Last month Carlisle senior John Peters and Downingtown West freshman Nick Gross were playing partners in the PIAA Class AAA Championship at the Heritage Hills Golf Resort in York County.
Wednesday they were part of one of the most prestigious fields in junior golf, the American Junior Golf Association’s Rolex Tournament of Champions at PGA National Resort & Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
Peters, the District Three champion, carded a 1-over-par 73 on PGA National’s Fazio Course to land among the group tied for 44th place. Gross, coming off a dominating 13-shot victory in the Boys 13-and-under division in the inaugural Notah Begay III Junior Golf National Championship at Koasati Pines at Coushatta Resort in Kinder, La., was a shot behind Peters in the group tied for 53rd place with a 2-over 74.
Pretty sure Peters started off the 10th tee at the par-72 Fazio Course. He made birdies at the 12th, 14th and 17th holes around a bogey at the 15th hole to head for the first tee at 2-under. A double bogey at the fourth hole and a bogey at the fifth left Peters, who captured the Pennsylvania Junior Boys' crown at Hershey Country Club's East Course last summer, at 1-over for the round.
Looks like Gross, who earned his first two AJGA victories in the summer in Junior Series events at Patriots’ Glen Country Club in York and at the Toftrees Golf Resort in State College, also started off the 10th tee and after making a bogey at the 10th hole, he birdied the 14th hole. A bogey at the 18th hole left him at 1-over heading for the front nine.
Gross, who won the District One Class AAA championship and finished third at Heritage Hills as a freshman this fall, patiently rattled off seventh straight pars before making a bogey at the eighth hole to finish at 2-over.
Bruce Murphy of Johns Creek, Ga. grabbed the lead by firing a sparkling 7-under 65.
Murphy, who will join the Tennessee program at the end of next summer, got off to a strong start with an eagle at the second hole before adding birdies at eight and nine to make the turn at 4-under. After the lone bogey on his scorecard at the 10th hole, Murphy rattled off three straight birdies at 12, 13 and 14 before adding a closing birdie at 18.
Fellow Georgian William Love of Atlanta was alone in second place with a 5-under 67. Love has committed to join the Duke program next summer. Nine players landed in a tie for third place, each registering a 3-under 69.
John Daly II of Clearwater, Fla., son of two-time major champion John Daly, was part of the group tied for 32nd place as he posted an even-par 72.
The group that joined Peters in a tie for 44th place at 1-over included Rolex Junior Player of the Year Kelly Chinn, another Duke recruit out of Great Falls, Va. and Preston Summerhays of Scottsdale, Ariz., winner of the 2019 U.S. Junior Amateur crown at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio.
As you would expect, the No. 1 player in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking, Rose Zhang of Irvine, Calif., grabbed the opening-round lead on the girls side with a 2-under 70 over PGA National’s Champion Course.
Maybe you’d be a little surprised to learn that the best women’s amateur player on the planet is still a junior golfer. But Zhang isn’t just any junior golfer. She is the defending champion in the Rolex Tournament of Champions and next week she’ll pick up her second straight Rolex Junior Player of the Year award.
The kid isn’t out of high school yet and plans to join the powerhouse Stanford program next summer. All of Zhang’s talent and grit were on full display when she outlasted defending champion Gabriela Ruffins, an Australian who is a senior at Southern California, in 38 dramatic holes in the U.S. Women’s Amateur final at Woodmont Country Club in Rockville, Md. in August.
While most of the field at PGA National is competing in one of the most prestigious junior events on the calendar, Zhang is also using the event as a tuneup for next month’s U.S. Women’s Open, the coronavirus pandemic pushing the final women’s major championship of 2020 into Christmas shopping season at Champions in Houston.
Zhang was brutally efficient Wednesday with birdies at the 10th and 12th holes and pars at the rest. Mistakes, she’s made a few, just none in this round.
Huo Joon Jang of South Korea was Zhang’s closest pursuer, carding a solid even-par 72 to take sole possession of second place.
Five players were tied for third place, each signing for a 1-over 73. Included in that group was Faith Choi of Frederick, Md. who wil follow her former U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship partner Aneke Seumuntafa to Ohio State next summer.
Choi and Seumuntafa showed up at Timuquana Country Club, a Donald Ross classic in Jacksonville, for the U.S. Women’s Four-Ball in the spring of 2019 and promptly ripped off a 12-under 60 on their way to claiming medalist honors in qualifying for match play.
While not a Pennsylvanian, Gianna Clemente of Warren, Ohio finished in a tie for fifth place in the 2019 Pennsylvania Junior Girls’ Championship as a sixth-grader. Clemente keeps getting better. She posted a 2-over 74 to join the group tied for eighth place.
The group tied for 12th place at 3-over 75 includes Megha Ganne, the Holmdel, N.J. teen who was a surprise semifinalist in the 2019 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Old Waverly Golf Club in West Point, Miss., and Alexa Pano, the Lake Worth, Fla. teen who was the runnerup to current LPGA Tour pro Yealimi Noh in the 2018 U.S. Girls’ Junior at Poppy Hills Golf Course on northern California’s Monterey Peninsula.
Angelina Tolentino of Mount Laurel, N.J., whose early development came on the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour, registered an 8-over 80 and landed among the group tied for 41st place.
Jade Gu, who wrapped up her career at Pennsbury by finishing in a tie for ninth place last month in the PIAA Class AAA Championship at Heritage Hills, carded a 10-over 82 and was among the group tied for 52nd place. Gu finished in a tie for second place in the District One Class AAA Championship this fall at Turtle Creek Golf Club.
No comments:
Post a Comment