Juniors hoping to play in the upcoming Home Care and Hospice First Tee Open at Pebble Beach are taking a different route to get into the tournament this year.

Unlike the past, the selection process for potential juniors for the 2010 tournament does not include a 36-hole on-the-course proficiency event nor any in-person interaction. Instead, potential juniors are being evaluated strictly through paper applications sent to The First Tee home office.

Students are being judged on criteria including: a letter of recommendation from a Chapter coach or executive director, community involvement and extracurricular activities, awards and recognitions received, golf handicap and playing resume, short answer essay questions, phone/video interviews and interview summaries conducted at the potential juniors’ Chapter prior to submission of the application.

According to The First Tee tournament director Laura Orlen, the change occurred due to the First Tee Open not having a sponsor earlier in the year. National Association for Home Care and Hospice, the nation’s largest trade association representing the interests and concerns of home care agencies, hospices and home care aide organizations, was named the tournament’s new sponsor June 14. The four-year contract between previous sponsor Walmart and the Monterey Peninsula Foundation, which operates the event, ended with the 2009 tournament.

“We were not able to move forward with the planning of the in-person selection process due to not having a sponsor,” Orlen said. “Hopefully, we’ll return to that format in 2011 The in-person process is a much more fair process in determining who gets to go to Pebble Beach.”

The deadline for this year’s paper application process was July 6. From that process, 70 The First Tee juniors will be selected to compete in the tournament, which is again slated for Labor Day weekend and features juniors competing side-by-side with members of the Champions Tour. Another eight juniors will receive exemptions into the tournament given by the Monterey Peninsula Foundation.

The junior field for the Home Care and Hospice First Tee Open will be announced July 30.