Zhang and Choi top first-round leaderboard

Round One Results

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – At the end of the first round, the girls’ team dominates the team scoring competition by eleven strokes with an 11-under-par total. Michelle Zhang of (China) Plano, Texas, leads the Girls Division and You Seong Choi of (South Korea) Hacienda Heights, California, sits atop the Boys Division.

This is the 5^th anniversary of the KPMG Stacy Lewis Junior All-Star Invitational, an event that has been hosted at the Blessings Golf Club. The Blessings Golf Club was most recently host to the 2019 NCAA DI Men’s and Women’s Golf Championship. This is the only AJGA tournament to have mixed pairings with one boy and one girl in every group. Stacy Lewis wanted to create an event where boys and girls could play together to promote equality.

Zhang fired the lowest round on the day between both the boys and the girls at 5-under-par 67. She recorded six birdies including three on the back-nine to card 3-under-par 33. The rising sophomore has already had a successful 2019 season with one win under her belt at the 2019 AJGA Junior All-Star at Squaw Creek and five top-10 finishes.

Emily Zhu of (Canada) Richmond Hills, Ontario, and Leigh Chien of Irvine, California, both sit tied for second after carding 3-under-par 69. Zhu recorded a total of seven birdies on the day and carded 2-under-par 34 on the front-nine. Chien fired a bogey-free front nine with four birdies and added another birdie on the back-nine to record five total on the day.

Choi is the sole boy to shoot an under-par round today carding 1-under-par 71. He recorded four birdies on the day to finish one-under-par on the back-nine. The soon to be high school freshman has been off to a strong start in 2019 with two top-10 finishes at both the AJGA Vista Valley Junior presented by Genesis and the ClubCorp Mission Hills Desert Junior.

Garrett Engle of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and Sihan Sandhu of Ashburn, Virginia, both sit tied for second at even-par 72. Engle recorded four birdies on the day and finished at one-under-par 35 on the back-nine. Sadhu also carded four birdies to shoot an even-par 36 on both nines.

The second-round of the KPMG Stacy Lewis Junior All-Star Invitational begins June 26 at 8:00 a.m. off of Nos. 1 and 10 at Blessings Golf Club.

Schedule of events
Monday, June 24 –
· 7:45 am – Practice Round
· 5:00 pm – Player Registration
· 6:00 pm – Welcome Dinner
· 7:00 pm – Stacy Lewis Q&A

Tuesday, June 25 –
· 8 – 9:57 am – First Round off Nos. 1 & 10 tees

Wednesday, June 26 –
· 8 – 9:57 am – Second Round off Nos. 1 & 10 tees
· 3:00 pm – Skills Challenge

Thursday, June 27 –
· 8 – 9:57 am – Final Round off Nos. 1 & 10 tees
· 2:30 pm – Awards Ceremony

About the AJGA
The American Junior Golf Association is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to the overall growth and development of young men and women who aspire to earn college golf scholarships through competitive junior golf. The AJGA provides valuable exposure for college golf scholarships, and has an annual junior membership (boys and girls, ages 12-19) of more than 7,000 members from 50 states and 60 foreign countries.
Through initiatives like the Achieving Competitive Excellence (ACE) Grant, a financial assistance program, and Leadership Links, a service-oriented platform that teaches juniors charitable-giving skills, the AJGA fosters the growth of golf’s next generation.

TaylorMade and adidas are the AJGA’s National Sponsors, supporting the AJGA for more than 25 years. TaylorMade has served as the Official Ball of the AJGA since 2016. adidas has been the Official Apparel and Footwear of the AJGA since 2017. Rolex, in its fourth decade of AJGA sponsorship, became the inaugural AJGA Premier Partner in 2004.

AJGA alumni have risen to the top of amateur, collegiate and professional golf. Former AJGA juniors have compiled more than 900 victories on the PGA and LPGA Tours. AJGA alumni include Rickie Fowler, Sergio Garcia, Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Patrick Reed, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Tiger Woods, Paula Creamer, Ariya Jutanugarn, Cristie Kerr, Stacy Lewis, Brittany Lincicome, Anna Nordqvist, Inbee Park and Lexi Thompson.