top players in the '06 class according to the Golfweek/Titleist Performance Index.   

BOYS
1 Rory Hie 2006 CA 70.7
2 Roberto Galletti Jr. 2006 CA 71.4
3 Tim McKenney 2006 AZ 71.42
4 Hudson Swafford 2006 FL 71.59
5 Paul Haley 2006 TX 71.6
6 Jamie Lovemark 2006 CA 71.67
7 Jordan Cox 2006 CA 72.12
8 Kyle Stanley 2006 WA 72.62
9 Brendan Gielow 2006 MI 73.1
10 Christopher Ward 2006 TX 73.13
11 Jason Kang 2006 CA 73.13
12 Mark Jones 2006 TX 73.23
13 Chris Jensen 2006 CA 73.29
14 Vincent Nadeau 2006 OK 73.3
15 Jeffrey Edelman 2006 TX 73.3
16 Corey Nagy 2006 NC 73.34
17 David Palm 2006 FL 73.66
18 Will Griffin 2006 TX 73.75
19 Philip Chauncey 2006 NC 73.95
20 Scott Barton 2006 TX 74.08

GIRLS
1 Morgan Pressel 2006 FL 69.04
2 Angela Park 2006 CA 71.06
3 Catherina Wang 2006 FL 72.32
4 Jennie Arseneault 2006 IA 73.17
5 Alina Lee 2006 FL 74.3
6 Sydnee Michaels 2006 CA 74.73
7 Ashley Freeman 2006 IL 74.89
8 Candace Schepperle 2006 AL 75.78
9 Vicki Yi 2006 GA 76.13
10 Brittany Nelson 2006 FL 76.2
11 Angela Oh 2006 NJ 76.27
12 Dolores White 2006 FL 76.28
13 Angela King 2006 CA 77.04
14 Kristin Wetzel 2006 NY 77.05
15 Whitney Neuhauser 2006 VA 77.17
16 Kristin Ingram 2006 CA 77.43
17 Corrine Carr 2006 NC 77.55
18 Alexandrea Schulte 2006 OK 77.81
19 Kellye Belcher 2006 TN 77.99
20 Julia Potter 2006 IN 78.04

Have an interesting junior note to report, or know an interesting junior we can profile? E-mail Golfweek assistant editor Eric Soderstrom at esoderstrom@golfweek.com. .

Have a question about the Golfweek/Titleist Performance Index? E-mail rankings@golfweek.com.