Top 4 Seeds Cruise through 1st Round in Girls Junior, But McCauley Falls

Tarzana, Calif. -- The top seeds tend to do well in the first round of match-play tournaments that have 64 qualifiers, but they don't normally do as well as they did on Wednesday in the first round of matches at the U.S. Girls Junior Championship.

Each of the top four seeds won, and none of them had to go past the 16th green. Nos. 2 and 3, Rianna Malixi and Jasmine Koo, both won 6&5. The No. 5 seed, Canadian Vanessa Borovilos, needed 20 holes to advance, and the No. 6 and 7 seeds both lost. But 13 of the top 16 seeds did get through.

That wasn't good news Reese McCauley. The two-time Minnesota state high school champion from Inver Grove Heights was seeded 56th, after putting together a pair of 2-over-par 73s at Caballero Country Club in the stroke-play portion of tournament, which meant she faced the ninth seed, a 15-year-old qualifier for the 2024 U.S. Women's Open named Amelie Zalsman, in the first round.

McCauley, who made the quarterfiinals of the 2022 U.S. Junior Girls, and the Round of 16 last year, birdied the 507-yard, par-5 first hole for a quick 1-up lead, and she parred the par-4 second. But she didn't make another birdie on the outward nine. There were two birdies on holes No. 3 through 9, but also four bogeys and a doiuble. The double came at the par-3 sixth, and Zalsman went 1 up with her par there. McCauley, a long-hitting 18-year-old -- she averages around 270 or 275 off the tee -- made her third birdie of the outward nine at the 496-yard, par-5 seventh hole. But Zalsman birdied it, too, and she won the par-4 eighth and ninth holes with pars to go 3 up.

McCauley won the par-3 10th and the par-5 12th with pars, which narrowed the deficit to 1 down. Zalsman came right back to win the 357-yard, par-4 13th with a birdie, and she ended up winning the match 3&2.

Next up for Zalsman will be Avani Prashanth, the No. 41 seed. She upset No. 24 Isabel Brozena in a 19-hole match.

Kinsley Ni, the masked medalist from China (she has sun allergies), took on Californian Cathy Zhang, who shot 147 in stroke play and had to survive an 8-for-3 playoff just to earn the No. 64 seed. They halved one hole on the front nine. Ni, who whot 66-65--131 in stroke play and beat the field by four strokes, won the first hole with a birdie and the second with a par. Zhang then won the third with a birdie and the fourth with a par. Then it was Ni's turn, again. She won the par-4 fifth with a birdie and the par-3 sixth with a par.

Based on what had happened in the match up to that point, Ni's 2-up lead didn't seem all that secure, but after they both birdied the par-5 seventh, Ni won the eighth and ninth holes with pars and made the turn 4 up. Zhang cut that in half by winning the par-5 12th and par-4 13th with birdies, but Ni ended the match, 3&2, by winning the 15th with a par and halving the par-3 16th with another par.

So Ni will face the No. 33 seed, Canadian Swetha Sathish, in the Round of 32 on Thursday morning. Sathhish was also a 3&2 winner on Wednesday, over the No. 32 seed, Alice Ziyi Zhao of China.



U.S. Girls Junior Championship

At Caballero Country Club

Par 71, 6,365 yards

Tarzana, Calif.

Match play

Round of 64

No. 9 Amelie Zalsman, St. Petersburg, Fla. def. Reese McCauley, Inver Grove Heights 3&2

No. 1. Kinsley Ni, China def. No. 64 Cathy Zhang 3&2

No. 2. Rianne Malixi, Phillipines def. No. 63 Annie Jin, Bradenton, Fla. 6&5

No. 3. Jasmine Koo, Cerritos, Calif. def. Marley Pedrique, Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. 6&5

No. 4 Asterisk Talley, Chowchilla, Calif. def. No. 61 Sofia Vargas, Riverside, Calif. 3&2

No. 5. Vanessa Borovilos, Canada def. Charlotte Cantonis, Tampa, Fla. 20 holes

No. 59 Anna Fang, San Diego def. No. 6 Aphrodite Deng, Canada 2&1

No. 58 Madison Messimer, Myrtle Beach, S.C. def. No. 7 Kaili Xiao, China 1 up

No. 8 Yuka Nashina, Japan def. Veronika Exposito, The Woodlands, Texas 3&2


Stroke play

Final results

1. Kinsley Ni 66-65--131

T2. Jasmine Koo 69-66--135

T2. Rianne Malixi 68-67--135

4. Asterisk Talley 69-67--136

T5. Aphrodite Deng 65-72--137

T5. Kaili Xiao 68-69--137

T5. Yuka Nishina 68-69--137

T5. Vanessa Borovilos 70-67--137

T9. Kylee Choi 65-73--138

T9. Natalie Yen 67-71--138

T9. Amelia Zalsman 68-70--138

T54. Reese McCauley 73-73--146

Missed cut -- 147 (there was an 8-for-3 playoff at that number that started late Tuesday, and it will be continued Wednesday morning)

Gabriella Eifrig 77-76--153