Lees finishes tied for 43rd in Girls Junior PGA Championship at Kearney Hill

   Three-time Pennsylvania Junior Girls’ champion Kaitlyn Lees struggled a little in the final round of the Girls Junior PGA Championship Thursday at the Kearney Hill Golf Links in Lexington, Ky., but still improved on her finish in the event a year ago.

   Lees, who capped her scholastic career at Agnes Irwin this spring by winning her third Inter-Ac League individual crown, had bettered par in rounds 2 and 3 with respective rounds of 68 and 71 and moved into a tie for 21^st. But she finished up with a 5-over 77 for a 2-over 290 total that left her in the group tied for 43^rd.

   That was a little better than a year ago when the Dartmouth-bound Lees, who plays out of Philadelphia Country Club and Merion Golf Club, finished tied for 49^th at The Country Club of St. Albans’ Lewis & Clark Course in St. Albans, Mo.

   The Philadelphia Section PGA’s other representative at Kearney Hill, Tower Hill junior Jennifer Cleary, had a final-round 79 and finished tied for 57^th at 6-over 294. That finish, too, was an improvement from a year ago at St. Albans when Cleary finished tied for 65^th.

   Ami Gianchandani, a recent Pingry School graduate from Wachtung, N.J. who is headed for Yale, carded a final round of 2-under 70 to finish tied for 17^th at 5-under 213. Gianchandani had rattled off three straight 1-under 71s in the first three rounds.

   It was a nice tuneup for Gianchandani as she heads for the U.S. Junior Girls’ Championship, which tees off Monday at the Poppy Hills Golf Course on northern California’s Monterey Peninsula. Gianchandani was exempt into the U.S. Junior Girls because of her surprising run to the quarterfinals a year ago at Boone  Valley Golf Club in Augusta, Mo.

   Yealimi Noh, a 16-year-old from Concord, Calif., completed a spectacular four days in capturing the title. Noh, the runnerup a year ago, carded her worst round of the week, a 3-under 69, to finish with a tournament-record 24-under 264 total.

   Noh had opened with a 66 and improved by a shot each of the next two days with respective rounds of 65 and 64 in rounds 2 and 3.

   Noh had a seven-shot lead and opened her round with seven straight pars before making a birdie at the eighth. She birdied the 11^th and then made bogey at the 12^th, noteworthy only in that it would be her only bogey of the week. Noh finished with a flourish, a birdie at the 18^th.

   Last year’s champion, Rose Zhang, a 15-year-old from Irvine, Calif., fired a sizzling 6-under 66 to match her winning total of a year ago, 20-under, the old tournament record. This year it only got her to within four shots of her fellow Cali girl.

   A third Californian, Alexa Melton of Covina, Calif., was another shot behind Zhang in third at 19-under 269. Melton, who will join the Pepperdine program in the summer of 2019, had opened with a spectacular 9-under 63. She finished up with a 5-under 67 Thursday.

   Alexa Pano, the 13-year-old phenom from Lake Worth, Fla., matched Melton’s final-round 67 and finished alone in fourth, two shots behind Melton at 17-under 271.

   Erica Shepherd, who will defend the U.S. Junior Girls’ crown she won at Boone Valley last summer at Poppy Hills, finished alone in fifth at 15-under 273 after a final round of 3-under 69. Shepherd of Greenwood, Ind. will join the powerhouse Duke program later this summer.

   Heading a talented trio tied for sixth at 13-under 275 was 15-year-old Lucy Li of Redwood Shores, Calif., who finished up with a 1-under 71. Li, No. 9 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking, helped the United States roll to a 17-3 decision over Great Britain & Ireland in last month’s Curtis Cup Match at Quaker Ridge Golf Club in Scarsdale, N.Y. She will be a tough out if she makes match play at Poppy Hills and I would be shocked if she didn’t make it to match play.

   Also at 13-under 275 was Yuka Saso of the Philippines, who also posted a final round of 1-under 71. As I mentioned in my last post, Saso, as a 15-year-old, reached the semifinals of the 2016 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Rolling Green Golf Club by beating Japan’s Nasa Hataoka in the quarterfinals. The same Nasa Hataoka who was in the middle of a three-way playoff for the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship with eventual winner Sang Hyun Park and Se Yeon Ryu at Kemper Lakes last month.

   The third member of that trio tied for sixth at 275 was Yujeong Son, the terrific South Korea native who has lived in Norman, Okla. since age 6. Son matched Zhang for the low round of the day with her 6-under 66. Son isn’t planning to play college golf. It’s not a question of if she is turning pro, but when.