Jennifer Cleary, a Wilmington, Del. resident who attends
Tower Hill School, came up just short in her bid to make match play in
qualifying Tuesday at the U.S. Girls’ Junior at Boone Valley Golf Club in
Augusta, Mo.
Cleary carded a 75 in Monday’s opening round of qualifying
and her second-round 78 Tuesday gave her an 11-over-par 153 total, just one
shot out of a four-way playoff for the final spot in match play.
Cleary had been the qualifying medalist in a local qualifier
for the U.S. Girls’ Junior with an even-par 71 at Silver Creek Country Club.
The runnerup in that qualifier, Ami Gianchandani of
Wachtung, N.J., did earn a spot in match play at Boone Valley. Gianchandani, a
senior at The Pingry School in Basking Ridge, N.J., added a 74 to her opening-round
75 for a 7-over 149 total.
Gianchandani’s opponent in the opening round of match play
will be Macy Fox of Austin, Texas.
Another qualifier from Silver Creek, Bailey Davis, a
14-year-old from White Plains, Md. who will be a freshman at North Point High
School in Waldorf, Md. this fall, joined Cleary at 153 with rounds of 77 and
76.
The last of the foursome to emerge from Silver Creek,
Christine Shao, Gianchandani’s teammate at The Pingry School, had rounds of 81
and 75 for a 156 total.
The qualifying medal at Boone Valley went to 14-year-old
phenom Lucy Li, who fired a sparkling 5-under 66 Tuesday to top the field with
a 5-under 137 total. Li of Redwood Shores, Calif. had seven birdies, including
four in a row from holes 5 through 8.
Li nearly captured medalist honors as a 13-year-old in last
summer’s U.S. Women’s Amateur at Rolling Green Golf Club with rounds of 67 and 68
at the demanding William Flynn design. Li was also the only amateur to make the
cut in the ANA Inspiration, the LPGA’s first major championship of the year.
Li will open match play Wednesday against Belinda Hu of San
Ramon, Calif., whose par on the first hole of the playoff enabled her to
survive the battle among four players for the final spot in match play.
Li finished a shot ahead of Paphangkorn Tavatanakit, a
native of Thailand who has been an American Junior Golf Association standout
while campaigning from a Van Nuys, Calif. base the last seven summers.
Tavatanakit, who will join the powerful UCLA program later
this summer, added a 68 Tuesday to her opening-round 70 to finish a shot behind
Li in qualifying at 4-under 138.
South Korea’s Eun Jeong Seong was eligible to go for a third
straight Girls’ Junior title after claiming it each of the last two years, but chose
not to compete. Seong followed up her victory in last summer’s Girls’ Junior at
Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, N.J. with a win in the U.S. Women’s Amateur
at Rolling Green, a double that had never before been accomplished.
I never got back to the U.S. Junior Amateur after the locals
failed to advance to match play, but the title went to Noah Goodwin, a
17-year-old from Corinth, Texas who rallied from 4-down with eight holes to
play to defeat Matthew Wolff, an 18-year-old from Algoura Hills, Calif., 1-up
on the 36th hole in 100-degree plus temperatures at Flint Hills
National Golf Club in Andover, Kan.
Goodwin, who is hoping to join the SMU program in time for
the spring semester in January of 2018, had lost in the final a year earlier
and became the first player since Tim Straub in 1983 to capture the title a
year after falling in the title match the previous year. Wolff will join the
powerful Oklahoma State program later this summer.
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