Met Area's Li and Chen Tied For Lead Halfway Thru 59th NYS Girls' Junior Am
HORSEHEADS, N.Y. -- Sophia Li of MGA eClub – NYC and the MET PGA Junior Golf Club’s Madison Chen sit tied atop the leaderboard of the 59th New York State Girls’ Junior Amateur Championship after the first round.
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The 15-year-old, Li, bounced back from bogeys on #4, #5 and #7, going 2-under for the remainder of her round on Monday morning. She will look to improve on her third-place finish at Seven Oaks in last year’s tournament. She sits at even-par 71 at the end of day one.
Li just competed in the U.S. Girl’s Junior Amateur Championship at The Club at Olde Stone in Kentucky. She missed the cut but thinks that the experience helped her chances to win this tournament.
“I think it definitely helped,” Li said. “I had a lot of time to practice. The practice facilities there are amazing, and I played with a lot of competitive players.”
Chen, only 13 years old, fired six birdies and six pars in her opening round, but surrendered six bogeys to finish at even par.
She was in the field last year and finished tied for 18th, and today’s 71 is her lowest round in her two NYS Girls’ Junior appearances.
Today I felt like I did get a little bit lucky,” Chen said. “I did make some birdie putts that helped me get rid of some of the bogeys.”
Defending champion Julia Zigrossi (Ridgemont CC) is just one stroke off the lead, at 1-over 72, heading into the final round.
Ysabel Liu (MET PGA Jr GC) fired a 73 to slide into solo fourth place. Behind Liu, are four players tied for fifth place at 3-over. Tatiana Tutko (RDGA Junior Membership), Aliya Liberatore (Yahnundasis GC), Renna Chang (Harbor Links GC) and Jillian Rawson (Colonie G&CC) all shot 74 on the day.
Local-area junior Lucia Chen of Horseheads made a hole-in-one on the par-3 sixth hole from 132 yards.
The course was set up at 5,446 yards for the Girls’ Junior and played to a par of 71.
Tee times for tomorrow’s final round for the Girls’ Division begin at 1:30pm, with the leaders set to tee off at 2:20pm.
