On Friday, the field played to the hole locations used during the second round of THE PLAYERS Championship. The AJGA first-round scoring average was 75.962, compared to a 72.164 average for the pros in May. Three of the par 5s played under-par in the first round (Nos. 2, 11, 16) with No. 2 being the easiest, yielding 28 birdies and a 4.846 scoring average.
In the tournament's nine-year history, an international invitee has never won The Junior PLAYERS Championship presented by TaylorMade-adidas Golf. After 18 holes, five players are in the top 10 and poised to become the first.
- T1. -4, Marc Hammer (Oetigheim, Germany)
- T3. -3, Joaquin Niemann (Santiago, Chile)
- 6. -2, Viktor Hovland (Oslo, Norway)
- T10. E, Luis Carrera (Mexico City, Mexico)
- T10. E, Marcus Svensson (Halmstad, Sweden)
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Brandon Mancheno has had a solid season of junior golf in 2015. A top-10 near his home town on Labor Day weekend would be quite the finish, writes Garry Smits of the St. Augustine Record .