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AUGUSTA, Ga. — California teen Anna Davis birdied the par-5 closing gap at Champions Retreat and shared the lead with Alabama sophomore Benedetta Moresco of Italy at 2-under 70 on a tricky, windy begin on Wednesday to the Augusta Nationwide Girls’s Novice.
Solely 5 gamers within the elite discipline of amateurs from around the globe managed to interrupt par.
Rose Zhang, the No. 1 beginner in ladies’s golf and a number one favourite, struggled with the brand new greens on her solution to a 76. It was a tough begin, although scores had been so excessive Zhang hardly shot herself out of the event. She was two photographs beneath the lower line.
The highest 30 from the 60-player discipline after the second spherical Thursday at Champions Retreat advance to the ultimate spherical Saturday at Augusta Nationwide. A playoff decides the thirtieth spot in case of a tie
All gamers are allowed a follow spherical Friday on the dwelling of the Masters, even when they do not qualify for the ultimate spherical.
Davis, a 16-year-old from simply east of San Diego, is making her debut within the Augusta Girls’s Novice after two wins final yr, together with the Ladies Junior PGA Championship. She was stable in robust scoring circumstances, dropping her solely shot on the fifteenth gap.
“Often after I go to occasions, I do know the people who find themselves enjoying. And I do not know lots of the women right here,” Davis mentioned. “I sort of really feel like an underdog. There’s not as a lot strain on me.”
Moresco, who missed the lower in Augusta final yr, did her work on the entrance 9 with three birdies, the final one on the par-3 eighth. She completed with 10 pars.
“I take pleasure in enjoying within the wind. I performed in Europe and like all of the European tournaments up in England. I had an important like coaching there,” Moresco mentioned.
Michigan junior Hailey Borja, Xiaowen Yin of China and Ingrid Lindblad of Sweden had been one shot behind.
Lindblad, a junior at LSU, shared the 36-hole lead with Zhang final yr and completed one shot out of a playoff received by Tsubasa Kajitani of Japan.
Zhang is a former U.S. Girls’s Novice and a U.S. Junior Ladies champion, a winner of 4 straight tournaments she performed final fall. The Stanford freshman went out in 38, birdied the tenth, however then ran off 4 bogeys over the following six holes. She closed by making a 25-foot birdie putt on the par-5 18th.
“At this time was just a bit bit tough,” Zhang mentioned. “It was onerous to get my numbers proper. Each time I hit a extremely good shot it might be a really unfortunate bounce. The greens at the moment had been robust to learn for me. There’s lots to work on.”
Zhang is amongst 9 gamers who’ve competed yearly since for the reason that event started in 2019, and considered one of 4 gamers who’ve reached the ultimate spherical at Augusta Nationwide annually. She wasn’t alone in her struggles.
One other was Erica Shepherd, who had two double bogeys and 5 bogeys in her spherical of 79.
Two others, Emma Spitz of UCLA and Beatrice Wallin of Florida State, every opened with a 73 and had been tied for ninth.
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