Ringkamp runs away with boys title, Oh the girls winner in Rolex Tournament of Champions at TPC San Antonio

 

   The junior golf resumes that Luke Ringkamp of Palm Desert, Calif. and Nikki Oh of Torrance, Calif. will carry into the start of their college careers at the end of next summer got quite a bit stronger Wednesday when they captured titles in the the boys and girls divisions in the Rolex Tournament of Champions, the marquee event on the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) circuit.

   Ringkamp, who will join the program at perennial West Coast Conference power Pepperdine next summer, simply dominated a star-studded field of guys, closing with a 2-under-par 70 on TPC San Antonio’s Canyons Course for a scintillating 15-under 273 total that was a whopping nine shots clear of the field.

   Nikki Oh, who will join the program at powerful Stanford, playing in the Atlantic Coast Conference these days, matched par in some gusty Texas winds with a 72 in the final round to pull out a one-shot victory over Anna Fang of San Diego, Calif., who plans to join Nikki Oh at Stanford in the summer of 2027.

   It was the first victory in an AJGA invitational for both players, although you have to be an accomplished performer just to get into the field for the Rolex Tournament of Champions.

   Ringkamp probably won the boys title when he went off with an eight-birdie, no-bogey masterpiece of an 8-under 64 in Tuesday’s third round over a Canyons Course that measured 7,106 yards and played to a par of 72 for the guys.

   That gave him a three-shot cushion going into the final round on the eve of Thanksgiving and Ringkamp never gave any of his fellow competitors a chance to catch him.

   Ringkamp did make a bogey on the first hole, but quickly got it to 15-under for the tournament by ripping off consecutive birdies at five, six and seven.

   After making a bogey at the eighth hole, Ringkamp made a birdie at nine. He followed up a bogey at the 14^th hole with a birdie at 15. It added up to a really impressive week for Ringcamp.

   “It hasn’t set in yet,” Ringkamp told the AJGA website. “I know how good this field is, it’s probably one of the best in junior golf. I just decided to come out here with no expectations and I got it done. We all make art on the golf course and I just decided to be an artist.

   “My smile on 18 wasn’t a smile of relief, it was a smile of gratitude. I was just satisfied to step up on that tee with the lead and I was grateful to be where I was.”

   Drake Harvey of Las Vegas, Nev., who will join the program at Brigham Young next summer, was Ringkamp’s closest pursuer going into Wednesday’s final round as he was nearly as good as Ringkamp was in the third round with a 7-under 65 that left him three shots behind the leader.

   Harvey closed with a 3-over 75, but held on to get a share of second place with Tyler Mawhinney of Fleming Island, Fla., who will join the program at Vanderbilt in the Southeastern Conference next summer, and Sam Carraher of Crown Point, Ind., who plans to join the program at Purdue in the Big Ten in the summer of 2027.

   It’s been a pretty good year for Mawhinney as he teamed with his pal Will Hartman of Charlotte, N.C., who is on the Vandy roster as a freshman this fall, to capture the title in the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship at Plainfield Country Club in Edison, N.J. in May and made the cut in the RBC Canadian Open on the PGA Tour in June.

   Mawhinney closed with a 1-over 73 to get his share of runnerup honors.

   Carraher finished up with a 2-over 74 to join the trio at 6-under, albeit nine shots behind the champion.

   Tyler Watts of Huntsville, Ala. and No. 29 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) had the best round of the day in the difficult conditions, a 4-under 68 that vaulted him into a trio tied for fifth place at 5-under 283.

   Watts, a runnerup in the U.S. Junior Amateur in 2024 at Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., beat a field of the top amateurs in the country in June in the Sunnehanna Amateur at Sunnehanna Country Club, the A.W. Tillinghast gem in Johnstown.

   Joining Watts at 5-under were Sohan Patel of Weston, Fla., a quarterfinalist in the U.S. Junior Amateur in July at the Trinity Forest Golf Club in Dallas, Texas, and Jessy Huebner of Port St. Lucie, Fla.

   Patel, a Class of 2027 competitor, closed with a 1-over 73 while Huebner, another Class of ’27 guy, finished up with a solid 1-under 71.

   Ayden Fynaut of Fresno, Calif., who will join Ringkamp in what looks like a promising freshman class at Pepperdine next summer, Canadian Dawson Lew, who plans to join the program at ACC power North Carolina in the summer of 2027, and Ronin Banerjee, a Class of ’27 entry from Irvine, Calif. who plans to join the program at Tennessee in the SEC in the summer of 2027, finished in a tie for eighth place, each ending up with a 4-under 284 total.

   Fynaut closed with a solid 1-under 71, Lew struggled a little with a 3-over 75 in Wednesday’s final round and Banerjee climbed the leaderboard with one of the best rounds of the day, a 3-under 69.

    It is a testament to the talent level in the Rolex T of C that defending champion Miles Russell of Jacksonville Beach, Fla. and No. 14 in the WAGR only managed to finish just outside the top 10 in 11^th place with a 3-under 285 total.

   It looked like Russell, named the AJGA’s Rolex Junior Player of the Year for a second time earlier this month, was poised to make a move when he climbed within a shot of the lead at the halfway point of the tournament Monday. Russell, however, finished up with back-to-back 1-over 73s.

   Michael Quallich, a junior at Baldwin and a PIAA Class AAA qualifier as a sophomore on the fall of 2024, struggled a little in the final round with a 79, but finished among the group tied for 22^nd place with a 4-over 292 total. A pretty solid showing in San Antonio for Quallich.

   On the girls side, Nikki Oh entered Wednesday’s final round locked in a tie for first place with defending champion Amelie Zalsman, a Class of ’27 competitor from St. Petersburg, Fla.

   After making a bogey at the first hole, Nikki Oh made a birdie at six followed by bogeys at eight and 10 that dropped her to 6-under for the tournament. But Nikki Oh put the tournament away with a back-nine burst of birdies at the 12^th, 15^th and 17^th holes that got her to 9-under before finishing up with a bogey at 18.

   What Nikki Oh didn’t know was that, up ahead, her future Stanford teammate Fang, unbothered by the difficult conditions, was ripping off a 6-under 66 over a Canyons Course that measured 6,242 yards for the girls. Ultimately, Fang’s sizzling round left her a shot behind Nikki Oh in second place with a 7-under 281 total.

   “I feel like it’s been a long time coming,” Nikki Oh told the AJGA website. “I’ve had a lot of runnerup finishes to get to this point, so it feels really good. I didn’t know Anna shot 6-under today. It was a little up and down on the front nine, but once the wind died down, I was able to take advantage on the back nine.”

   Zalsman struggled a little on her way to a 3-over 75 in the final round that left her two shots behind Fang in third place with a 5-under 283 total. Still, a second straight strong showing at TPC San Antonio for Zalsman.

   Much like Russell with the guys, it is a testament to the talent level among the girls at TPC San Antonio that Asterisk Talley of Chowchilla, Calif. and No. 11 in the Women’s WAGR had to settle for a fourth-place finish with a 4-under 284 total that left her a shot behind Zalsman.

   Talley, the runnerup to Rianne Malixi at both the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship at El Caballero Country Club in Tarzana, Calif. and the U.S. Women’s Amateur at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla. in the summer of2024, has made a commitment to join Fang as part of the freshman class at Stanford in the summer of 2027.

   Talley finished strong at the Canyons Course with a 3-under 69 in Tuesday’s third round and a 2-under 70 in the final round. It should be an interesting 2026 for the best junior girl player on the planet.

   Asia Young of Bend, Ore., who plans to join the program at Texas in the SEC in the summer of 2027, finished two shots behind Talley in fifth place with a 2-under 286 total.

   Young, who teamed with her pal Natalie Yen of West Linn, Ore. to capture the title in the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship at the Oklahoma City Golf & Country Club in April, finished up with a 2-over 74.

   The trio of Canadian Shauna Liu, Alexandra Snyder of Orlando, Fla. and Zoe Cusack of Potomac, Md. finished in a tie for sixth place, each ending up two shots behind Young at even-par 216.

   Liu, a Class of ’27 entry and a two-time Canadian Junior Girls Championship winner, closed with a 1-over 73. Snyder, a Class of ’28 entry, matched par in the final round with a 72.

   Cusack, who will join the program at Virginia in the ACC at the end of next summer, closed with a solid 2-under 70.

   Mia Clausen of Carlsbad, Calif., a Class of ’28 competitor, also finished with a 2-under 70 to end up alone in ninth place with a 1-over 289 total.

   Eliana Saga of Stevenson Ranch, Calif., who plans to join the program at Southern California in the Big Ten in the summer of 2027, headed a group of four players who rounded out the top 10 by finishing in a tie for 10^th place at 3-over 291.

   Saga, who finished in a tie for third place in the Rolex T of C a year ago, closed with a 3-over 75, but still earned a second straight top-10 finish in the AJGA’s biggest tournament.

   Amber Lee, a Class of ’29 competitor from San Diego, had a share of the lead with her opening round of 3-under 69. She finished up with a 4-over 76 Wednesday, but hung in there tough enough to join the group tied for 10^th place at 3-over.

   Rounding out the quartet tied for 10^th place were Juliet Oh of Diamond Bar, Calif. and Michelle Xing of Canada.

   Juliet Oh struggled a little in the final round, finishing up with a 6-over 78. Xing, who will join the program at UCLA in the Big Ten next summer, closed with a solid 1-over 73.

 

 

 

 

 

Ringkamp's 64 gives him three-shot lead in Rolex Tournament of Champions; Zalsman, Oh share lead in girls division

 

   Looks like perennial West Coast Conference power Pepperdine is getting a pretty good player when Luke Ringkamp of Palm Desert, Calif. arrives next summer.

   Ringkamp built a three-shot lead in the Rolex Tournament of Champions, one of the marquee events on the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) circuit, with a brilliant eight-birdie, no-bogey 64 at TPC San Antonio’s Canyons Course in Tuesday’s third round.

   The Rolex Tournament of Champions has settled into its traditional spot on the golf calendar during Thanksgiving week. The 72-hole stroke play event concludes Wednesday, the eve of Thanksgiving.

   After a couple of chilly, showery days, the weather warmed up into the 80s and Ringkamp’s game warmed up right along with the temperatures.

   Ringkamp, who began the day in a tie for second place, a shot out of the lead, started slowly with a birdie at the second hole before going back-to-back with birdies at five and six.

   But Ringkamp really got it going on the incoming nine at the 7,106-yard, par-72 Canyons Course layout, making birdies on five of the last six holes. Ringkamp ripped off three straight birdies at the 13^th, 14^th and 15^th holes and went back-to-back with birdies at 17 and 18.

   Ringkamp’s sizzling 64 gave him a 12-under 203 total going into Wednesday’s final round. After opening with a 1-under 71, Ringkamp had moved into contention with a 4-under 68 in Monday’s second round.

   Drake Harvey of Las Vegas, Nev., who will join the program at Brigham Young in the Big 12 at the end of next summer, was nearly as good as Ringkamp as he posted a sparkling 7-under 65 that left him alone in second place with a 9-under 207 total.

   After matching par in the opening round with a 72, Harvey moved up the leaderboard with a 3-under 69 in Monday’s second round.

   Sam Carraher of Crown Point, Ind., who will join the program at Purdue in the Big Ten in the summer of 2027, continued his steady rise up the leaderboard in the Rolex Tournament of Champions as he signed for a sparkling 5-under 67 that left him a shot behind Harvey in third place with an 8-under 208 total.

   Carraher had opened with a 2-under 70 before adding a 1-under 71 in Monday’s second round.

   Tyler Mawhinney of Fleming Island, Fla., who will join the program at Southeastern Conference power Vanderbilt next summer, and Canadian Dawson Lew, who plans to join the program at Atlantic Coast Conference power North Carolina in the summer of 2027, were another shot behind Carraher in a tie for fourth place, each landing on 7-under 209.

   Mawhinney, who made the cut in June’s RBC Canadian Open on the PGA Tour, tallied a solid 4-under 68 in Tuesday’s third round. He had opened with a 3-under 69 before matching par with a 72 in Monday’s second round.

   Lew recorded a solid 3-under 69 in Tuesday’s third round to join Mawhinney at 7-under. Lew had opened with a 4-under 68 before matching par in Monday’s second round with a 72.

   Sohan Patel of Weston, Fla., who reached the quarterfinals of the U.S. Junior Amateur at Trinity Forest Golf Club in Dallas, Texas in July, and China’s Mingbo Jiang, who will join the program at Southern California in the Big Ten next summer, each carded a 2-under 70 in Tuesday’s third round that left them in a tie for sixth place at 6-under 210.

    Patel, a Class of 2027 competitor, matched par in the opening round with a 72 before adding a 2-under 70 in Monday’s second round. Jiang opened with a 4-under 68 before matching par in Monday’s second round with a 72.

   Defending champion Miles Russell of Jacksonville Beach, Fla. and No. 14 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) could only manage a 1-over 73 that left him among a trio of players tied for eighth place at 4-under 212.

   Russell, named the AJGA’s Rolex Junior Player of the Year for a second time earlier this month, had opened with a 2-under 70 before adding a 3-under 69 in Monday’s second round.

   Nine shots might be too big a deficit for Russell to make up in Wednesday’s final round, but the little left-hander has proven to be a special talent.

   Joining Russell at 4-under were Ronin Banerjee of Irvine, Calif., who plans to join the program at Tennessee in the SEC in the summer of 2027, and Jessy Huebner of Port St. Lucie, Fla. and another Class of ’27 entry.

   Banerjee moved into the top 10 on the strength of a 3-under 69 in Tuesday’s third round. He had opened with a 1-under 71 before matching par in Monday’s second round with a 72.

   Huebner, who had opened with a 2-under 70 and matched par in Monday’s second round with a 72, posted his second 2-under 70 of the week in Tuesday’s third round.

   It’s been a pretty good week for Baldwin junior Michael Quallich, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier as a sophomore in the fall of 2024.

   Quallich registered a 2-under 70 in Tuesday’s third round and will enter Wednesday’s final round with a shot at a top-10 finish as he was among a large group tied for 11^th place with a 3-under 213 total. Quallich had matched par in the opening round with a 72 before adding a 1-under 71 in Monday’s second round.

   On the girls side, defending champion Amelie Zalsman, a Class of ’27 competitor from St. Petersburg, Fla., and Nikki Oh of Torrance, Calif., who will join the program at ACC power Stanford at the end of next summer, will head into Wednesday’s final round in a tie for the lead at 8-under 208, four shots clear of the rest of the field.

   Zalsman, the winner of another of AGJA’s marquee events, the Rolex Junior Girls Championship at SentryWorld in Stevens Point, Wis. in June, had taken a one-shot lead over Nikki Oh at the Rolex Tournament of Champions’ halfway point on the strength of a 7-under 65 in Monday’s second round that featured a run of eight straight birdies.

   Zalsman, who had matched par in the opening round with a 72, carded a solid 1-under 71 in Tuesday’s third round over a Canyons Course layout that measured 6,242 yards for the girls.

   Nikki Oh had been hovering around the top of the leaderboard with back-to-back 3-under 69s in the first two rounds. She posted a 2-under 70 in Tuesday’s third round to catch Zalsman at 8-under.

   After making an early birdie at the third hole, Zalsman made a bogey at five. She bounced back with birdies at the sixth and 12^th holes to get it to 9-under for the tournament before giving a shot back with a bogey at 13.

   Nikki Oh made a bogey at the first hole, but then ripped off birdies at three, seven, 11 and 16 to reach 9-under for the tournament. She let a chance to take the outright lead into the final round slip away with a bogey at the last.

   Asia Young of Bend, Ore., who plans to join the program at Texas in the SEC in the summer of 2027, was four shots behind the co-leaders in third place at 4-under 212 after she carded a 3-under 69 in Tuesday’s third round.

   Young, who teamed with her pal Natalie Yen of West Linn, Ore. to capture the title in the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship in April at the Oklahoma City Golf & Country Club, had struggled in the opening round with a 3-over 75 before adding a sparkling 4-under 68 in Tuesday’s second round.

   Juliet Oh of Diamond Bar, Calif. was a shot behind Young in fourth place at 3-under 213 after tallying a solid 4-under 68 in Tuesday’s third round. Juliet Oh had opened with a 1-under 71 before struggling a little with a 2-over 74 in Monday’s second round.

   Asterisk Talley of Chowchilla, Calif. and No. 11 in the Women’s WAGR recorded a solid 2-under 69 that left her a shot behind Juliet Oh in fifth place with a 2-under 214 total.

   Talley, who has made a verbal commitment to join the powerful Stanford program in the summer of 2027, was the runnerup to Rianne Malixi in both the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship at El Caballero Country Club in Tarzana, Calif. and the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla. in an epic summer of 2024.

   Talley had opened with a 1-under 71 before adding a 2-over 74 in Monday’s second round.

   A couple of San Diego, Calif. girls, Amber Lee, a Class of ’29 competitor, and Anna Fang, a Class of ’27 entry, joined Canadian Shauna Liu, who plans to join the program at UCLA in the Big Ten in the summer of 2027, in a tie for sixth place, each landing on 1-under 215.

   Lee had grabbed a share of the lead with an opening round of 3-under 69, but fell back a little with a 2-over 74 in Monday’s second round before matching par in the third round with a 72.

   Fang, who reached the quarterfinals of the U.S. Girls’ Junior at the Atlanta Athletic Club in July, matched par Tuesday with a 72. Fang had bounced back from an opening round of 3-over 75 with a sparkling 4-under 68 in Monday’s second round.

   Liu had opened with a 1-over 73 and surged into contention with a 4-under 68 in Monday’s second round before falling back a little with a 74 in the third round.

   Rayee Feng, who made the cut and played the weekend in the U.S. Women’s Open at Erin Hills in Wisconsin and then reached then reached the semifinals of the U.S. Girls’ Junior at the Atlanta Athletic Club where she fell to fellow Short Hills, N.J. resident and eventual champion Aphrodite Deng, headed a trio of players tied for ninth place at even-par 216.

   After opening with a 1-over 73, Feng registered a 2-under 70 in Monday’s second round before adding her second 73 of the week in the third round.

   Joining Feng at even-par were Eliana Saga of Stevenson Ranch, Calif. who plans to join the program at Southern California in the Big Ten in the summer of 2027, and Alexandra Snyder, a Class of ’28 competitor from Orlando, Fla.

   Saga, who finished in a tie for third place in last year’s Rolex Tournament of Champions, moved into the top 10 on the strength of a 2-under 70 Tuesday. Saga had opened with a 2-over 74 before matching par in Monday’s second round with a 72.

   Snyder fell back a little with a 2-over 74 in Tuesday’s third round, but she has been solid all week, matching par in the opening round with a 72 and adding a 2-under 70 in Monday’s second round.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Badgett, Zalsman surge to top of respective boys, girls leaderboards in Rolex Tournament of Champions

 

   Pennson Badgett, who plans to join the program at Tennessee in the Southeastern Conference at the end of next summer, moved to the front of the pack at the halfway point of the Rolex Tournament of Champions with a sparkling 5-under-par 67 at TPC San Antonio’s Canyons Course on a rainy Monday.

   The Rolex Tournament of Champions is the marquee event on the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) circuit and has settled into its traditional spot on the golf calendar in the days leading up to Thanksgiving.

   Badgett of Pilot Mountain, N.C. had opened with a 1-under 71 Sunday over a Canyons Course that measured 7,106 yards for the boys and played to a par of 72.

   After starting off with a birdie at the first hole, Badgett got hot in the middle of his round, ripping off birdies at six, seven, 10 and 11 to get it to 5-under for his round. The only blemish on his scorecard came at the 17^th hole, where he made a bogey, but Badgett got that shot right back with a birdie at the last.

   Badgett’s 67 gave him a 36-hole total of 6-under 138 and a one-shot lead over a trio of pursuers.

   Heading that group tied for second place at 5-under 139 was defending Rolex T of C champion Miles Russell, a Class of 2027 competitor who is No. 14 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR).

   The talented left-hander, a quarterfinalist in the U.S. Junior Amateur at a sweltering Trinity Forest Golf Club in Dallas, Texas in July, added a 3-under 69 to his opening-round 70.

   Joining Russell at 5-under were Luke Ringkamp of Palm Desert, Calif. who will join the program at perennial West Coast Conference power Pepperdine late next summer, and Nicholas Logis of Austin, Texas, who will join the program at SMU in the Atlantic Coast Conference next summer.

   After opening with a 1-under 71, Ringkamp moved up the leaderboard on the strength of a 4-under 68 in Monday’s second round. Logis was the overnight leader after opening with a sizzling 6-under 66, but backed off a little in Monday’s second round with a 1-over 73.

   Heading a foursome tied for fifth place was Sohan Patel, a Class of ’27 entry from Weston, Fla., who, like Russell, was a quarterfinalist in the U.S. Junior Amateur at Trinity Forest. After matching par with a 72 in the opening round, Patel made his move with a 4-under 68 in Monday’s second round for a 4-under 140 total, just two shots behind Badgett.

   Joining Patel in the quartet tied for fourth place at 4-under was the trio of players who had landed in a tie for second place behind Logis following opening-round 4-under 68s.

   That group included Dawson Lew, a Canadian who plans to join the program at ACC power North Carolina at the end of the summer of 2027, Mingbo Jiang of China, who will join the program at the Big Ten’s Southern California at the end of next summer, and Giuseppe Puebla of Royal Palm Beach, Fla. who plans to join the program at SEC power Florida at the end of the summer of 2027.

   Lew, Jiang and Puebla each matched par with a 72 in Monday’s second round.

   Tyler Mawhinney of Fleming Island, Fla., who will join the program at SEC power Vanderbilt at the end of next summer, headed a group of five players tied for ninth place at 3-under 141 as he matched par in Monday’s second round with a 72 after opening with a 3-under 69.

   Mawhinney teamed up with his pal, Will Hartman of Charlotte, N.C., who is a freshman on the Vandy roster this fall, to capture the title in the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship in May at Plainfield Country Club in Edison, N.J.

   Mawhinney also made the cut at the RBC Canadian Open on the PGA Tour in June, earning his spot in the field on the strength of his victory in the Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship in 2024. Mawhinney’s red-hot summer of 2024 also included a run to the round of 16 in the U.S. Amateur at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn.

   Joining Mawhinney in the group tied for ninth place at 3-under were Harrison Zipfel of St. Louis, Mo., who will join the program at Big Ten power Illinois at the end of next summer, Chase Bauer, a Class of ’28 entry from Gotha, Fla., Sam Carraher of Crown Point, Ind. who plans to join the program at Purdue in the Big Ten in the summer of 2027, and Ayden Fynaut of Fresno, Calif. who will join Ringkamp as part of the incoming freshman class at Pepperdine next summer.

   Zipfel bounced back from an opening round of 1-over 73 with a solid 4-under 68 in Monday’s second round. Bauer and Carraher had identical splits, each adding a 1-under 71 in Monday’s second round to an opening-round 70. After matching par in the opening round with a 72, Fynaut signed for a solid 3-under 69 in Monday’s second round.

   It was another solid showing for Michael Quallich, a junior at Baldwin who was a PIAA Class AAA qualifier as a sophomore in the fall of 2024. Quallich had matched par in the opening round with a 72 and added a 1-under 71 in Monday’s second round to join a large group tied for 17^th place with a 1-under 143 total.

   On the girls side, defending champion Amelie Zalsman, a Class of ’27 competitor from St. Petersburg, Fla., had a breathtaking run of eight straight birdies on her way to a 7-under 65 as she took a one-shot lead at the halfway mark with a 7-under 137 total.

   It took Zalsman four holes to get acclimated to the cool and rainy conditions, but then she went off with birdies at the fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, 10^th, 11^th and 12^th holes to get it to 8-under for the round.

   Zalsman, who also owns a victory in another of the AJGA’s biggest events, the Rolex Girls Junior Championship in June at SentryWorld in Stevens Point, Wis., stumbled with the lone bogey on her scorecard at the 13^th hole, but parred out to complete her brilliant tour of the Canyons Course, which measured 6,242 yards for the girls.

   Zalsman had opened with a 1-under 71 that left her three shots off the pace, but she moved to the top of the leaderboard with her 65 Monday.

   Zalsman’s closest pursuer was Nikki Oh of Torrance, Calif., who will join the program at ACC power Stanford next summer. Nikki Oh had grabbed a share of the lead with a 3-under 69 in the opening round and added another 69 in Monday’s second round that left her a shot behind Zalsman in second place with a 6-under 138 total.

   It was three shots back to Shauna Liu, a Canadian who plans to join the program at UCLA in the Big Ten in the summer of 2027, in third place at 3-under 141. Liu, who finished in a tie for fifth place in the Rolex T of C a year ago, had opened with a 1-over 73, but climbed the leaderboard on the strength of a 4-under 68 in Monday’s second round.

   Alexandra Snyder, a Class of ’28 competitor from Orlando, Fla., was another shot behind Liu in fourth place with a 2-under 142 total as Snyder recorded a 2-under 70 in Monday’s second round after matching par in the opening round with a 72.

   Amber Lee, a Class of ’29 competitor from San Diego, Calif., had grabbed a share of the lead with Nikki Oh with a 3-under 69 in the opening round. Lee fell back with a 2-over 74 in Monday’s second round, but headed a group of four players tied for fifth place, a shot behind Snyder at 1-under 143.

   It is a pretty talented group joining Lee at 1-under that includes Rayee Feng of Short Hills, N.J., Asia Young of Bend, Ore. who plans to join the program at SEC power Texas in the summer of 2027, and Anna Fang, a Class of ’27 competitor who is, like Lee, a San Diego resident.

   Feng made the cut and played four rounds in the U.S. Women’s Open at Erin Hills in Wisconsin in the spring. She reached the semifinals of the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship at the Atlanta Athletic Club in July before falling to fellow Short Hills resident and eventual champion Aphrodite Deng.

   After opening with a 1-over 73, Feng added a 2-under 70 in Monday’s second round.

   Young teamed with Natalie Yen of West Linn, Ore. to capture the title in the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship in April at the Oklahoma City Golf & Country Club. After opening with a 3-over 75 at the Canyons Course, Young shot up the leaderboard on the strength of a 4-under 68 in Monday’s second round.

   Fang, who made a run to the round of 16 in the U.S. Girls’ Junior at the Atlanta Athletic Club, had the same splits as Young did, adding a sparkling 4-under 68 in Monday’s second round to her opening-round 75.

   Michelle Xing, a Canadian who will join the program at UCLA next summer, added a 2-under 70 in Monday’s second round to her opening round of 2-over 74 and was alone in ninth place at even-par 144.

   Heading a trio of players tied for 10^th place at 1-over 145 was the formidable Asterisk Talley of Chowchilla, Calif. and No. 11 in the Women’s WAGR.

   The 16-year-old Talley, who announced in September she plans to join the program at powerful Stanford in the summer of 2027, struggled a little with a 2-over 74 in Monday’s second round after opening with a 1-under 71.

   Talley was the darling of the fans in the 2024 U.S. Women’s Open at Lancaster Country Club, where she was in contention through 36 holes and shared low-amateur honors.

   Talley also played for the United States in the Curtis Cup Match in the summer of 2024, stunning Lottie Woad, then the top-ranked amateur in the world and already a winner on the LPGA Tour as a fledgling pro, in the Sunday singles on Load’s home turf at Sunningdale Golf Club in Berkshire, England.

   Joining Talley at 1-over were Juliet Oh of Diamond Bar, Calif. and Zoe Cusack of Potomac, Md., who will join the program at Virginia in the ACC at the end of next summer.

   Juliet Oh and Cusack had the same splits as Talley did, opening with a 1-under 71 before struggling a little in the tough conditions of Monday’s second round with a 2-over 74.