Johns Creek, Georgia, United States: Grace Carter carded a bogey-free four-under 67, wrapping up her stroke play portion of the 76th US Girls’ Junior Championship at six-under 136 and atop the leaderboard as play was suspended due to darkness with 24 players still needing to complete their second rounds.
American Carter, 15, recorded just a single bogey during stroke play, on her final hole (ninth) on Monday afternoon at Atlanta Athletic Club’s Riverside Course.
Starting on the first hole on Tuesday morning, Carter birdied the first and fourth before stringing together eight consecutive pars, interrupted only by another birdie on 13. She’d play her last four holes in one-under, chipping in from off the green on 17.
“I’m just trying to enjoy myself this week, acting like it’s just another tournament. Staying patient with myself,” said Carter, who is ranked 82nd in the AJGA Rolex Rankings. “If I hit as many fairways and greens as I can, I can play pretty well.”
Not far behind, a quartet of players from Asia completed their stroke play portion of the competition at five-under 137: Arianna Lau and Sophie Han, of Hong Kong, first-round leader Rinka Nakayama, of Japan, and Singapore’s Chen Xingtong.
They are all certain to progress to the match play phase for the leading 64 players following the completion of 36 holes.
“I was playing alright today, my irons were working well, putts were going in,” Chen said. “The weather delay was a nice little break in between from the heat. I’m glad I managed to recover well from it.”
Lau, 17, is making her third appearance in the championship. Ranked 48th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) and committed to Northwestern University, she tallied four birdies against just one bogey on Tuesday morning.
“I just played really consistently. I made very little mistakes, four birdies and just one bogey, so I’m happy with how I played,” said Lau, who last year lost in the Round of 32. “I can see how much I’ve improved each year, so my goal is just to do better than last year.”
After shooting an opening round four-under 67, Han’s second round featured five birdies and four bogeys, finishing stroke play at five-under. She made the Round of 32 during last year’s championship.
A weather delay of nearly two hours forced the afternoon wave off the course shortly after 3:30 pm local time.
American Asterisk Talley, runner-up to Rianne Malixi of the Philippines last year and the highest-ranked player in the field, carded a 69 in her second round. Competing in her fourth U.S. Girls’ Junior, Talley currently sits in a tie for 10th.