Ni Pulls Away in Girls Jr. with 65; McCauley Advances to Match Play

TARZANA, Calif. -- Looking vaguely like a character from Star Wars, Kinsley (Nixin) Ni took the course at El Caballero Country Club apart with a 6-under-par 65 on Tuesday and finished first in the stroke-play portion of the U.S. Girls Junior Championship. The leaderboard was tightly packed after Monday's first round, and that was still the case after the second round -- except for Ni, a 16-year-old from China.

Her 36-hole total of 131 was four clear of the second-place score, and came within one stroke of the tournament record, which was set by Taylor Karle at BanBury GC in Eagle, Idaho, in 2005. There have been three other 131s, including one by Rose Zhang, who shot that score to claim medalist honors in 2021 and then won the medal-play part of the tournament, as well. Zhang, who had already won the U.S. Women's Amateur the year before, went on to win the NCAA individual championship twice, then turned professional and has won twice on the LPGA Tour.

Rianne Malixi, 17, and Jasmine Koo, 18, tied for second at 135. Malixi, who was the runner-up in this tournament last year, got there with a second-round 67. Koo, a soon-to-be freshman at the University of Southern California, shot 66.

A 15-year-old Californian, Asterisk Talley, made consecutive birdies three times in her 67 on Tuesday, and she finished alone in fourth at 136.

Ni, who has to protect herself from sun allergies, was wearing long sleeves, two gloves, a floppy sun hat -- and a white mask that went from the bottom of her neck to just belown her sun glasses. But there was nothing weird looking about her golf game. She made consecutive birdies on the front nine at El Caballero, at the par-3 seventh hole and the par-5 eighth, and she made three in a row on the back nine, at the 537-yard, par-5 12th and the 13th and 14th, both par 4s.

As the No. 1 seed for the match-play part of the tournament, which will start Wednesday morning, she will take on the No. 64 seed. Exactly who that will be has yet to be determined. There was an 8-person playoff that began Tuesday afternoon to determine the last three qualifiers for match play. But it had to be suspended and will be completed in the morning.

It took a 36-hole score of 147 (plus 5) to make the playoff. Reese McCauley, the 18-year-old two-time Minnesota state high school champion from Inver Grove Heights -- and the University of Minnesota's prize recruit for 2024 -- had a spot in match play pretty much locked up after shooting 73 on Monday and going 1 under on the front nine Tuesday. But then she made things interesting, with bogeys at the par-3 10th, the par-4 13th and 14th holes, and a double at the 406-yard, par-4 18th.

That worked out to another 73, and a 36-hole tab of 146, which put her into an eight-way tie for 54th, and she escaped the playoff by one shot. McCauley, who made the quarterfinals in the Girls Junior two years ago and the Round of 16 last year, got the No. 56 seed, and will play her Round of 64 match on Wednesday against the No. 9 seed, Amelie Zalsman. She shot 68-70--138 on her way to a tie for ninth.


U.S. Girls Junior Championship

At Caballero Country Club

Par 71, 6,365 yards

Tarzana, Calif.

Second-round 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