Jutanugarn Takes Solo Lead at Rolex Girls Junior Championship
Second-place Feng will look to make up a two-stroke deficit Thursday at Long Cove Club
HILTON HEAD, S.C. — Ariya Jutanugarn of Bangkok, Thailand, took the outright lead Wednesday at the Rolex Girls Junior Championship after posting a second-round score of 3-under-par 68 at Long Cove Club, putting her at 6-under-par for the tournament.
The Rolex Girls Junior Championship is a 54-hole stroke play tournament conducted by the American Junior Golf Association at Long Cove Club in Hilton Head, S.C. The tournament field features 76 girls, ages 12-18, from 17 states, Japan, Argentina, Colombia, Thailand, Mexico, Northern Ireland and Venezuela. The field is playing the par-71 course at 6,229 yards.
Jutanugarn has played with a lot of consistency in the tournament thus far. In each of her two rounds of 68, she finished with five birdies, and even though her scores have been the same, Jutanugarn has used different parts of her game to stay ahead of the field.
“Yesterday my drives were better but today my irons were good,” Jutanugarn said.
Close behind the leader is Yueer Cindy Feng of Orlando, Fla., who carded a round of 1-under-par 70 to finish with a score of 138. After losing four strokes to Jutanugarn on the front nine, Feng holed three birdies and went bogey-free on the back nine to finish two strokes out of the lead.
“I made every fairway and green on the back, that sure helps,” she said. “I was hitting closer to the pin and even on the farther putts, I wasn't leaving myself long second putts. So it was just really consistent on the back nine and more birdie chances that I was able to hole.”
Kyung Kim of Chandler, Ariz., and Anne Cheng of Torrance, Calif., are tied for third after posting a two-round total of even-par 142. Manuela Carbajo Re of Necochea, Argentina, will enter Thursday's final round in fifth place at 1-over-par 143.
Rolex Watch USA, which is in its third decade of support, became the inaugural AJGA Premier Partner in 2004. Along with sponsoring the Rolex Girls Junior Championship, Rolex is also the title partner of the Rolex Tournament of Champions and the proprietors of the Rolex Junior All-America Teams.
The American Junior Golf Association is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to the overall growth and development of young men and women who aspire to earn college golf scholarships through competitive junior golf. The AJGA provides valuable exposure for college golf scholarships, and has an annual junior membership (boys and girls ages 12-18) of approximately 5,000 junior golfers from 49 states and 30 countries. To ensure scholarship opportunities for all junior golfers who have the skill, the AJGA created the Achieving Competitive Excellence (ACE) Grant program to provide financial assistance to young players in need.
Titleist, the AJGA's National Sponsor, has been the catalyst and driving force behind the Association's success since 1989. In 2007, after 12 years of support, Polo Ralph Lauren became the AJGA's second Premier Partner.
AJGA alumni have risen to the top of amateur, collegiate and professional golf. Former AJGA juniors have compiled more than 400 victories on the PGA and LPGA Tours. AJGA alumni include Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Stewart Cink, Cristie Kerr, Paula Creamer and Morgan Pressel.
Final-round tee times for the Rolex Girls Junior Championship will run from 7:30-9:18 a.m. off of the Nos. 1 and 10 tees at Long Cove Club. For more information about the Rolex Girls Junior Championship please contact Tournament Director Julie Kickbusch at (843) 686-1000, or visit the AJGA website at ajga.org.
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