Lower Merion sophomore Sydney Yermish rebounded after a slow start to card a 2-over-par 74 at the Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club in Southern Pines, N.C. Monday that left her alone in second place after the opening round of the Peggy Kirk Bell Junior.
Yermish, who plays out of Rolling Green Golf Club, entered the Peggy Bell Junior as the leader in the Peggy Kirk Bell Girls Golf Tour (PKBGT) National Division’s Order of Merit with 266.5 points.
Morgan Ketchum, the reigning North Carolina Junior Girls’ Championship winner from Winston-Salem, N.C., grabbed the lead after the opening round as she matched par with a 72 from the 6,050-yard Peggy Kirk Bell tees at Pine Needles, which will host the U.S. Women's Open for a fourth time in 2022.
From what I could figure from the Accuweather.com website, Monday started nearly as chilly in Southern Pines as it was here in southeastern Pennsylvania, although it did warm up into the mid-50s by the afternoon.
After a bogey at the third hole, Ketchum made birdies at four and six to get it into red figures. Bogeys at the seventh and ninth holes left Ketchum 1-over for the round heading to the back nine. She got back to even-par with a birdie at the 12th hole, made bogey at 14 and then got that shot right back with a birdie at 15 to finish even-par for the round.
Yermish had ascended to the top of the PKBGT National Division Order of Merit with a two-shot victory earlier this month in the PKBGT National Tournament of Champions at Forest Creek Golf Club in nearby Pinehurst, N.C. Ketchum stands sixth in the Order of Merit with 209.25 points.
It looks like the National Division schedule is a wraparound
schedule that continues into 2021, but I'm not certain about that.
Yermish was the District One Class AAA champion as a freshman in 2019, but was unable to defend her title this fall when the Central League was unable to put together a district qualifier in time for its players to participate in the PIAA postseason.
Yermish struggled a little early Monday with double bogeys at the first and fourth holes around a birdie at the third. After a birdie at the sixth hole, Yermish made a bogey at eight to fall back to 3-over for the round.
But Yermish has turned into a pretty good grinder and proceeded to go 1-under the rest of the way with nine pars and a birdie at the 12th hole the rest of the way to stay within two of Ketchum.
A talented foursome sits a shot behind Yermish a 3-over 75 in a tie for third place, led by Mary Miller of Savannah, Ga., who made a splash in last summer’s Georgia Women’s Amateur Championship at The Landings Club in her home town as she finished in a tie for third place. Miller is a freshman at Savannah Christian, so she contended until the very last hole of the state women’s amateur in Georgia a month or so after finishing eighth grade.
Joining Miller in the group tied for third place were two other Class of 2024 entries, Alexandra Pool of Miami, Fla. and Sophie Lauture of Charlotte, N.C., and Ella Perna of Durham, N.C., a junior at Raleigh’s Cardinal Gibbons. Lauture enters the Peggy Kirk Bell Junior fifth in the Order of Merit with 213.5 points.
A couple of talented Jersey girls, Megan Meng of Pennington and Grace Lu of Edison, were part of a group of four players tied for seventh place at 4-over 76.
Meng, playing out of Jericho National Golf Club in New Hope, was an impressive three-shot winner in the Pennsylvania Junior Girls’ Championship last summer at Lebanon Country Club. Meng is also a Class of ’24 entry.
Unionville sophomore Mary Grace Dunigan was alone in 24th place at Pine Needles after struggling to an opening-round 85. Dunigan helped Unionville capture the PIAA Class AAA team crown in October at the Heritage Hills Golf Resort in York County.
The 36-hole event wraps up Tuesday.
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