Tower Hill junior Rylie Heflin, an Avondale resident, capped
a solid summer of golf by finishing alone in fifth place in the American Junior
Golf Association (AJGA) Girls Championship, which had a Labor Day finish at The
Furman Golf Club in Greenville, S.C.
Heflin closed with a solid 3-under-par 69 Monday over the
6,215-yard, par-72 Furman layout to finish with a 1-under 215 total. Heflin
opened with a 2-over 74 before matching par in the second round with a 72.
Heflin earned a trip to the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship
at SentryWorld in Stevens Point, Wis., although she failed to qualify for the
match-play bracket. She finished fourth in the Pennsylvania Junior Girls’
Championship at Hershey Country Club’s East Course.
The AJGA Girls Championship title went to Amanda Sambach of
Davidson, N.C., who fired a final round of 4-under 68 that gave her a 6-under
210 total and a one-shot victory over Michaela Morard of Huntsville, Ala. It
was Sambach’s fifth AJGA win.
Sambach, who plans to join the Virginia program in the
summer of 2021, opened with a 2-under 70 and matched par in the second round
with a 72.
Morard, who will join the Alabama program in the summer of
2020, fired a 5-under 67 in the second round to grab a share of the lead
heading into the final round. An even-par 72 in the final round left her a shot
behind Sambach in second at 5-under 211.
Morard had a strong summer, making the match-play bracket in
both the U.S. Girls’ Junior at SentryWorld and in the U.S. Women’s Amateur at
Old Waverly Golf Club in West Point, Miss.
It was another two shots back to Annabelle Pancake of
Zionsville, Ind. in third place at 3-under 213. Pancake, who will join the
Clemson program in the summer of 2020, opened with a 1-under 71 and added an
even-par 72 before closing with a 2-under 70.
Bohyun Park of Farmers Branch, Texas via South Korea was a
shot behind Pancake in fourth place at 2-under 214. Park, who plans to join the
Texas program in the summer of 2021, finished with a sparkling 4-under 68. Park
had opened with a 2-over 74 before matching par in the second round with a 72.
Megha Ganne of Holmdel, N.J., the bustout star of the U.S.
Women’s Amateur, and Nicole Adam of Pinehurst, N.C. shared sixth place, two
shots behind Heflin at 1-over 217.
Ganne made a remarkable run to the semifinals at Old Waverly
before falling on the 19th hole to Stanford senior Albane
Valenzuela, the No. 4 player in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR).
She opened with a 3-under 69 at Furman before struggling in
a 5-over 77 in the second round. She finished up with a 1-under 71.
Adam thrilled her hometown fans when she qualified for the
match-play bracket in the North & South Women’s Amateur Championship at the
classic No. 2 Course at the Pinehurst Resort & Country Club. Adam, who will
join Jan Mann’s North Carolina program in the summer of 2020, had a share of
the lead after two rounds with Morard after adding a sparkling 4-under 68 to
her opening-round 71. Adam struggled a little in the final round, closing with
a 78.
Two of the four players tied for 14th at 5-over
221 were Alexa Pano of Lake Worth, Fla. and Ameri Avery of Riverside, Calif.,
who formed a partnership that reached the semifinals of the U.S. Women’s
Amateur Four-Ball Championship at Timuquana Country Club in Jacksonville, Fla.
in May.
The 15-year-old Pano, No. 41 in the Women’s WAGR, was the
co-medalist in qualifying for match play in the U.S. Women’s Amateur at Old
Waverly. After opening with a 73, Pano added a 76 in the second round before
matching par in the final round with a 72. Avery sandwiched a second-round 73
with a pair of 2-over 74s.
Also in that group at 5-over was Sophia Bae of Norwood,
N.J., who will join the powerhouse Duke program in the summer of 2021. Bae, who
was coming off a fourth-place finish in the KJ Choi Federation Junior
Championship by SK Telecom at Fiddler’s Elbow, struggled in the opening round
at Furman with a 77 before adding a 1-under 71 and a 1-over 73.
Bae finished third in qualifying for match play in the U.S.
Girls’ Junior at SentryWorld.
Lydia Swan, the PIAA Class AA runnerup as a freshman at
North East last fall, finished in the group tied for 30th at 226.
Swan’s final round of 2-over 74 was her best of the weekend. She opened with a
75 before adding a 77 in the second round.
Natasha Kiel, a junior at the George School from New Hope,
finished strong with a 2-under 70 to join the group tied for 33rd at
227. Kiel opened with a 78 and added a 79 in the second round.
Emmaus junior Michelle Cox, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier last
fall, also saved her best for last, closing with a 2-over 74 to finish in a tie
for 57th at 235. Cox opened with an 80 before adding an 81 in the
second round.
Cox was the runnerup in the Pennsylvania Junior Girls’ Championship
at Hershey earlier this summer.
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