Stanford, CA – Leigh Chien of Irvine, California, wins the 2022 Mariah Stackhouse Girls Invitational with a score of even-par 213.
It would take one playoff hole to decide this year's champion. The reigning champion Michelle Liu, senior Sophie Zhang-Murphy, and eventual champion Leigh Chien went head-to-head in a close round all the way to the end. Chien started her day off with a birdie on hole No. 1 and added two more on holes seven and eight. The 2024 graduate went on to have a steady back nine where a couple clutch putts down the stretch kept her alive. With a par on No. 18, Chien forced a playoff with the other two juniors Zhang-Murphy and Liu. With the two juniors yet to finish the playoff hole, Chien would go on to birdie and claim victory.
The 16 year-old captured her third invitational win after finishing runner-up at last year's event. This is her first invitational win since going back to back at the 2019 and 2020 KPMG Stacy Lewis Junior All-Star Invitational. In addition to her invitational wins, she also has a win at the Lockton Kansas City Junior presented by UHY. Chien's AJGA resume also includes eight top-10 finishes.
This two time Rolex Junior All-American is currently ranked No. 17 in the Rolex AJGA Rankings.
My game's been pretty consistent these past couple of months so moving to win this tournament feels really good.
Michelle Liu of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and Sophie Zhang-Murphy of Saratoga, California, would finish T2 at even-par 213. Liu backed up her win last year with another solid performance. The No. 9 junior in the Rolex AJGA Rankings would add to her career top-5 total which is now at five. Zhang-Murphy completed her highest career finish at an invitational. The Princeton commit now has 12 top-10 career AJGA finishes.
Anna Davis of Spring Valley, California, finished in fourth at 3-over-par 216. Five juniors finished T5. Jaclyn LaHa of Pleasanton, California, Jasmine Koo of Cerritos, California, Asterisk Talley of Chowchilla, California, Olivia Duan of Cupertino, California, and Ashley Yun of West Covina, California, all finished 4-over-par 217.
Three juniors rounded out the top-10. Kiara Romero of San Jose, California, Avery Zweig of McKinney, Texas, and Angela Zhang of Bellevue, Washington, would all finish the tournament at 5-over-par-218.