Ariya Jutanugarn retains the lead at the Junior PGA Championship
Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn managed to hold off a pack of rivals snapping at her heels on the second day of the 37th Junior PGA Championship on Wednesday, finishing with an eight-under par 136, two strokes clear of Samantha Wagner.
The 16-year-old defending champion shot a 66 and led by one stroke after the opening round. On day two, she managed to record three birdies and an eagle against three bogeys to stay ahead of Wagner on eight-under.
Alison Lee, who had gotten off to a slow start with an opening round of 73, made a strong comeback at the Sycamore Hills Golf Club. She shot a stunning 67 and surged to the third place with a four-under par two-round score.
Moriya Jutanugarn (72) and Megan Khang (73) were further a stroke back, sharing the fourth spot on the leaderboard.
Jutanugarn, who won the 36th edition of the tournament with a remarkable 10-stroke margin, told the reporters that she struggled with her irons on the front nine (her back nine) of the course.
Otherwise, she said that she was happy with her overall performance in the round and confident about her chances of another win in the event.
She started on the back nine of the course and recorded two birdies to go two-under for the round. "I played well at the start of my round," said Jutanugarn, the Canadian Women's Amateur winner. "I made birdies and hit my irons pretty good".
However, she lost control over her game on the front nine and suffered a bogey on the first hole. Yet, she managed to make a comeback on the next hole with an amazing eagle, followed by a birdie on the fifth hole.
That was a time when she had a four-stroke lead over Wagner. However, she suffered another two bogeys and decreased her lead to two strokes.
"At the end of the round, I didn't hit my irons good," Jutanugarn said. "I would hit it 10 yards over one green, and 10 yards in front of another. I need to improve."
Meanwhile, Wagner also made a good comeback after she had to sign a double bogey on her scorecard at the 15th hole, her sixth for the day.
"I was struggling on the front nine and just overall I wasn't that steady," Wagner said. "But I am pretty happy and the round could have been a lot worse than it was".
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