Shady Side Academy's Zhang earns runnerup finish in Citrus Golf Trail Ladies Invitational at Sun 'N Lake

 

   Alyssa Zhang, a sophomore at Shady Side Academy, has been one of the best players in Pennsylvania in her first two seasons of scholastic golf.

   Zhang has finished in third place in the PIAA Class AA Championship as both a freshman and again this past fall as a sophomore at Penn State’s White Course.

   Zhang put an exclamation point on a really strong 2025 with a runnerup finish in the 71^st Annual Citrus Golf Trail Ladies Invitational, which wrapped up on a New Year’s Eve Wednesday at the Sun ’N Lake Golf & Country Club’s Deer Run Course in Sebring, Fla.

   For years this event, part of South Florida’s unofficial Orange Blossom Tour for women amateur players, was known as the Harder Hall Invitational.

   When the golf course at the Harder Hall Resort closed a few years ago, the golf community of Sebring got together and rebranded the event as the Citrus Golf Trail Ladies Invitational.

   In carrying on the legacy of the Harder Hall, the Citrus Trail Ladies Invitational draws a field of top amateur players, including college players in their midseason pause and talented juniors like Zhang looking to test themselves against older players.

   And Zhang passed the test with flying colors.

   Zhang closed with a 2-under-par 70 at Sun ’N Lake’s par-72 Deer Run layout, the best score of the final round, to finish with a 1-over 289 total, three shots behind the winner, Eastern Michigan’s Savannah de Bock, a junior from Belgium.

   Zhang, who plays out of Wildwood Golf Club in the Pittsburgh suburbs, was steady all week. She opened with a 2-over 74 and added a 1-over 73 in the second round before matching par with a 72 in Tuesday’s third round.

   That left her eight shots behind the front-running de Bock, but Zhang came on strong in the final round to finish second. She never really threatened to overtake the talented de Bock, but Zhang was the best of the rest and the rest included some talented junior players like Zhang.

   Zhang was really steady in her final round, making birdies at the fifth, 10^th and 14^th holes before making a bogey at 15, the only blemish on her scorecard.

   Zhang had a solid summer highlighted by a tie for 29^th place in the Girls Junior PGA Championship at Purdue’s Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex in West Lafayette, Ind.

   That came on the heels of a nice showing in the Pennsylvania Women’s Amateur Championship at Valley Brook Country Club, where she finished alone in seventh place.

   Nobody was catching de Bock at Sun ’N Lake as she took control of the tournament in the middle two rounds.

   After opening with a 2-over 74, de Bock put together a 4-under 68 in the second round that featured five birdies against a lone bogey and a 3-under 69 in Tuesday’s third round in which she again had five birdies to offset two bogeys.

   That left de Bock at 5-under going into the final round. Her closest pursuers were Michelle Lu, just your basic South Florida phenom who plays out of Eagle Creek Golf Club in Orlando, and Ella Scott, a Class of 2027 competitor from Castle Rock, Color.

   Lu is a Class of ’30 competitor, so she has yet to start high school. Lu and Scott stood at 1-over, six shots behind de Bock going into the final round.

   De Bock stumbled a little to start her final round with a double bogey at the sixth hole, but got a shot back with a birdie at 11. Playing smart with her big lead, de Bock made bogeys at the 13^th and 17^th holes on her way to the clubhouse for a 3-over 75 that gave her a 2-under 286 total.

   De Bock made a huge splash when she won the European Ladies Amateur Championship just shy of shy of her 17^th birthday in 2022. That earned her a spot in the AIG Women’s Open at Walton Heath Golf Club and in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship in 2023.

   De Bock started her college career at Georgia, joining the Bulldogs in the middle of the wraparound 2023-2024 season. Last season she ended up in Ypsilanti, Mich. in the Mid-American Conference with Eastern Michigan. De Bock represented the Eagles as an individual in the NCAA’s Columbus Regional at The Ohio State University’s Scarlet Course last spring.

   Lu tallied back-to-back 1-over 73s in the first rounds and got it in red figures with a 1-under 71 in Tuesday’s third round. Lu closed with a 2-over 74 to finish alone in third place, two shots behind Zhang with a 3-over 291 total.

   Canadian Nobelle Park, like Zhang a Class of ’28 competitor, matched par in the final round with a 72 to finish a shot behind Lu in fourth place with a 4-over 292 total. Park had opened with an even-par 72, adding a 1-over 73 in the second round and a 3-over 75 in Tuesday’s third round.

   Hannah Castillo, a sophomore at Frostproof High School in the middle of the Florida peninsula not far from Sebring, opened the Citrus Trail Ladies Invitational with a sizzling 6-under 66, the best round of the tournament, and finished in a tie for fifth place with Scott, each landing on 6-over 294, two shots behind Park.

   Castillo backed off a little after her brilliant six-birdie, no-bogey opening round with a 79 in the second round. She added a 2-over 74 in Tuesday’s third round before finishing up with a 75.

   Scott opened with a solid 2-under 70 and added a 2-over 74 in the second round and a 73 in Tuesday’s third round and was right there in a tie for second place with Lu at 1-over going into the final round. Scott closed with a 5-over 77 to join Castillo at 6-over.

   Another Canadian, Elsa Wu, a Class of ’28 competitor, was a shot behind Castillo and Scott in in seventh place with a 7-over 295 total. After opening with a 1-over 73, Wu added a 75 in the second round before moving up the leaderboard with a 2-under 70 in Tuesday’s third round. Wu closed with a 5-over 77.

   Stetson’s Isaki Sakashita, a sophomore from Japan, finished two shots behind Wu in eighth place with a 9-over 297 total.

   Sakashita, the ASUN’s Freshman of the Year during the wraparound 2024-’25 season, got off to a good start with a 1-under 71 in the opening round and added a 4-over 76 in the second round before recording back-to-back 75s in the final two rounds.

   Hannah Hall, a senior at Viera High School who plays out of Duran Golf Club in Melbourne, Fla., finished a shot behind Sakashita in ninth place with a 10-over 298 total.

   Hall, who will join the program at Kansas in the Big 12 at the end of the summer, opened with a 1-over 73, fell back a little with a 77 in the second round, matched par in Tuesday’s third round with a 72 and closed with a 76.

   Evelyn Ma gave Canada a third finisher in the top 10 as she ended up in 10^th place with an 11-over 299 total that left her a shot behind Hall.

   Ma, another Class of ’28 competitor, added a 2-over 74 in the second round to her opening-round 76, carded a 75 in Tuesday’s third round and closed with another 74.

   Kiera Bartholomew, a junior at Virginia in the Atlantic Coast Conference from Chapel Hill, N.C., finished in a tie for 20^th place with a 306 total.

   Bartholomew, who first emerged as a solid junior player at Indian Valley Country Club in Telford before moving to North Carolina, opened with a 5-over 77, added a 75 in the second round and a 76 in Tuesday’s third round before finishing up with a 78.

   Martha Leach, winner of the 2009 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship from Hebron, Ky., claimed the top spot in the Forever-49 Division at Sun ’N Lake, pulling away for a seven-shot victory over Kim Keyer-Scott of Bonita Springs, Fla.

   After opening with a 6-over 78, Leach matched par in the second round with a 72 to inch in front of Keyer-Scott by a shot. After that, though, it was all Leach as she signed for a 3-over 75 in Tuesday’s third round before closing with a solid 1-over 73 for a 10-over 298 total.

   Leach offset four bogeys with three birdies in her final round to remain comfortably ahead of the pack.

   Keyer-Scott, who plays out of Shadow Wood Country Club in Bonita Springs, matched par in the opening round with a 72 to grab the early lead, but struggled to a 7-over 79 in the second round to fall a shot behind Leach.

   After registering an 80 in Tuesday’s second round, Keyer-Scott bounced back with a 2-over 74 in the final round to earn runnerup honors with a 305 total.

   Leach and Keyer-Scott both qualified for match play in the U.S. Women’s Senior Amateur Championship in September at the Omni Homestead Resort’s Cascades Course in Hot Springs, Va., but suffered losses in tight matches in the opening round.

   Susan West, who plays out of Northriver Yacht Club in Tuscaloosa, Ala., finished another five shots behind Keyer-Scott in third place with a 310 total. West bounced back from an opening-round 80 with a 3-over 75 in the second round. She finished up with a 5-over 77 in Tuesday’s third round and a final-round 78.

   Barbara Pagana, who plays out of Huntsville Golf Club, finished in ninth place in the Forever-49 division with a 331 total.

   Pagana, winner of the Super Senior division in the Pennsylvania Women’s Amateur two summers ago at Sunnybrook Golf Club, was solid in the first three rounds, adding an 81 in the second round to her opening-round 82 before carding an 80 in Tuesday’s third round. Pagana struggled a little in the final round with an 88.

   Merion Golf Club’s ageless Liz Haines, runnerup in the 2004 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur at Pasatiempo Golf Club, the Alister MacKenzie gem in California, finished in 12^th place with a 339 total.

   The 70-something Haines posted back-to-back 85s in the first two rounds, added an 87 in Tuesday’s third round and had her best round of the week, an 82, in her New Year’s Eve final round.