They had fog on the
West Coast and a line of thunderstorms on the East Coast that held up the
works, but the U.S. Girls’ Junior and the U.S. Junior Amateur championships
marched on. The girls, playing on just one course at Poppy Hills Golf Course in
Pebble Beach, Calif., couldn’t quite finish while the guys, with the luxury of
two courses at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, N.J. completed qualifying
for match play with the exception of a good, old-fashioned 8-for-3 playoff for
the final three tickets into match play.
There is still some golf to be played, but Archmere Academy
junior Phoebe Brinker appears to be in very good shape to make match play in
the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship at
Poppy Hills.
I was wondering when the Phoebe Brinker who finished second
in the individual scoring and led Delaware to a second-place finish in the
final edition of the USGA Women’s State Team Championship at The Club at Las
Campanas’ Sunrise Course in Santa Fe, N.M. last fall was going to show up this
year and it’s happening at Poppy Hills.
Brinker opened with a 2-over-par 73 over the 6,195-yard,
par-71 Poppy Hills layout and was 2-over through nine holes in her second round
when darkness suspended play for the day. At 4-over, Brinker is tied for 33rd.
Barring a total collapse, Brinker should earn a spot in match play.
And based on her performance at Las Campanas, Brinker
doesn’t seem like the kind of player who can’t handle a big moment. She birdied
the fourth hole Tuesday before making a bogey at the sixth and a double bogey
at the seventh to fall back to 2-over for her round.
Valery Plata, the Colombian who was the medalist in the Golf
Association of Philadelphia-administered local qualifier at the Steel Club,
added a 4-over 75 to her opening-round 70 and stands in the group tied for 25th.
She’ll make the match-play bracket.
Ami Gianchandani, the recent Pingry School graduate who made
an amazing run to the quarterfinals in last year’s U.S. Girls’ Junior at Boone
Valley Golf Club in Augusta, Mo., has some work to do if she plans to make it
to match play.
The Yale-bound Gianchandani opened with a 4-over 75 Monday
and was 6-over through 12 holes Tuesday when play was called for the day. At
10-over, Gianchandani is tied for 81st and on the outside looking in
in her bid to make the top 64. She has six holes to try to make something
happen.
Gianchandani’s Pingry School teammate, Christine Shao, will
not make match play after rounds of 80 and 82. Shao, who still has a year left
at Pingry, was the runnerup to Plata in the qualifier at the Steel Club.
Sydney Yermish, the 12-year-old from Rolling Green Golf
Club, had a rough introduction to the big time of junior golf. She added an 87
Tuesday to her opening-round 86 and finished near the bottom of the leaderboard
at 173.
But, as I chronicled in a Monday post, Yermish was playing
with the nine-holers on the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour this time last
year.
She was getting killed out there Tuesday. And you know what?
She birdied the 13th, made two pars and two bogeys the rest of the
way to go 1-over for her last six and card a 39 on the back nine. That’s showing some
toughness.
And the experience Yermish gained battling her way around a
tough golf course set up by the USGA to challenge the best junior golfers in
the world will do nothing but move her forward.
The leader in the clubhouse in the battle for medalist
honors is the No. 9 player in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking, one Lucy
Li, the 15-year-old phenom from Redwood Shores, Calif.
After a routinely brilliant 9-under 62 in Monday’s opening
round, Li could only manage four birdies against two bogeys in a 2-under 69
that left her at 11-under 131. If she does hold on to win medalist honors, it
will be the second year in a row she's led the way in qualifying.
Li’s fellow Californian, 16-year-old Lealimi Noh of Concord,
has a lot of golf to play and after what she did in winning the Girls Junior PGA
Championship at Kearney Hill Golf Links in Lexington, Ky. last week, you have
to give her a shot to catch Li.
Noh went a remarkable 24-under par at Kearney Hill. After
opening with a 66 at Poppy Hills Monday, Noh was 2-under through six holes when
darkness fell over Pebble Beach Tuesday. The girl has been on quite a roll and
she trails Li by four with 12 holes to play.
On the East Coast, Pennsylvania’s best junior player over
the last two years, Franklin Regional senior Palmer Jackson, earned a ticket to
match play as he added a 1-over 71 on Baltusrol’s Lower Course to the 2-over 73
he posted on the Upper Course Monday for a 3-over 144 total that left him in
the group tied for 32nd.
Jackson, who plays out of Hannastown Golf Club in
Greensburg, was the medalist in a GAP-administered local qualifier at Carlisle
Country Club. He chose not to defend the Pennsylvania Junior Boys’ crown he won
last year and he finished tied for second in the PIAA Class AAA Championship at
the Heritage Hills Golf Resort last fall.
Jackson will take on Clemson-bound Jacob Bridgeman of Inman,
S.C. in an opening-round match at 8 a.m. Wednesday. Match play will be
contested on the Upper Course.
Two matches later at 8:20 a.m., Jolo Timothy Magcalyo of the
Philippines, the runnerup to Jackson in the qualifier at Carlisle, will take on
Australian Jediah Morgan.
Magcalyo decided to spend the summer getting a taste of the
junior competition in the United States. He tuned up for the summer with some
really strong showings in Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour events this
spring.
Magcalyo backed up a 1-under 69 at the Lower Course Monday
with a 1-over 72 at the Upper Course and finished tied for 16th at
even-par 141. I am really curious to see where this is headed for this kid, who
is clearly a talent.
Brian Isztwan, the best player in the Inter-Ac League in his
last two seasons at Penn Charter, and his two fellow co-medalists at another
GAP-administered qualifier at the Union League National Golf Club in Swainton,
N.J. saw their U.S. Junior Amateur bids come to an end Tuesday.
The Harvard-bound Isztwan, who plays out of Huntingdon
Valley Country Club, added a 7-over 78 at the Upper Course Tuesday to his
opening round of 6-over 76 on the Lower Course for a 13-over 154 total. The
eight players vying for the final three spots in match play all landed at 7-over
148.
I spent a long day – and a little of the next when weather
halted play after 33 holes – caddying for Isztwan in last year’s Christman Cup
at Stonewall’s North Course. He’s a talented, classy kid who will be a nice
addition to the Harvard golf program.
Central Bucks West senior Luca Jezzeny, who plays out of The
Bucks Club and Doylestown Country Club, was a little closer to the match-play
cutline as he added a solid 5-over 75 on the Lower Course to the 5-over 76 he
posted Monday at the Upper Course for a 10-over 151 total.
The third member of the trio that all matched par at Union
League National to get to Baltusrol, St. John’s-bound Tyler Gerbavsits of
Huntingdon, N.Y., added a 79 at the Lower Course to the 82 he carded at the
Upper Course for a 161 total.
Medalist honors went to Kelly Chinn, a 15-year-old out of
Langley High School in McLean, Va., who birdied five of his last six holes to
card a 3-under 67 over the Lower Course. Chinn had opened with a 5-under 66 at
the Upper Course Monday and finished with an 8-under 133 total.
Ricky Castillo, a 17-year-old from Yorba Linda, Calif., and
16-year-old Australian Karl Vilips shared second place, two shots behind Chinn
at 6-under 135.
Castillo carded a 2-under 68 at the Lower Course after
opening up with a 4-under 67 at the Upper Course Monday. Castillo reached the
round-of-16 in last year’s U.S. Junior Amateur at Flint Hills National Golf Club in Andover, Kan. and won a match in
the U.S. Amateur at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif. last
summer.
Vilips had matched Chinn’s opening-round 66 at the Upper
Course and added a 1-under 69 at the Lower Course Tuesday.
No comments:
Post a Comment