Cox Fires 1-under 71 in Opening Round of N.Y.S. Women's Am at Tuscarora GC

July 14, 2015

MARCELLUS, N.Y. -- Kyra Cox, a 15-year old from Centennial Golf Club in the Putnam County community of Carmel, fired the day’s lone under-par round to take the lead Tuesday in the 86th New York State Women’s Amateur at Tuscarora Golf Club.

Cox scored five birdies against four bogies for 1-under-par 71 on the 5,907 yard par 72 course. A two-time New York State PGA Junior Champion at Leatherstocking Golf Club in Cooperstown, Cox recorded three deuces on Tuscarora’s demanding par-3 holes, Nos. 2, 8 and 13, averaging 164 yards in length, before making bogey at the 167-yard home hole.

“I love the course; it really fits my eye,” said Cox, a rising sophomore at John Jay High School, where she plays on the varsity golf team.

Cox leads by three strokes after the first of three rounds over Rina Jung, a 2015 NYSGA Associate member from the Westchester County community and Danielle Fuss of Oak Hill CC in Pittsford.

Jung is a 16-year-old rising junior at Hackley High School. She is the current Metropolitan PGA Junior Champion. Fuss, the 2012 N.Y.S. Junior Girls Amateur Champion, is now a junior on the women’s golf team at High Point University in North Carolina.

There are three players at 75, Bailey Cocca of Shaker Ridge CC near Albany, state scholastic champion Lindsay May of Owasco CC in Auburn, and Kit Creighton of Crag Burn GC in East Aurora.

The defending champion Christine Schmitt, of Locust Hill CC in Pittsford, shot an 82. Jenna Hoecker, from Rochester’s Brook-Lea CC, the 2013 N.Y.S. Women’s Amateur Champion, carded 80.

The 7th annual New York State Women’s Mid-Amateur, for players age 25 and over, is going on concurrently at Tuscarora Golf Club. The player’s competing in the Mid-Am played the course from 5,274 yards.

The lead belongs to Lauren Cupp from Rome Country Club after an opening-round 76. Cupp, runner-up to Teresa Cleland in the 2012 Women’s Mid-Amateur at Seneca Falls CC, has a two stroke advantage over four players; Sharyn Costello of Cornell University GC, Kim Kaul of Gowanda CC, Dani Mullin of Southward Ho CC and Patricia Mayne of Western Turnpike GC.

To view complete results from Round 1 of the Women's Amateur, click here. To view complete results from Round 1 of the Women's Mid-Amateur, click here.

To view pairings for Round 2, click here. There will be cut after Wednesday’s second round to the low 50 percent of the field, plus ties, in both tournaments.

To view photos from Round 1 of the Women's Amateur, click here. To view photos from Round 1 of the Women's Mid-Amateur, click here.

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 Chuck Harty