James Madison University golfer Rich Leeper of Chapel Hill will be among the 152 entrants teeing off Thursday in the 51st North Carolina Amateur Championship in Greensboro.

Leeper was a four-time all-conference selection and team MVP at Carrboro High School. He'll be heading into his junior year at James Madison next season.

The N.C. Junior Amateur runs through Sunday at The Farm Course of the Greensboro Country Club. Leeper tees off at 12:54 p.m. Thursday for the opening round.

Greensboro favorite son Ryan Heisey, a 2010 graduate of UNCG, won the title a year ago at Wilson Country Club with an all-time tournament record score of 11-under-par 269. That included a last-round 64.

Heisey and 2010 runnerup Sherrill Britt of West End, a former Carolinas PGA professional, are expected back this year, as are 2009 winner Mark McMillen of Smithfield and 2008 winner Jack Fields of Southern Pines, who lettered in golf at Carolina.

A total of 472 golfers with handicap indexes of 5.4 or less submitted entries for this year's Amateur. Leeper, like most in the field, qualified at one of the six one-day tournaments held around the state in late May and early June. The field will be cut to the low 60 scorers and ties after 36 holes.

The N.C. Amateur's 72-hole, stroke play competition was last played on Greensboro CC's Farm Course in 1982. Originally designed by Ellis Maples, the course underwent a dramatic transformation when Scottish architect Donald Steel completed a $6 million reconstruction in 2010, notes the CGA. Steel built five entirely new holes and did significant work on the remaining 13, including changes in routing and elevation. The old greens were replaced and now sport A1/A4 bentgrass, while the fairways and tees are now composed of zoysia grass instead of the customary Bermuda grass.

Steel's work produced a couple of honors in 2010. The course was named Best New Course in the state by members of the North Carolina Golf Panel and was named "Renovation of the Year" by Golf Magazine.

 The par-72 layout will play at approximately 7,223 yards for the N.C. Amateur.

The following boys and girls golfers were named to the Carolinas Golf Associaton's all-state teams.

Sarah Bae of Cary has been chosen the girls winner of the N.C. Junior Player of the Year award by the Tarheel Youth Golf Association and the Carolinas Golf Association, the organizations announced Monday.

Bae, a 16-year-old sophomore at Athens Drive High School in Raleigh, and boys winner Davis Womble of High Point, a 17-year-old junior at Wesleyan Christian Academy, will be honored at the N.C. Junior Golf Night Awards Banquet on Dec. 27 at Pine Needles Resort in Southern Pines.

The all-state girls and boys teams also will be recognized.

Grant Houser of Holly Springs, Thomas Bass of Holly Springs and Jordan Walor of Wake Forest reached the quarterfinals of the inaugural N.C. Amateur Match Play Championship, but it was a player from outside the Triangle who took the title.

Payne McLeod, 19, of Reidsville defeated Ryan Heisey of Greensboro 1-up in the final match on Sunday at The Country Club of Salisbury.

The finalists combined for 13 birdies and an eagle in their 18-hole match, the Carolinas Golf Association, which conducted the competition, said in a news release. (More results are below.)

Taelor Rubin of Raleigh led from start to finish in winning the 44th Twin States Junior Girls Golf Championship on Wednesday at The Windermere Club in Blythewood, S.C.

Rubin, 17, shot a final-round 73 to finish with a 1-under-par 143 and a three-stroke victory over Collins Bradshaw of Columbia, S.C.

Eric Bae of Cary had to play extra holes, but that didn't stop him from winning his first Carolinas Golf Association title.

Bae defeated Raleigh's Harrison Rhoades on the third playoff hole to win the N.C. Junior Boys 13-and-Under Championship at the Asheboro Municipal Golf Course in Asheboro on Tuesday. (Complete results are below.)

Durham's Rob Stover has qualified for the inaugural N.C. Amateur Match Play Championship to be played Aug. 4-8 at the Country Club of Salisbury.

In sectional qualifying conducted Wednesday by the Carolinas Golf Association, Stover shot a 3-over-par 74 at Pine Island Country Club in Charlotte to share 18th place.

Thirty-nine golfers made the cut, which fell at 5-over 76. (Complete results are below.)

Will Almand of Cary tied for first place with Greensboro's Jordan Utley on Tuesday in leading the Triangle's contingent of qualifiers for the inaugural N.C. Amateur Match Play Championship, which will be played Aug. 4-8 at the Country Club of Salisbury.

Almand and Utley each shot a 4-under-par 68 in the sectional qualifying event conducted by the Carolinas Golf Association at the Forest Oaks Country Club in Greensboro. (Complete results below.)

Pat Brogden of Garner overcame tough, windy conditions to win her fifth
major Carolinas Golf Association championship on Wednesday.

Brogden shot a 3-over-par 75 on Wednesday for a 147 total and the
championship of the seventh North Carolina Women’s Senior Amateur
Championship.

The victory at Cedarwood Country Club in Charlotte came by four strokes over the defending champion, Melissa Sage of Charlotte.

Paul Simson of Raleigh is three victories shy of tying the Carolinas
Golf Association's all-time title-holder, Dale Morey, after winning his
21st Carolinas Golf Association major championship in dramatic fashion.

The veteran golfer sank a birdie on the first playoff hole to win his
second Carolinas Senior Four-Ball Championship title in three years
this past Thursday at Porters Neck Country Club in Wilmington.

Simpson and playing partner Don Detweiler of Raleigh defeated 36-hole
leaders David Millis and Kim Mansfield of High Point in the playoff.