Brinker tied for sixth, Zhang takes one-shot lead into final round of Girls Junior PGA Championship

   The wind kicked up for round 3 of the 44^th Girls Junior PGA Championship at the Keney Park Golf Course in Windsor, Conn. Thursday and the scores generally went up.

   Archmere Academy senior Phoebe Brinker, despite carding a 3-over-par 73, remained in the top 10 in the elite field of junior players. Brinker landed at 6-under 204, which left her in a tie for sixth, six shots behind Rose Zhang, a 16-year-old from Irvine, Calif. who is hoping to join an elite group of two-time winners of this event.

   Zhang, who is still more than two years away from joining the powerhouse Stanford program in the summer of 2021, had her worst round of the week, a 2-under 68 that left her at 12-under 198.

   Zhang, No. 16 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) won the 2017 edition of the Girls Junior PGA Championship with a 20-under total at the Country Club of St. Albans’ Lewis & Clark Course in St. Albans, Mo. She finished at 20-under again a year ago at the Kearney Hill Golf Links in Lexington, Ky., but had to settle for second place behind fellow Californian Yealimi Noh.

   Zhang, who played the weekend at this spring’s U.S. Women’s Open at the Country Club of Charleston and finished in a tie for 55^th, made birdies at the 10^th, 12^th and 14^th holes around her lone hiccup of the day, a bogey at the 11^th.

   Zhang had surged to the top of the leaderboard on the strength of a 7-under 63 in Wednesday’s second round. Zhang is hoping to add her name to the list of two-time winners that includes such all-time junior standouts as the late Heather Farr (1980, ’82), Vicki Goetze (’87, ’89, ’90), Beth Bauer (’94, ’97), Aree Song (’99, 2000), Inbee Park (’01, ’02), Lexi Thompson (’07, ’09) and Ariya Jutanugarn (’11, ’12),

   Saso, a semifinalist at age 15 in the 2016 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Rolling Green Golf Club, fired a 4-under 66 to get within a shot of Zhang at 11-under 199.

   Saso of the Philippines responded to a double bogey at the 11^th hole by making birdies at five of the last seven holes to surge into second place. Saso finished with seven birdies on her scorecard.

   Jensen Castle of West Columbia, S.C. was two shots behind Saso in third place at 9-under 201. Castle, who will join the Kentucky program later this summer, matched Saso’s 4-under 66.

   Melanie Green, who repeated as the girls state champion in New York as a junior at Medina this spring, also fired a 4-under 66 and was alone in fourth place at 8-under 202. Green plans to join the South Florida program in the summer of 2020.

   Megha Ganne of Holmdel, N.J., a four-time qualifier for the Drive, Chip & Putt National Finals at Augusta National Golf Club, was another shot behind Green in fifth place at 7-under 203. Ganne, who moved into contention with a tournament-record 8-under 62 in Wednesday’s second round, posted a solid 1-under 69 Thursday.

   Brinker was joined at 6-under 204 by Rachel Heck of Memphis, Tenn., No. 14 in the Women’s WAGR and the 2017 American Junior Golf Association Rolex Player of the Year.

   Brinker, who captured her third DIAA championship at Cripple Creek Country Club this spring, had an up-and-down round that included two double bogeys, three bogeys and three birdies.

Heck, who plans to join the Stanford program in the summer of 2020, was under par for the third straight day with a 1-under 69 to share sixth place with Brinker at 6-under.

   The biggest move of the day was made by Alexa Pano, the precocious 14-year-old from Lake Worth, Fla. who is No. 39 in the Women’s WAGR. Pano rocketed up the leaderboard with a sparkling 7-under 63, easily the best round on a day when Keney Park played tougher than it had the first two days.

   That left Pano in a tie for eighth place with Sara Im of Duluth, Ga. at 5-under 205. Pano finished fourth in the Girls Junior PGA Championship at Kearney Hill a year ago and lost in the final to the red-hot Noh in the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship a couple of weeks later at the Poppy Hills Golf Course on northern California’s Monterey Peninsula.

   Im, the Girls 12-13 winner in the 2018 Drive, Chip & Putt Championship, struggled to a 4-over 74 after beginning the day a shot behind Zhang in a tie for second with Brinker.

   Like Zhang, Saso, Heck and Pano all teed it up in the U.S. Women’s Open at the Country Club of Charleston, although, unlike Zhang, none of the three made the cut.

   Caroline Wrigley, winner of the PIAA Class AAA Championship as a senior at North Allegheny last fall, carded a solid 2-over 72 and was in the group tied for 23^rd at 1-under 209. Wrigley, who will join the Furman program later this summer, added the Pennsylvania Junior Girls’ crown last month at Hershey Country Club’s East Course to her scholastic state title.

   Recent Conestoga graduate Samantha Yao continued to acquit herself quite well on the national stage as she added a 3-over 73 to the 72s she posted in the first two rounds and was in the group tied for 61^st at 7-over 217. Yao, who plays out of White Manor Country Club, is headed for Dartmouth to continue her golf and academic pursuits.

   Wrigley and Yao have also earned spots in the field for the U.S. Girls Junior Championship later this month at SentryWorld in Stevens Point, Wis. Wrigley has also qualified for next month’s U.S. Women’s Amateur at the Old Waverly Golf Club in West Point, Miss.