What Happened
The 64th Girls’ Junior Amateur Championship got underway on Wednesday at Seminole Legacy Golf Club. Yingshi (Lydia) Lin and Jamie Lowry took the lead in the Girls (16-18) division at 1-over 73, while Amelie Zalsman moved to the top of the Girls (13-15) leaderboard with a 5-under 67.
After a quadruple bogey to start the day on the 10th hole, Lin turned it around carding three birdies to close out here first nine. She added three more birdies on her final nine, including birdieing two of her final four holes to take a share of the 16-18 lead.
Lowry got off to a great start in the first round, playing the front nine bogey free with two birdies. Her biggest hiccup of the day came with a double bogey on the 10th, but she rebounded quickly with birdies on three of her five holes and ended the day at 1-over 73 in a tie for the 16-18 lead.
Zalsman posted the low round of the day to take the top spot on the 13-15 leaderboard. She carded six birdies in the first round and played her first 17 holes bogey free, with a lone bogey coming on the her final hole of the day. She heads to the second round with a five-shot lead over the field at 5-under 67.
What’s Next
The second round of the Girls’ Junior Championship will begin Thursday at 7:30 a.m.
Notable
Seventy-four players teed it up at Seminole Legacy Golf Club, with 40 players competing in the Girls (16-18) Division and 34 competitors in the Girls (13-15) Division.
Zalsman and Lin carded the most birdies of the day with six, while Lowry finished the round with five birdies.
Only two players finished the first round under par or better in the first round: Zalsman (5-under 67) and Sophia Dyer (even-par 72).
The par-4 10th hole at Seminole Legacy played the hardest in the first round, playing to an average of 5.18, while the par-5 18th hole provided the most birdies with 19 in the first round.
Quotable
“I played really well today. I had a lot of birdies out there. I had one hole where I finished with a triple bogey, but I rebounded from that hole and made three birdies after that. So I think I did pretty good overall." – Jamie Lowry on her first-round 73
“I started out strong with two pars, so I just wanted to keep it going. On the par-3 third hole, I hit it close and that was what really got me going. The greens are really tricky and I’m sure they are going to getting as the week goes on.” – Amelie Zalsman on her first-round 67
