AJGA National Headquarters will be closed starting on Monday, October 27, through Thursday, October 30. The office will reopen on Friday, October 31, from 8 a.m. to Noon ET. All proof-of-age submissions, emails, and voicemails will be addressed upon our return on October 31.
Kaiwen Liu of San Diego leads the Boys Division after firing a first-round 6-under-par 66. This is his second time at Thunderbird International Junior and he is chasing his second AJGA championship. Liu tees off No.1 at 9:15 a.m. with William Moll of Houston and Ryan Grider of Lewisville, Texas. Rachel Heck of Memphis, Tennessee, is the Girls Division leader after carding a 4-under-par 68. She is also competing in her second Thunderbird after finishing fifth in 2016. Heck tees off No.1 at 8:45 with Alyaa Abdulghany of Newport Beach, California, and Youngin Chun of Gainesville, Florida.
26 players turned in first-round scores of under par. The 18 boys include:
Kaiwen Liu (-6)
William Moll (-5)
Ryan Grider (-5)
Eugene Hong (-5)
Ricky Castillo (-3)
Will Thomson (-3)
Cole Hammer (-3)
Wocheng (Aden) Ye (-3)
Sampson-Yunhe Zheng (-2)
Josh Armstrong (-2)
Travis Vick (-2)
Karl Vilips (-2)
Parker Coody (-1)
Pierceson Coody (-1)
Noah Norton (-1)
Won Jun Lee (-1)
Agustin Errázuriz (-1)
Ryan Gerard (-1)
The eight girls include:
Rachel Heck (-4)
Alyaa Abdulghany (-3)
Youngin Chun (-2)
Sophie Guo (-2)
Zixuan (Jennifer) Zhou (-1)
Aubree Jones (-1)
Yealimi Noh (-1)
Michaela Morard (-1)
After the first round, players competed in the Glo-Birds Putting Competition. Players were challenged on a six-hole track made up of over 1,000 glow sticks.
