Avery McCrery of Wilmington, Del. began the third round of the Rolex Tournament of Champions, the marquee event on the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) circuit, Tuesday nine shots out of the lead, but she will only be three shots from the top spot when she tees off for Wednesday’s final round.
Scarlett Schremmer of Birmingham, Ala. had built a four-shot advantage after the first two rounds at TPC San Antonio’s Canyons Course in San Antonio, Texas, but she struggled to a 5-over 77 in Tuesday’s third round and let a whole bunch of talented junior players back in the hunt for the title.
Not sure if weather, a tough course setup or just the pressure of playing for such a coveted title was to blame, but some big numbers showed up on several scorecards.
There aren’t a whole lot of junior tournaments that are 72-hole stroke-play tests like the Rolex Tournament of Champions, but McCrery, a scholastic standout at Tower Hill School before moving on to the ICL Academy, an on-line arm of the AJGA, owns a win in one of them, last summer’s Girls Junior PGA Championship at Congressional Country Club’s Blue Course in Bethesda, Md.
McCrery, who will join the program at Atlantic Coast Conference power Duke next summer, wasn’t completely immune from the slew of train wrecks that broke out on the Canyons Course, which measured 6,242 yards and played to a par of 72 for the girls. After opening her round with a birdie at the first hole, McCrery made a triple bogey 8 at the par-5 second.
But McCrery battled back, making birdies at the seventh, ninth, 11th and 12th holes to get it to 2-under for her round. She made back-to-back bogeys at the 13th and 14th holes to fall back to even for the day, but got one more birdie at the last for a 1-under 71.
That gave McCrery a 1-under 215 total that left her in a tie for fifth place with Shauna Liu, a class of 2027 competitor from Canada.
McCrery is only three shots behind 54-hole leader Amelie Zalsman, another class of ’27 entry from Saint Petersburg, Fla. who carded a steady 1-under 71 that left her with a 4-under 212 total.
Zalsman avoided the pitfalls that befell some of her competitors. After making a birdie at the fifth hole, Zalsman made a bogey at six. Birdies at the 12th and 15th holes got her to 2-under for her round before she gave back a shot with a bogey at the finishing hole.
Zalsman has played on one of the biggest stages in women’s golf as she was the medalist in a local qualifier in Bradenton, Fla. and earned a spot in the field for last spring’s U.S. Women’s Open at Lancaster Country Club.
Schremmer, who will join the program at Southeastern Conference power Texas A&M next summer, had a rough day, but she’s not out of this thing by a long shot. Her 77 left her among a trio of players tied for second place, a shot behind Zalsman at 3-under 213.
Joining Schremmer at 3-under were her future Aggie teammate Natalie Yen of West Linn, Ore. and Eliana Saga, a Class of ’27 competitor from Stevenson Ranch, Calif.
Yen, who will join Schremmer in College Station as a freshman next summer, matched par with a 72 in Tuesday’s third round to get her share of second place. Saga struggled a little with a 2-over 74. Saga had taken the lead following an opening round of 4-under 68 and she’s still right there going into the final round.
Liu, the Canadian, registered a 1-over 73 to join McCrery in the tie for fifth place at 1-under 215.
McCrery was the winner of the Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia Junior Girls’ Championship in the pandemic summer of 2020. But she’s not the only WGAP Junior Girls champion on the leaderboard.
Aphrodite Deng, the WGAP Junior Girls winner two summers ago at the Moorestown Field Club, matched McCrery’s 1-under 71 in Tuesday’s third round and was alone in seventh place a shot behind McCrery and Liu at even-par 216.
Deng, a native of Canada whose base of operation is Short Hills, N.J. in the States, was the equivalent of an eighth-grader when she stormed to a five-shot victory in the Rolex Tournament of Champions at TPC San Antonio a year ago.
Deng, too, hit a snag early in her third round with a double bogey at the par-5 second hole. But she came roaring back with three straight birdies at the fifth, sixth and seventh holes. Deng stumbled with bogeys at the eighth and 13th holes, but finished strong with birdies at 16 and 18.
Deng will enter Wednesday’s final round just four shots out of the lead on a golf course on which she is obviously comfortable.
On the boys side, all eyes in San Antonio were on the most hyped 15-year-old in golf, Miles Russell, the little left-hander from Jacksonville Beach, Fla. Pretty sure he’s celebrated his 16th birthday recently because he had just turned 15 when he picked up the AJGA’s Rolex Player of the Year award during Tournament of Champions week a year ago.
Since then, Russell, a Class of ’27 competitor, made the cut in a Korn Ferry Tour event, the LECOM Suncoast Classic, and finished in a tie for 20th place, teed it up in a PGA Tour event, the Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Club, and reached the quarterfinals of the U.S. Junior Amateur at Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Hills, Mich.
And, with a sparkling 3-under 69 in Tuesday’s third round, Russell gained a share of the lead with Joshua Kim of Danville, Calif. going into Wednesday’s final round, each landing on 6-under 210 over a Canyons Course layout that measured 7,106 for the guys.
After opening his round with a double bogey at the first hole, Russell went 5-under the rest of the way, making birdies at the second, fifth, sixth, 11th and 15th holes.
Kim, who will join the program at newly minted Big Ten entry UCLA next summer, recorded his third straight 2-under 70 to join Russell at 6-under.
Kim got off to a good start Tuesday with a birdie at the second hole before stumbling with bogeys at three and nine. But Kim bounced back on the incoming nine at the Canyons Course with birdies at the 11th, 14th and 17th holes to get it in at 2-under for the day.
Tyler Watts of Huntsville, Ala. was just a shot behind the co-leaders in third place at 5-under 211 after matching par with a 72 in Tuesday’s third round.
Watts, who plans to join the program at the SEC’s Tennessee in the summer of 2026, lost in the final in last summer’s U.S. Junior Amateur at Oakland Hills.
A couple of future Vanderbilt Commodores, Luke Colton of Frisco, Texas and Michael Riebe of Encinitas, Calif., accounted for the next two spots on the leaderboard with Colton in fourth place at 4-under 212 and Riebe in fifth at 3-under 213.
Colton, who plans to join the Vanderbilt program in the summer of 2026, made the biggest move of the day on the boys side with a sparkling 5-under 67.
Riebe, who will join the Vanderbilt program next summer, had taken a three-shot lead into Tuesday’s third round after signing for back-to-back 4-under 68s in the first two rounds. He struggled to a 5-over 77 Tuesday, but he will go into Wednesday’s final round still very much in the hunt at 3-under.
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