Brinker fires 65 at Keney Park to earn a share of the lead in Girls Junior PGA Championship

   Phoebe Brinker of Wilmington, Del. first turned heads on the national scene when the Archmere Academy senior finished second in the individual scoring in the USGA Women’s State Team Championship at The Club at Las Campanas’ Sunrise Course in Santa Fe, N.M. in the fall of 2017.

   In doing so, Brinker led Delaware to a surprising runnerup finish in the event, which was being played for the final time.

   Brinker was at it again Tuesday as she matched the women’s course record in the opening round of the Girls Junior PGA Championship with a sparkling 5-under-par 65 at the Keney Park Golf Course in Windsor, Conn. to gain a share of the lead.

   The record was set in the 2018 Hartford Women’s Open by none other than Kelly Whaley, Brinker’s cousin. Whaley, who completed an outstanding four-year career at North Carolina this spring, is the daughter of Suzy Whaley, the president of the PGA of America, which is staging the Girls Junior PGA Championship, one of the major national events on the junior schedule.

   “Oh my gosh, I didn’t know she (had the record),” Brinker told the PGA of America website when informed she had matched her cousin’s women’s course record at Keney Park. “I’ve played with Kelly since I was little. That’s really cool to be tied with her.”

   Brinker was joined at the top of the leaderboard by Sara Im of Duluth, Ga., who won the Girls 12-13 division in the 2018 Drive, Chip & Putt National Finals at the Augusta National Golf Club, and Yuka Saso of the Philippines, who finished in a tie for sixth in last year’s Girls Junior PGA Championship at the Kearney Hill Golf Links in Lexington, Ky.

   Saso was a 15-year-old phenom when she reached the semifinals of the 2016 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Rolling Green Golf Club in Springfield, Delaware County.

   Brinker, who has qualified for the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship later this month at SentryWorld in Stevens Point, Wis., had five birdies on the back nine at Keney Park Tuesday, including four birdies in her final five holes.

   Brinker finished in a tie for 21^st in the 2017 Girls Junior PGA Championship at the Country Club of St. Albans’ Lewis & Clark Course in St. Albans, Mo.

   Don’t underestimate the talent level at these junior events. The winner of last year’s Girls Junior PGA Championship, Californian Yealimi Noh, has since turned pro and last weekend the 17-year-old finished tied for sixth in the Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic in Wisconsin.

   Lilly Thomas of Bartonville, Ark. was alone in fourth place after firing a 4-under 66.

   Heading a group of five players tied for fifth at 3-under 67 was Rose Zhang of Irvine, Calif. Zhang won this event in 2017 at St. Albans as a 14-year-old with a 20-under-par total. She shot 20-under again a year ago at Kearney Hill, but that was only good enough for runnerup honors to the red-hot Noh.

   Also in the group tied for fifth at 3-under was Caroline Wrigley, who captured the PIAA Class AAA title as a senior at North Allegheny last fall. Wrigley, who will join the Furman program at the end of the summer, won the Pennsylvania Junior Girls’ Championship at Hershey Country Club’s East Course last month.

   Wrigley, who had already secured a berth in the U.S. Junior Girls’ Championship at SentryWorld, earned a ticket to the U.S. Women’s Amateur in August at the Old Waverly Golf Club in West Point, Miss. in a qualifier last week at Bermuda Run Country Club in Bermuda Run, N.C.

   Rounding out the quintet tied for fifth at 3-under were Caroline Hwang of Orlando, Fla., Tess Blair of South Jordan, Utah, who will join the Sacramento State program this summer, and Jensen Castle of West Columbia, S.C., who will join the Kentucky program this summer.

   Recent Conestoga graduate Samantha Yao, who won the Philadelphia Girls Junior PGA Championship last month at Bellewood Country Club to punch her ticket to Keney Park, carded a solid 2-over 72 that left her in the group tied for 60^th place. Yao is inside the projected cut line as the field will be trimmed to the low 70 players and ties following Wednesday’s second round.

   Yao, who will join the Dartmouth program later this summer, was the medalist in a qualifier last week at the Steel Club for the U.S. Junior Girls’ Championship at SentryWorld.

   Rounding out the local contingent was recent A.I. DuPont graduate Esther Park, a teammate of Brinker’s in that epic performance by Team Delaware at Las Campanas in 2017.

   Park, who will join the Georgetown program later this summer, struggled to a 6-over 76 that left her among the group tied for 113^th place. Park also emerged from the local Philadelphia Section PGA qualifier at Bellewood.