Alice Zhao is second in Girls Division; Three boys tied for fourth

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BETHESDA, Md. (July 31, 2024) — At the end of a day that featured heat, humidity and an hour-long rain delay, new faces found themselves atop the leaderboard following the second round of the 48th Junior PGA Championships at Congressional Country Club.

Kinsley Ni, of China, sits alone as the new leader in the Girls Division, while Sean Keeling, Xander Goboy and Asher Vargas are co-leaders among the Boys after 36 holes.

Ni, who began the day tied for second, followed her opening-round 67 with a 3-under 69 on the Blue Course, moving her to 7-under-136 for the championship. The 16-year-old, who finished T-2 at the 2023 Girls Junior PGA Championship in Hot Springs, matched four birdies against one bogey.

“I think the Blue Course is way harder than the Gold Course, so I'm pretty happy I can shoot 3-under today,” said Ni. “It was a pretty solid round. I had pretty solid iron shots today and also made a couple of putts. I just put 100% effort into it and don't really think about the end result.”

The No. 13-ranked junior on the Rolex AJGA Rankings was bogey-free on the front nine, closing with back-to-back birdies on the par-4, 247-yard 8th and the par-5, 546-yard 9th.

Ni takes a one-stroke lead heading into the third round over Alice Zhao of Irvine, California, who matched the leader’s 69 to move to 6-under 137 overall.

Behind Ni and Zhao on the leaderboard are a pair of girls who shot 71 on Wednesday: Madison Messimer of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, sits third at 5-under 138, one ahead of Helen Yeung from nearby Clarksville, Maryland, who is fourth at 4-under 139.

Lisa Herman, of Jenks, Oklahoma, carded a 4-under 68 for the lowest round of the day among the girls. The 16-year-old posted five birdies with just one bogey to move 30 spots up the leaderboard into a tie for fifth at 2-under 141 with Ryleigh Knaub (Debary, Florida) and Asterisk Talley (Chowchilla, California).

“I was hitting a lot of iron shots really close to the pin, kind of sticking it,” said Herman. “So it made my putting game a lot easier and I was able to make a lot of birdies. I got into kind of a groove towards the middle of my round.”

After seven players were tied atop the Boys Division entering the day, three new names are now tied for first at 5-under 138 after carding the lowest rounds of the day among all competitors with 6-under 65s on the Gold Course. Keeling, Goboy and Vargas each jumped 20 spots Wednesday after all three shot 73s in the opening round.

Keeling, who will play at Texas Tech in the fall, carded seven birdies against a lone bogey, with three straight birdies down the stretch serving as the highlight of the day for the 2023 European Junior Ryder Cup Team member.

“On the 4th, I think I spun a wedge off the green, three-putted and made bogey,” said the 17-year-old Keeling, of Dublin, Ireland. “I wanted to bounce back after that and I hit a good iron shot into about 8 feet on the 5th. On the 6th, I got quite lucky with my tee shot, laid up, and hit a wedge to about a foot. Then on the par-5 7th, I went driver, 6-iron in the middle of the green and two-putted. That was nice to finish well.”

Goboy, who hails from Chesapeake, Virginia, carded six birdies and two bogeys on the day. However, it was a lucky bounce on the par-5, 533-yard 14th hole on the Gold Course that stood out.

“I was lucky enough to get cart path relief and give myself a better lie and stance,” said Goboy. “I ended up hitting a really good stinger 6-iron like 7 feet, giving me a pretty good putt for eagle.”

Vargas, of Spring, Texas, had seven birdies in a nearly bogey-free round before a late bogey on the par-4, 398-yard 17th, which the positive 16-year-old said was “bound to happen at some point.”

“It was really a good day,” said Vargas. “On the range, I wasn't hitting it the best, so I kind of went into the round taking my time a little bit more. Really focusing on my process a little bit more, things I would have skipped over. I kind of had a wake up call so I was able to put a little bit of extra focus into it. I played confidently to the right spots in the greens.”

Vargas and the other golfers in the second wave sat for an hour-and-seven-minute weather delay late in the afternoon.

“I actually think the rain kind of helped me,” said Vargas. “I just went in and I had time to rest my legs and clear my mind a little bit.”

Just behind the leaders in the Boys Division at 4-under 139 are Chase Kyes of Birmingham, Alabama (2-under 69); Ronin Banerjee of Irvine, California (2-under 69); Giovanni Binaghi of Milano, Italy (3-under 68); and Jake Birdwell of Blaine, Minnesota (3-under 68).

The 48th Junior PGA Championships continue Thursday at Congressional Country Club with play moving exclusively to the Blue Course. Third-round action gets underway at 7:10 a.m. ET.

126 Players Make the Cut

The cutline came in at 6-over for the Girls after play ended, sending 60 competitors into the third round.

In the Boys Division, the cutline was 4-over, with 66 advancing to play on Thursday.

A second cut will be made after 54 holes to the low-30 girls and low-30 boys, plus ties.

11 from Middle Atlantic PGA Section Make the Cut

Of the 23 junior golfers from the Middle Atlantic PGA Section competing this week at Congressional, 11 will continue playing Thursday after making the initial cut, led by Yeung and Goboy, who sit near the top of the Girls and Boys leaderboards, respectively.

For more information about the Junior PGA Championships, visit JuniorPGAChampionship.com and follow on X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.

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