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Park,
Chun Take Lead Midway Through Second Round
At
2004 U.S. Girls' Junior
Fort
Worth, Texas – Past champion In-Bee Park, 16, of Henderson,
Nev., and first-round co-leader Mari
Chun, 16, of Pearl City, Hawaii share the lead midway through
the second round of stroke play at the 56th U.S. Girls' Junior,
being played at the 6,256-yard, par-71 Mira Vista Golf Club
course.
Park
shot the morning's low round, a 4-under-par 67, to go with
her first-round 71 for a two-day total of 138. Park, who won
the Girls' Junior in 2002 and was runner-up in 2003, is trying
to capture medalist honors for the third consecutive year,
something done just once in the 56-year history of the championship.
Brandie Burton earned medalist honors in 1987-89.
“That
would be really big for me,” Park said. “I really tried to
do my best, and I really wanted to be the medalist, but there
are a lot of really good players out here, so it's tough.”
After
a bogey on No. 2, Park made three consecutive 10' birdie putts
on the third, fourth and fifth holes. After back-to-back birdies
on the 16th and 17th holes, she missed a 7-foot birdie putt
on the par-4, 337-yard 18th hole that would have given her
the outright lead. Despite the miss on 18, the key to Park's
low round was her putter.
“Yesterday
I didn't putt really well,” said Park. “I just practiced after
that and it got better.”
Meanwhile,
Chun added an even-par 71 to go with her first-round 67. She
opened with four bogeys on her front nine, but came back with
five birdies on the second nine.
Chun
made a concerted effort not to think about medalist honors.
“I
was just trying to play my best and after the front nine I
was like, ‘Wow, I have a lot of work to do,'" said Chun.
“But I'm pretty happy that I was able to come back, and I
didn't let myself falter some more.”
The
three other first-day co-leaders, Jennie Arseneault, 16, of
Grinnell, Iowa, 17-year-old Julieta Granada of Paraguay and
defending champion Sukjin-Lee Wuesthoff, 17, of Toms River,
N.J., all had afternoon tee times.
Among
the competitors who should safely advance to match play was
2004 U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links champion Ya-Ni Tseng,
15, of Chinese Taipei, who shot a pair of 1-over-par 72s.
Two-time
U.S. Women's Open participant Morgan Pressel, 16, of Boca
Raton, Fla., rebounded from an opening 6-over 77 with a 2-over-par
73. Pressel will have to wait until the conclusion of Tuesday
afternoon's second round to see if she qualifies for match
play.
After
the second round of stroke play is completed Tuesday, the
U.S. Girls' Junior Amateur field will be reduced to 64 players
for match play. The first and second rounds of match play
are scheduled for Wednesday, the third and quarterfinal rounds
will be played Thursday, the semifinal matches are on Friday,
and the 18-hole championship final is scheduled for Saturday.
The U.S. Girls' Junior is one of 13 national championships
for individuals conducted annually by the United States Golf
Association, 10 of which are strictly for amateurs.
Story
written by Beth Murrison of USGA Media Relations. E-mail her
with questions or comments at bmurrison@usga.org.
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