Koivun, Ortengren trying to go wire-to-wire in Rolex Tournament of Champions at PGA National

    Downingtown West sophomore Nick Gross, who claimed the PIAA Class AAA crown last month, remained in the top 10 going into Thursday’s final round of the premier event on the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) calendar, the Rolex Tournament of Champions at the PGA National Resort & Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

   Gross is the only Class of 2024 entry in the top 10 after he carded a solid 3-under-par 69 on PGA National’s Fazio Course in Wednesday’s third round, leaving him in a tie for eighth place at 3-under 212.

   Gross had opened with a 69 at the 6,849-yard, par-72 Fazio Course Monday, but struggled a little with a 3-over 74 over the par-71 Champions Course in Tuesday’s second round.

   Not sure whether Gross went off the first or 10^th tee in Wednesday’s third round, but he recorded back-to-back birdies at the third and fourth holes on the Fazio Course’s outgoing nine and made a bogey at the ninth. On the incoming nine, Gross birdied the 12^th hole, made a bogey at 16, but made a splash at the par-5 17^th with an eagle.

   After losing in a playoff to the 2020 PIAA Class AAA champion Calen Sanderson, a senior at Holy Ghost Prep who is headed for Notre Dame, Gross defeated North Pocono’s Billy Pabst in a playoff to capture the state title at the Heritage Hills Golf Resort in York County.

   Gross competed all over the place in the summer, but, for my money, his most impressive performance might have come in the Pennsylvania Amateur in July at Merion Golf Club’s historic East Course, site of five U.S. Opens, most recently Justin Rose’s triumph in 2013.

   Gross hadn’t quite turned 15 when he survived the 36-hole cut against a tremendous field gathered at Merion and finished alone in 32^nd place with a 14-over 224 total.

   Jackson Koivun of San Jose, Calif. posted a solid 2-under 70 to maintain a two-shot lead going into the Thanksgiving Day windup of the Rolex Tournament of Champions. Koivun, who will join the program at Southeastern Conference power Auburn next summer, will be sleeping on the lead for the third straight night as he tries to go wire-to-wire at PGA National.

   Koivun made eight pars around a bogey at the eighth hole on the front nine at the Fazio Course Wednesday. After a birdie at the 12^th hole, Koivun made an eagle 2 at the par-4 15^th and was suddenly 2-under for the round. He bounced back from a bogey at the 16^th hole with a birdie at 17 that left him with a 10-under 205 total through 54 holes.

   Koivun’s closest pursuer was Eric Lee of Fullerton, Calif., who matched the low round of the day with a sparkling 5-under 67 that left him two shots off the lead with an 8-under 207 total. Lee plans to join the program at California in the summer of 2023.

   A couple of future Atlantic Coast Conference rivals, William Love of Atlanta, who will join the program at Duke next summer, and Ben James of Milford, Conn. who will join the program at Virginia next summer, were tied for third place, each landing on 6-under 209, two shots behind Lee.

   Love matched the 3-under 69 he carded at the Fazio Course in the opening round in Wednesday’s third round. He matched par in Tuesday’s second round with a 71 at the Champions Course, which plays to a par of 71 for the guys and a par of 72 for the girls. James registered a 2-under 70 to get his share of third place.

   Caleb Surratt of Indian Trail, N.C., the winner of last summer’s Boys Junior PGA Championship at the Kearney Hills Golf Links in Lexington, Ky., and Michael La Sasso of Raleigh, N.C. were another shot behind Love and James in a tie for fifth place at 5-under 210.

   Surratt, who will join the program at Tennessee of the SEC next summer, carded a solid 2-under 70. La Sasso, who will join the program at North Carolina State of the ACC next summer, signed for a 1-under 71.

   The guys will conclude the Rolex Tournament of Champions with a Thanksgiving Day round at the Champions Course.

   In the Girls division, Meja Ortengren of Sweden continues to make a pretty strong statement as she fired a sizzling 5-under 67 at the Champions Course to widen her advantage to eight shots going into Thursday’s final round.

   Ortengren, like Koivun on the boys side, will sleep on the lead for the third straight day as she also tries to go wire-to-wire at PGA National.

   Ortengren made birdies at the second, third and sixth holes before her only stumble of the day, a bogey at seven. She rattled off consecutive birdies at the 11^th, 12^th and 13^th holes on the incoming nine. Her 5-under 67 over a Champions Course that measured 6,399 yards and played to a par of 72 for the girls, gave Ortengren an 11-under 205 total.

   Alexa Pano of Lake Worth, Fla. registered a solid 2-under 70 and was alone in second place with a 3-under 213 total. Pano’s first AJGA victory came as a 12-year-old in the PDQ / Philadelphia Runner Junior at Saucon Valley Country Club’s Weyhill Course in the summer of 2016.

   Pano has been on the golf radar since she was a featured player in “The Short Game,” a documentary produced by the Hollywood power couple of Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel filmed at the 2012 U.S. Kids Golf World Championship at the Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina.

   Yurang Li of Fullerton, Calif. was another four shots behind Pano in third place with a 1-over 217 after she posted a 1-over 73 on the Champions Course in Wednesday’s third round. Yurang Li is a Class of ’24 entry.

   Another Class of ’24 entry from California, Anna Davis, a Spring Valley resident who was the runaway winner of the Girls Junior PGA Championship last summer at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky., headed a group of three players tied for fourth place, a shot behind Yurang Li at 2-over 218. Davis had her best round of the week, a 1-under 71, in Wednesday’s third round.

   Joining Davis at 2-over were Kaitlyn Schroeder of Jacksonville, Fla. and Kary Hollenbaugh of New Albany, Ohio.

   Schroeder, who will join the program at SEC power Alabama next summer, started the day in second place, four shots behind Ortengren, but struggled to a 4-over 76 in Wednesday’s third round. Schroeder made a run to the quarterfinals in last summer’s U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship at Columbia Country Club in Chevy Chase, Md.

   Hollenbaugh, who will join Lisa Strom’s Ohio State program in the Big Ten next summer, carded a 2-over 74 in Wednesday’s third round.

   Lower Merion junior Sydney Yermish, crowned the PIAA Class AAA girls champion at Heritage Hills, had her best round of the week, a 2-over 74, a four-shot improvement over the opening-round 78 she registered on the Champions Course, as she landed among the group tied for 26^th place at 11-over 227.

   Yermish, who announced her intention to join the program at Michigan of the Big Ten in the summer of 2023 last month, had eight pars and a bogey at the third hole on the Champions Course’s outgoing nine. She made an adventurous tour of the incoming nine with birdies at the 10^th and 11^th holes, a double bogey at 12, a bogey at 13, a birdie at 15 and a bogey at 16.

   Joining Yermish at 227 was Warren, Ohio phenom Gianna Clemente, who struggled a little with a 6-over 78 in Wednesday’s third round. Clemente is a Class of ’26 entry, still nearly a year away from starting high school.

   Megha Ganne of Holmdel, N.J. and No. 22 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking, couldn’t quite get into contention as she carded a 6-over 78 that left her in a tie for 17^th place at 8-over 224.

   The spotlight found Ganne in last spring’s U.S. Women’s Open at the Olympic Club in San Francisco when she contended throughout, ultimately finishing in a tie for 14^th place and earning low-amateur honors.

   Ganne, who will join the powerful Stanford program next summer, was a surprising semifinalist at age 15 in the 2019 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship at Old Waverly Golf Club in West Point, Miss.

   Another Jersey girl, Katie Li of Basking Ridge, shaved six shots off the opening-round 82 she posted at the Champions Course with a 4-over 76 in Wednesday’s third round that left her among the group tied for 39^th place at 232.

   Like Schroeder, Katie Li made a deep run in the U.S. Girls’ Junior at Columbia last summer, although she did Schroeder one better, reaching the semifinals.

   West Chester East senior Victoria Kim, the 2020 PIAA Class AAA champion, also improved off her first shot at the Champions Course, an opening-round 83, as she carded a 4-over 76 in Wednesday’s third round that left her in a tie for 56^th place at 238.

    Kim, who capped her scholastic career with a third-place finish in last month’s PIAA Class AAA Championship, was invited to the Rolex Tournament of Champions because she is a Rolex Scholastic All-American award winner.

   The girls will conclude the Rolex Tournament of Champions Thanksgiving Day with their second tour of the Fazio Course.