Logis takes two-shot lead following opening round of Rolex Tournament of Champions with a 66 at TPC San Antonio

 

   Nicholas Logis, who will join the program at SMU in the Atlantic Coast Conference at the end of next summer, blitzed the front nine at TPC San Antonio’s Canyons Course Sunday to grab the lead following the opening round of the Rolex Tournament of Champions.

   The Rolex T of C is the marquee event on the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) circuit and has become a fixture on the golf calendar for Thanksgiving week.

   Logis of Austin, Texas made birdies on five of the first seven holes as he toured the outgoing nine at a Canyons Course layout that measured 7,106 yards for the boys and played to a par of 72 in a sizzling 5-under 31.

   Logis finished the day with a 6-under 66 to take a two-shot lead over a talented field of the top junior players in the world.

   After opening his round with three straight birdies, Logis added birdies at the fifth and seventh holes. He added another birdie at the 10^th hole to get it to 6-under for the round. The only blemish on his scorecard was a bogey at the 17^th hole, but he got that shot right back with a birdie at the last.

   Logis was being chased by a trio of players who were tied for second place at 4-under 68, a group that included Dawson Lew of Canada, who will join the program at North Carolina, another ACC entry, next summer, Mingbo Jiang of China, who will join the program at Southern California in the Big Ten next summer, and Giuseppe Puebla of Royal Palm Beach, Fla., who plans to join the program at Southeastern Conference power Florida in the summer of 2027.

   Lurking in a tie for fifth place at 3-under 69 was Tyler Mawhinney of Fleming Island, Fla., who will join the program at SEC power Vanderbilt next summer. Mawhinney shared fifth place at 3-under with Richard Ding, a talented Class of 2029 entry from Pleasanton, Calif.

   Mawhinney teamed up with his pal Will Hartman of Charlotte, N.C. 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 in the RBC Canadian Open on the PGA Tour in the summer, earning his spot in the field by claiming the crown in the Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship in the summer of 2024.

   Mawhinney also reached the round of 16 in the U.S. Amateur two summers ago at the Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn.

   And Mawhiney isn’t even the most decorated player in this elite field.

   Miles Russell, the defending champion in the Rolex T of C and No. 14 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), and Tyler Watts of Huntsville, Ala. and No. 29 in the WAGR, are part of a bulky group of seven players tied for seventh place at 2-under 70.

   Russell of Jacksonville Beach, Fla. and a Class of ’27 entry reached the quarterfinals of the U.S. Amateur at the Olympic Club in San Francisco, Calif. in August. Russell also earned another prestigious junior title when he won the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley in Graniteville, S.C. in March.

   Watts, who will join then program at Tennessee in the SEC next summer, was the runnerup in the U.S. Junior Amateur in the summer of 2024 at Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. and beat the best amateur players in the country last summer when he captured the title in the Sunnehanna Amateur at Sunnehanna Country Club, the A.W. Tillinghast gem in Johnstown.

   The rest of the the group tied for seventh place at 2-under included Alex Zhang of Canada, Phillip Dunham of Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. who will join the program at SEC power Alabama at the end of next summer, Sam Carraher of Crown Point, Ind., who plans to join the program at Purdue in the Big Ten in the summer of 2027, Chase Bauer, a Class of ’28 entry from Gotha, Fla. and Jessy Huebner, a Class of ’27 entry from Port St. Lucie, Fla.

   Michael Quallich, a junior at Baldwin and a PIAA Class AAA qualifier as a sophomore in the fall of 2024, matched par with a 72 that left him among the group tied for 20^th place. That group included Charlie Woods, son of Tiger.

   On the girls side, Nikki Oh of Torrance, Calif., who made it official last week that she will join the program at ACC power Stanford, and Amber Lee, a precocious Class of ’29 entry from San Diego, Calif., shared the lead following the opening round as each carded a 3-under 69 at a Canyons Course that measured 6,242 yards for the girls.

   Nikki Oh started quickly, making birdies at the first and third holes. After a bogey at the fourth hole, she went back-to-back with birdies at six and seven followed by a bogey at nine that left her at 2-under heading for the back nine at the Canyons Course.

   Nikki Oh got it back to 3-under with a birdie at the 12^th hole, dropped a shot with a bogey at 14 and then got it to the clubhouse at 3-under with a birdie at 17.

   Lee was steady on the outgoing nine at the Canyons Course with birdies at the second and sixth holes and seven pars. She dropped a shot with bogey at the 10^th hole, but went back-to-back with birdies at 16 and 17 to join Nikki Oh at 3-under.

   Trailing the co-leaders by a shot in third place was Lisa Herman of Jenks, Okla., who will join the program at SEC power Mississippi next summer and opened with a 2-under 70. Herman finished in a tie for 10^th place in the Rolex T of C a year ago.

   Looming among a trio of players tied for fourth place at 1-under 71 was one of the best amateur players in the world, Asterisk Talley of Chowchilla, Calif. and No. 11 in the Women’s WAGR.

   Talley had a monster summer in 2024, earning a share of low-amateur honors in the U.S. Women’s Open at Lancaster Country Club and finishing as the runnerup to Rianne Malixi in both the U.S. Girls’ Junior Amateur at El Caballero Country Club in Tarzana, Calif. and the U.S. Women’s Amateur at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla.

   It wasn’t quite as good in 2025 as Talley was knocked out in the second round of match play in the U.S. Girls’ Junior at the Atlanta Athletic Club and was upset in the opening round of match play in the U.S. Women’s Amateur at Bandon Dunes, on the rugged Oregon coastline, after sharing medalist honors in qualifying with Malixi.

   It’s easy to forget sometimes that Talley is still only 16 and will turn 17 in February. In September, Talley indicated that she plans to join the Stanford program in the summer of 2027. In the case of the Cardinal, the dominant team in the country over the last decade or so, it’s a matter of the rich getting richer.

   Joining Talley at 1-under 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.

   Defending champion Amelie Zalsman, a Class of ’27 entry from St. Petersburg, Fla., headed a quartet tied for seventh place by matching par with a 72.

   Zalsman added another of AJGA’s most coveted titles to her victory in last fall’s Rolex T of C by capturing the crown in the Rolex Girls Junior Championship at SentryWorld in Stevens Point, Wis. in June.

   Joining Zalsman at even-par were Ann-Sophie Bourgault, a Canadian who will join the program at reigning national champion Northwestern, a Big Ten power, next summer, Alexandra Snyder, a Class of ’28 entry from Orlando, Fla., and Kelly Zhang of Hillsborough, Calif., a Class of ’30 kid, the equivalent of an eighth-grader.