Stanford, CA – Lucy Yuan of (Canada) San Diego, California, and Frances Kim of Rolling Hills Estate, California, lead the first AJGA Girls Invitational at Stanford by one stroke after an opening round of 4-under-par 67. The No. 112 and No. 144 ranked players in the Rolex AJGA Rankings are both in pursuit of their first AJGA invitational titles.
The 78-player field features the top females in junior golf. The entire field is ranked within the top 350 of the Rolex AJGA Rankings, including 35 from the top 100. 20 college commits and 40 AJGA champions round out the overall successes of the field.
In partnership with the Symetra Tour, the winner of this year’s AJGA Girls Invitational at Stanford will receive an exemption into the Symetra Tour’s Guardian Championship in Prattville, Alabama, at the Senator Course of Capitol Hill on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail from September 18-20.
Yuan earned her share of first place carding five birdies on the day, four on the front nine alone. Yuan is a two-time AJGA champion. She claimed her second title one month ago at the AJGA Stan Utley and Mid-America Youth Golf Foundation Junior All-Star. The 2024 grad has three career top-5 AJGA finishes in addition to her two wins.
“I’m very excited to be leading this tournament and I hope to continue this pace for the rest of the tournament."
Kim also fired five birdies on the day. The 2023 grad is making her first career AJGA Invitational start. Kim who started playing with the AJGA in 2020, has not finished outside the top-10 in her three starts. Two weeks ago at the AJGA Junior at Peach Tree, she finished solo second.
"I was putting very well and driving on most of the fairways and everything just worked out."
Lauryn Nguyen of Seattle, Washington, and Grace Summerhays of Scottsdale, Arizona, finished the day T3 one-stroke back of the leaders at 3-under-par 68.
Nguyen a verbal commit to Northwestern University was honored with the USGA’s President's Leadership Award in 2019. The 2021 graduate is currently No. 65 in the Rolex AJGA Rankings. She secured her first win one month ago at the AJGA Junior at Pronghorn with rounds of 71-72-71 – 214. The AJGA Girls Invitational at Stanford marks Nguyen’s fourth AJGA Invitational start.
Summerhays, a 2022 graduate, is making her third AJGA invitational start this week. The No. 97 player in the Rolex AJGA Rankings is coming off a top-10 finish at the Rolex Girls Junior Championship, T8. Summerhays made her debut in the U.S. Women’s Amateur this summer, headlining as one of the youngest players in the field at the age of 16.
Grace's older brother Preston is currently leading the Junior PLAYERS Championship. After her 3-under round, she had some luck to send back to the east coast.
Sending luck from coast to coast.
— AJGA (@AJGAGolf) September 6, 2020
Grace Summerhays (T2) has a message for her brother, Preston, who’s leading #JrPlayers. #StanfordInv pic.twitter.com/3xMNAhXqDp
The second round of the AJGA Girls Invitational at Stanford begins tomorrow at 7:10 am PST off Stanford Golf Course No. 1 and 10 tees.