Pennsylvanians Peters, Gross separated by a shot after two rounds of the Rolex Tournament of Champions

   Carlisle senior John Peters, the District Three Class AAA champion, and Downingtown West freshman Nick Gross, the District One Class AAA champion, continued their tournament within a tournament in the battle for low-Pennsylvania honors while one of the top players in 2020 on the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) circuit, David Ford of Peachtree Corners, Ga., took control of the Boys division as the second round of the Rolex Tournament of Champions played out on Turkey Day in South Florida.

   Peters, winner of the Pennsylvania Junior Boys’ Championship at Hershey Country Club’s East Course last summer, stumbled with a double bogey on the 18^th hole of the PGA National Resort & Spa’s Champion Course in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. to end  up among the group tied for 40^th place at 3-over 146.

   It had been a solid round over the 7,122-yard, par-71 Champion Course until the unfortunate ending for Peters. He had overcome early bogeys at the fifth and seventh holes with birdies at 11 and 14 to get it back to even for the round before the closing double left him with a 2-over 73.

   Peters had opened with a 1-over 73 Wednesday over a Fazio Course that seemed to play a little easier for a field filled with many of the best junior players on the world.

   Gross, who finished third in last month’s PIAA Class AAA Championship at the Heritage Hills Golf Resort in York County, matched Peters’ 2-over 73 and was among the group tied for 45^th place at 4-over 147. Gross is coming off a spectacular 13-shot victory in the Boys 13-and-under division in last week’s inaugural Notah Begay III Junior Golf National Championship at  Koasati Pines at Coushatta in Kinder, La.

   Gross had three double bogeys on his Thanksgiving Day scorecard, but kept battling and had five birdies. Gross started fast with birdies at the first two holes before hitting a rough patch that saw him make double bogeys at four and six around a bogey at five.

   Gross righted the ship with birdies at the 10^th, 13^th and 16^th holes that got him back to even-par for the round before he slipped back with a double bogey at the 17^th. Gross had opened with a steady 2-over 74 at the Fazio Course Wednesday.

   Ford, who will join the North Carolina program next summer, was one of the few players who solved the Champion Course as he ripped off an efficient six-birdie, no-bogey 6-under 65 to surge to the top of the leaderboard at 9-under 134. Combined with his opening-round 69 at the Fazio Course, the left-hander opened up a three-shot cushion on the field at the midway point of the 72-hole event.

   Ford has been the best player on the AJGA circuit in recent months with victories in the Junior Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass and the AJGA Invitational at Sedgefield and a tie for third in the PING Invitational at Karsten Creek Golf Club.

   In August, the kid put together a combined 6-under at Bandon Dunes and Bandon Trails to finish in a tie for fifth place in qualifying for match play in the U.S. Amateur before falling in the opening round.

   Starting off the 10^th tee, Ford immediately got it in red figures with a birdie at his opening hole. He added birdies at the 16^th and 18^th holes and headed for the front nine at the Champion Course at 3-under. He put the finishing touches on his scintillating effort with three straight birdies at the second, third and fourth holes.

   Ford’s closest pursuers were Bryan Lee of Fairfax, Va., who added a 2-under 69 to his opening-round 68 at the Fazio Course, and William Love, a Duke recruit from Atlanta who cooled off with a 1-under 70 at the Champion Course after opening with a 67 at the Fazio Course. Both players landed on 6-under 137.

   Bruce Murphy, a Tennessee recruit from Johns Creek, Ga., had grabbed the opening-round lead with a sparkling 7-under 65 at the Fazio Course. He backed off with a 3-over 74 at the Champion Course, but was still in a group tied for fifth plae at 4-under 139.

   Preston Summerhays of Scottsdale, Ariz., winner of the 2019 U.S. Junior Amateur at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio, improved off his opening-round 73 at the Fazio Course with a solid 3-under 68 at the Champion Course that left him in the group tied for 12^th place at 2-under 141.

   On the girls side, Rose Zhang of Irvine, Calif. and No. 1 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), expanded her lead to three shots as she closed with four birdies on the back nine of the 6,175-yard, par-72 Fazio Course for a 5-under 67. Combined with her 2-under 70 at the Champion Course in Wednesday’s opening round – the Champion plays to a par of 72 for the girls – Zhang stood at 7-under 137 after two rounds.

   The defending champion, Zhang, who will pick up her second straight Rolex Player of the Year award next week, had an up-and-down outgoing nine at the Fazio Course, making a birdie at the second hole, a bogey at three, a birdie at five, a bogey at six and a birdie at eight to make the turn in 1-under.

   But Zhang, who will join the Stanford program next summer, twice went back-to-back on the incoming nine with birdies at the 10^th and 11^th and 17^th and 18^th holes, to get it to 5-under for the round.

   It’s the kind of play that enabled Zhang to outlast Southern California senior Gabriela Ruffels in 38 holes to claim the U.S. Women’s Amateur crown last summer at Woodmont Country Club in Rockville, Md.

   Zhang’s closed pursuer was Xin (Cindy) Kou, a Southern Cal recruit from China who matched Zhang’s 67 to finish two rounds at 4-under 140. Kou opened with a 1-over 73 at the Champion Course Wednesday.

   A couple of future Atlantic Coast Conference rivals, Florida State recruit Madison Hewlett of Oldsmar, Fla. and Virginia recruit Amanda Sambach of Davidson, N.C., shared third place, each landing on 2-under 142. Hewlett carded a 4-under 68 on the Fazio Course after opening with a 74 on the Champion Course and Sambach added a 3-under 69 to the 1-over 73 she posted at the Champion Course in the opening round.

   Megha Ganne, the Jersey girl from Holmdel who reached the semifinals of the 2019 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Old Waverly Golf Club in West Point, Miss., moved into sole possession of fifth place with a 4-under 68 at the Fazio Course that left her at 1-under 143. Ganne, who has made a verbal commitment to join the Stanford program in the summer of 2022, had opened with a 3-over 75 at the Champion Course.

   Maybe we’ll see Ganne wearing the Red, White & Blue at Merion Golf Club’s historic East Course for the 2022 Curtis Cup Match against Great Britain & Ireland. As far as I know the 2022 Curtis Cup Match is still on schedule, despite the 2020 Curtis Cup Match being postponed until Aug. 26 to 28, 2021 at Conwy Golf Club in Caernarvonshire, Wales.

   The youngest member of the top 10, by far, was Warren, Ohio seventh-grader Gianna Clemente, who signed for a 1-under 71 to join the group tied for ninth place at 1-under 143. Clemente had opened with a 2-over 74 at the Champion Course.

   Clemente, playing out of Avalon at Buhl Park just across the Ohio-Pennsylvania border in Sharon, finished in a tie for fifth in the 2019 Pennsylvania Junior Girls’ Championship at Hershey Country Club’s East Course.

   Alexa Pano, the 16-year-old phenom from Lake Worth, Fla., also carded a 1-under 71 at the Fazio Course to join the group tied for 15^th place at 2-over 146. Pano, the runnerup to Yealimi Noh in the 2018 U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship at Poppy Hills Golf Course on northern California’s Monterey Peninsula, had opened with a 3-over 75 on the Champion Course Wednesday.

   A very nice rebound for Angelina Tolentino, another Jersey girl from Mount Laurel who posted a solid 1-under 71 at the Fazio course after opening with an 80 at the Champion Course. Tolentino’s 7-over 151 total left her in the group tied for 34^th place.

   Tolentino birdied the first hole, made bogey at six and birdied the ninth to make the turn at 1-under. Other than a birdie at the 14^th hole and a bogey at 15, Tolentino made seven pars on the Fazio Course’s incoming nine.

   Pennsbury senior Jade Gu, who capped her scholastic career by finishing in a tie for ninth place in the PIAA Class AAA Championship at Heritage Hills, carded a 4-over 76 at the Fazio Course and was among the group tied for 60^th place at 155. Gu, who finished in a tie for second place in the District One Class AAA Championship at Turtle Creek Golf Club, had opened with an 82 at the Champion Course Wednesday.