Michael La Sasso of Raleigh, North Carolina, leads the Boys Division by two strokes after carding a 3-under-par 69 in the first round. In his first AJGA event of 2021, La Sasso had six birdies during his round and had two birdies in his last five holes to help him grab the lead. He finished runner-up at the 2020 AJGA Junior at 12 Oaks and is in search of his first AJGA win. He is verbally committed to North Carolina State University.
Chase Kyes of Birmingham, Alabama, and Bryan Kim of Brookeville, Maryland, are tied for second at 1-under-par 71. Kush Arora of Pleasanton, California, is in fourth place at even-par 72 and is followed by Xing Luo of (China) Katy, Texas, PJ Maybank of Cheboygan, Michigan, and Tyler Jones of Jacksonville, North Carolina, in fifth place at 1-over-par 73.
Sophie Simon of Potomac, Maryland, took the first round lead in the Girls Division at 1-under-par 71. Simon began with a bogey-free front nine that included one birdie to jump up the leaderboard and finished with two birdies on the back nine. Simon is looking for her first AJGA victory this week and is committed to Yale University.
Emily Mathews of Mebane, North Carolina, is in second two strokes behind Simon at 1-over-par 73. In third place is Katherine Schuster of Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, at 2-over-par 74.