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CORTLAND, N.Y. – Maisie Filler of Florida and Sophia Bae of New Jersey will advance to the 71st U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship after qualifying through Tuesday’s Sectional Qualifying Round at Cortland Country Club in Cortland, NY.

The USGA-conducted championship will be contested July 22-27 at SentryWorld in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. 

Related: Results / Photos / U.S. Girls’ Junior Homepage

Filler earned medalist honors after carding a three-under 69. She led the field four-under at the turn. Speaking on what went well for her today, the University of Florida commit noted the course layout.

“The front nine was really good for me because I was hitting it close, so I had to tap in birdies, which set me up to have a good round. My goal was to hit the fairways and then hit the greens, because the fairways are really small here. Just hit the fairways and go from there,” Filler said.

Bae qualified one stroke behind the medalist with a two-under 70. Bae explained how her practice round yesterday corrected her errors today.

“I think my putting went well because after the practice round yesterday, I really worked hard on my putting. I could see a few mistakes here and there today but overall; I was happy with it. My shots could have been better, but I am happy with how it turned out,” Bae explained.

Bae will compete in her first U.S. Girls’ Junior. She attempted to qualify last year but came up short. “Last year I had trouble recovering from bad holes. I bogeyed two holes today and I recovered well, so it was a success.”

Filler made it to match play at the 2017 U.S. Girls’ Junior. “I almost won my match, but loss on 18. Going into this year, I know I can do a lot better than last time. Just focusing on putting, because that was the difference in me losing my match was missing putts.”

Reagan Southerland of Georgia, Savannah Grewal of Canada, and Camila Moreno of Colombia competed in a two-hole playoff for the alternate positions. Grewal captured the first spot, while Moreno secured the second and final spot.

Cortland Country Club played to a par of 72 and 6,081 yards for the field of 21 competitors.