Christine Shao's Record-tying 66 Leads To Championship Of 63rd Junior Girls
Christine Shao of New Jersey National etched her name on a trophy for the second time this season when she fired a course-record tying 66 for a 36-hole total of seven-under-par 136 to win the 63rdNJSGA Junior Girls Championship at 5,559-yard Royce Brook Golf Course (West) on Thursday, July 6, in Hillsborough.
Shao, a rising junior at Pingry School and a resident of Green Brook, recorded seven birdies and one bogey and birdied two of the final three holes to punctuate the victory.
Second-place went to first-day co-leader Yoona Kim of Edgewood (69-60-139), followed by the other co-leader from the first round, Sophia Bae of Edgewood (69-76-145). The 2015 champion Ami Gianchandani of Montclair (72-74-146) was fourth and Tiya Chowdary of Neshanic Valley (72-75-147) placed fifth.
Shao, Kim and Gianchandani will all be playing in the U.S. Girls’ Junior at Boone Valley C.C., in Missouri, July 24-29.
On May 24, Shao, 16, and high school teammate Gianchandani claimed the Fifth NJSGA Women’s Four-Ball Championship at New Jersey National Golf Club in Basking Ridge.
“Today, I just played my own game. I stayed out of the bunkers and concentrated on fairways and greens. I had a practice round here last week. I worked on my course management and took notes about where to place the ball on the fairway and how the green slopes so I would have a better idea of things when I was on the course,” Shao said.
“Winning the Four-Ball Championship with Ami (Gianchandani) was meaningful because I got my name on a trophy for the first time and I showed that I can play well in a tournament of that magnitude,” she said.
Shao, who last week qualified for the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship at Silver Creek C.c. in Pennsylvania. said nerves were not an issue with her holding a three-shot lead after nine holes.
“I was just very focused on each shot I had to play. I didn’t think of the future or the past, I just focused on the shot in front of me,” Shao stated.
She has been playing golf since age seven, but felt her game became “a full package about two years ago. That’s when my putting became more consistent and I became confident in it. “
Last year, Shao was third in an AJGA event in Chantilly, Va. She uses a modified AimPoint type putting approach, walking on the greens to get a feel for the breaks and slopes of the green.
“It means a lot to me to win this and get my name on the trophy. It says my game s good,” she noted.
Kim, a rising sophomore at Immaculate Heart Academy in Westwood, in the first round matched the career low of 69 she set last summer in an AJGA event in Chantilly, Va. This spring, she won an IMG event at Tarpon Springs, Fla., and was medalist at U.S. Girls qualifier in 2016 at Springfield, Va.
