Kentucky, United States: Calling on the help of her caddie, Japanese teenager Saki Baba claimed co-medallist honours in the 73rd US Girls’ Junior Championship.

With a 36-hoel aggregate of seven-under-par 139 at The Club at Olde Stone, the 17-year-old Baba tied for top spot with American Natalie Vo.

Baba, 45th in the women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking, came into this week off a tie for 49th in the US Women’s Open at Pine Needles in early June.  She continued her hot play with one of four bogey-free rounds on Tuesday, as she followed up a first-round 70 with a four-under 69 on the 6,565-yard Arthur Hills design that opened in 2006.

Starting on the 10th, Baba, relying on good reads from local caddie Reed Richey, posted birdies on 12 and 18 and then added two more coming home on the par-four fifth and par-three eighth.

“Today Reed really helped me read my lines, so I was really able to control my shots and my putting was really good,” said Baba through an interpreter.

In 72 previous iterations of the US Girls’ Junior Championship, only one player currently enrolled in college has hoisted the trophy. Much of that is due to the age restrictions – before 2017 a player could not have reached their 18th birthday by the championship’s conclusion – making it difficult for many recent high school graduates/incoming college freshmen.

But Dana Lofland (now Dormann) did win the title in 1985 as a rising sophomore at San Jose State where she’s now the head women’s golf coach, as she graduated high school at 16 and was still eligible for the championship.

Co-medalist Vo, ironically from San Jose, California, has an opportunity to accomplish that same feat. A rising sophomore at the University of Colorado, the 18-year-old carded a bogey-free, five-under 68 in the second and final round of stroke play for a 139 total.

Vo, who turns 19 on September 6, and Baba finished one stroke ahead of Americans Yana Wilson and Olivia Duan.

The cut for match play came at five-over 151 with nine players playing off for the last seven spots in the draw on Wednesday morning.

In addition to Baba, seven other Asia-Pacific players have qualified for the match play segment – New Zealand’s Fiona Xu and Australian Justice Bosio (both 142, tied sixth); Japan’s Nika Ito (144, tied 14th); Chinese Taipei’s Tiffany Huang Ting-hsuan (145, tied 17th) and Lin Hsin-tai (147, tied 24th); China’s Michelle Zhang Yunxuan (148, tied 33rd); and Chinese Taipei’s Wu Chun-wei (150, tied 51st).

Liao Hsin-chun, also from Chinese Taipei, was among nine players tied for 58th on 151. They will play-off for seven spots in the match play segment.

The first match of the Round of 64 is scheduled for 8 am on Thursday with the Rounds of 32 and 16, followed by the quarter-finals and semi-finals on Friday and the 36-hole championship match on Saturday.

Asia-Pacific players who failed to progress were Indian Anika Varma, China’s Li Mi and Japan’s Tsubasa Kajitani, the 2021 Augusta National Women’s Amateur champion and number five in the WAGR. They all posted 36-hole scores of 152 and shared 67th spot.

Also making an early exit were New Zealand’s Consuela Guo (154, tied 94th); Samantha Dizon of the Philippines and Hong Kong’s Wu Siuue (155, tied 100th); Singaporean Jaymie Ng (156, tied 108th); Hong Kong’s Charlene Chung (158, tied 117th), Angela Nip (161, tied 136th) and Tiffany Chan Yun-liu (164, tied 147th).