67-67 in Final 2 Rounds Wins Jr. PGA for Larrabee; Birdwell Is T5

MNPGA

BETHESDA, Md. -- Baylor Larrabee has won the Washington state high school championship, but the 18-year-old from Ferndale was on the biggest stage of his young golf career this week, at the U.S. PGA Junior Championships, and he turned in a virtuoso performance. 

Things weren't exactly great from the beginning of the tournament. In Tuesday's first round, he started on the back nine of the iconic Blue Course at Congressional Country Club and was under par early, but he made a double bogey on the third hole and a bogey at the fifth. Two birdies over the last four holes enabled him to escape with an even-par 72. He put together another even-par round on Wednesday, this time a 71 at Congressional's Gold Course, but he was outside the top 15 halfway through the tournament.

A big part of the problem was that he was hitting good putts,, but they refused to fall. That changed Thursday. Both of the last two rounds were played on the Blue Course, which has been host to five major professional championships, and Larrabee shot a pair of 67s. The resulting 72-hole total of 277 was good enough for a three-stroke victory.

"Definitely the biggest thing in my career up to this point," he said after accepting the first-place trophy. 

Larrabee, who will be a freshman at UCLA this fall, birdied six of the first 11 holes in Thursday's 67. On Friday, he birdied the par-4 first, but then parred the next five holes. Those pars weren't helping the cause. It was a birdie at the 169-yard, par-3 seventh that started his dash to the front of the pack. The eighth hole at Congressional Blue is a par-4 just under 300 yards, and Larrabee described it as being  "perfect" for a low cut "because I could get it running down the slope and get it to kick right to the pin."

That was precisely what he did. The ball wound up 7 feet from the cup, and Larrabee made the putt for an eagle 2. He followed that with a birdie at the 615-yard, par-5 ninth, and added one more birdie at the par-3 10th -- making him 5 under for a four-hole stretch.

"Next thing I knew," he marveled, "I was 6 under through 10."

Pars from there were good enough, even with a bogey at the par-5 16th thrown in.  

There was a three-way tie for second at 280. It included Liv Grinberg, a 16-year-old phenom from Ukraine who made the cut in a DP World Tour event when he was 14. He closed with a 69 on his way to an an aggregate of  280. Jake Albert got to that number with a 70, and Asher Vargas with a 71. 

Another shot back, at  281, were four players tied for fifth. Jake Birdwell was in that foursome. A hitter of prodigious drives -- even by modern standards -- from Spring Lake Park, Birdwell was tied for the lead when the day began, and was 1 under for the round after a birdie at the par-4 fifth hole, but he doubled the par-5 sixth and sandwiched a bogey between his birdies at the eighth and 10th holes. Despite having made three birdies to that point, he was exactly where he started, even par. And that was where he ended up, after making two more birdies and two more bogeys over the last eight holes, including a bogey at the 18th. 

All of which added up a 72, which cost the former Minnesota state high school champion and soon-to-be freshman at the the University of Illinois four places in the final standings. That bogey at the 18th dropped him out of a tie for second. 

The biggest surprise of the week came in the Girls Division, and it was the 83 that Kinsley Ni shot on Friday. Ni, a 16-year-old from China, won the medal by four strokes in the U.S. Girls Junior in July, and she seemed poised to add the Junior PGA title to her burgeoning golf resume. She started the day tied for the lead, but bogeyed the first three holes, and worse, she went double-double-bogey-bogey-bogey from the 13th hole to the 17th. She dropped 19 places into a tie for 20th.

That opened the door for Avery McCrery, a 17-year-old from Wilimington, Del., who is committed to Duke for 2025. She made two birdies and two bogeys in the first 11 holes and was clinging to a one-shot lead as she came down the stretch. Then, at the paf-5 16th hole, she pulled her third shot. It didn't look promising in the air, but it hit a spectator, caromed onto the the green and set up a 4-foot birdie putt that pretty much sealed the deal for McCrery. She signed for a 71, which gave her a 72-hole total of 281. 

Elizabeth Rudisill and Alice Zhao, who began the round tied with Ni for first, ended up tied for second, two behind at 283. Zhao doubled the first  hole and made four bogeys in a span of six holes from the ninth to the 14th. She shot 75. Rudisill moved up two spots with a 72.    


U.S. Junior PGA Championships

At Congressional Country Club

Bethesda, Md. 

Boys Division

Blue Course -- par 72, 7,227 yards

Gold Course -- par 71, 6,826 yards

Final results (the boys played the first round on the Blue Course, the second on Gold, and both the third and fourth will be on Blue again)

For boys and for girls, the top 60 players and ties made the 36-hole cut; the top 30 and ties then made the 54-hole cut

1. Baylor Larraabee, Ferndale, Wash.        72-71-67--67--277 (-10)

T2. Lev Grinberg, Ukraine                            73-72-66-69--280

T2. Asher Vargas, Spring, Texas                 73-65-71-71--280

T2. Jake Albert, Blacksburg, Va.                  75-69-68-70--280

T5. Jake Birdwell, Spriing Lake Park       71-68-70-72--281

T5. Michael Riebe, Encinitas, Calif.             75-67-71-68--281

T5. Will Hartman, Marvin, N.C.                     73-69-68-70--280

T9. Adam Villanueva, Austin, Texas             73-70-66-73--282

T9. Clark Goboy, Chesapeake, Va.               73-65-72-72--282

T11. Brady Catalano, Upper Arlington, Ohio 72-70-70-71--283

T11. Sean Keeling, Ireland                            73-65-74-71--283

T11. Colin Salema, Matthews, N.C.              70-71-70-72--283

T11. Talon Dingledine, No. Chesterfield, Va. 70-71-69-73--283

What it took to make the 54-hole cut -- 216 (4-way tie for 28th)

What it took to make the 36-hole cut -- 147 (11-way tie for 56th)

Failed to make the 36-hole cut

Sam Udovich, Inver Grove Heights            77-72--149

Joe Honsa, Mendota Heights                      80-76--156


Girls Division

Blue Course -- par 72, 6,259 yards

Gold Course -- par 71, 6,110 yards

Final results (the girls played the first round on the Gold Course, but the second, third and fourth will all be on Blue )

1. Alice McCrery, Wilmington, Del.                    70-72-68-71--281 (-6)

T2. Alice Zhao, Irvine, Calif.                              68-69-71-75--283

T2. Elizabeth Rudisill, Charlotte, N.C.               71-73-67-72--283

T4. Elise Lee, Irvine, Calif.                                 73-71-71-71--286

T4. Ryleigh Knaub, Debary, Fla.                        68-73-75-70--286

T4. Asterisk Talley, Chowchilla, Calif.                70-71-77-68--286

T4, Madison Messimer, Myrtle Beach, S.C.      67-71-74-74--286

T8. Anna Fang, San Diego, Calif.                     73-70-73-71--287

T8. Angela Zhang, Bellevue, Wash.                  69-73-72-73--287  

T8. Anna Song, Los Angeles                             67-75-72-73--287 

What it took to make the 54-hole cut -- 219 (4-way tie for 27th)

What it took to make the 36-hole cut -- 149 (4-way tie for 57th)

Failed to make the 36-hole cut

Reese McCauley, Inver Grove Heights          75-77-152

Amelia Mlorton, Maple Grove                        72-81--153

Jordana Windhorst-Knudsen, Lake City      74-81--155