Kan falls short of quarterfinals at U.S. Girls' Junior

   Aurora Kan, the three-time Daily Times Player of the Year at Chichester, has appeared on the national stage before, but the fifth USGA appearance in her fledgling career turned out to be her most successful.
   After staging a big comeback to reach the third round of the U.S. Girls' Junior Championship at the Olympia Fields Country Club's South Course in steamy Olympia Fields, Ill., Kan was ousted in her second match of the day Thursday, falling 5 and 3 to Summar Roachell of Conway, Ark.
    Kan, who will tee it up for NCAA Division I power Purdue this fall, squared off in the morning against Eimi Koga, a 15-year-old Hawaiian who finished third in qualifying earlier in the week.
   It looked like Kan might be headed home after making two double bogeys as Koga took a 3-up lead after nine holes. But Kan erased the deficit with a birdie at 10, a par at 11 and a par at 12. A birdie at 14 by Kan gave her a 1-up advantage, but Koga got it back to to even as her par at 15 bettered Kan's bogey.
   But Kan then birdied 16 to go 1-up and finished off a 2 and 1 victory with a par at 17 while Koga struggled to an 8.
    Kan, the 2010 Pennsylvania Women's Amateur and PIAA champion, actually got off to a 1-up lead in her afternoon match with Roachell with a par on the first hole.
   But Roachell went from 1-down to 3-up with a burst that included a par at the fourth, birdies at five and six and a par at the seventh.
   Still Kan hadn't blinked when facing a three-hole deficit in the morning and she didn't against Roachell, replying with a birdie at the eighth hole to cut her deficit to two holes.
   But Roachell didn't let this one get away. She went 3-up with a par at the 10th and then took a commanding 4-up lead with a birdie at the 13th. Her par at 15 finished off her 5 and 3 victory.