On the boys' side, Jack Fields of Southern Pines brings a Golfweek junior ranking of 39 into the 54-hole stroke-play event that runs Tuesday through Thursday on three different Pinehurst Resort courses.

Courtney Harter of Clearwater, Fla., will be back to try to add another Putter Boy Trophy to the one she won in last year's tournament.

Both she and Fields made it to the match-play phase of their respective U.S. Junior Amateur championships held recently.

Among those hoping to dethrone Harter will be Eleana Collins of Pinehurst, who finished in a tie for ninth place last year.

Collins is enjoying a summer that includes the North Carolina Junior Amateur and Carolinas Junior Girls titles. She has also had top-10 finishes in a number of other tournaments.

The championships get under way at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday with the boys tackling No. 8 and the girls at No. 2. Wednesday's second round has the boys at No. 5 and the girls at No. 8.

The final round puts the boys at No. 2 and the girls at No. 5.

Aaron Eckstein of Salem, Va., will not be back to defend his 2005 boys' title.

The field does include three top-10 finishers from a year ago in Ross Mizell of The Woodlands, Texas, (fifth), Marshall Bailey of Fincastle, Va., (seventh) and Kyle Sonday of Cary (tie for 10th).

Fields, ranked second among North Carolina juniors, missed last year's North and South because of a conflict with the U.S. Junior Amateur. He got the spring-summer campaign off to a good start in April, winning his first AJGA championship, the Bridgestone Junior Classic in Durham.

His summer travels have taken him to Scottsdale, Ariz., Denver and Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.

At the latter locale, he lost a first-round match in the U.S. Junior Amateur to 15-ranked Todd Fujikawa of Honolulu in 19 holes.

The boys' field of 90 golfers includes Russell Burke of Pinehurst, a Pinecrest High School teammate of Fields. The girls' tournament is expected to have 33 contestants.

The tournament is open to the public, free of charge.