Red Wing Teammates Yoemans and Herzog Advance to Girls' Junior PGA Championship

July 7, 2017 | 2 min.

By Nick Hunter
nick@mngolf.org


  COON RAPIDS, Minn. – Prior to the 2017 season, 16-year-old Sophia Yoemans had never qualified for a national golf championship. That changed when she fired a 1-under par 71 on June 22 at Emerald Greens to capture a spot in the 2017 U.S. Girls’ Junior Amateur Championship.

Yoemans duplicated her opening round of 74 at the 2017 Minnesota Section Girls’ Junior PGA Championship Friday at Bunker Hills Golf Club, earning medalist honors as well as a spot in the national championship—her second in less than three weeks.

“I was hitting the ball really well the past two days, but my putting was not good,” Yoemans said after qualifying Friday. “I was super frustrated, but I hung in there and made pars. My chipping really helped and kept me going.

“I’m excited to be able to go there—it’ll be a good experience.” Carding two bogeys during her opening round Thursday, Yoemans followed a similar pattern as she bogeyed the first hole Friday before rolling consecutive pars to turn at 3-over for the championship.

A bogey to begin the back nine put Yoemans at 4-over, but she would again par the next eight holes, making a trio of key up-and-downs late to earn a four-stroke victory and qualify for the national tournament July 18-21 at the Country Club of St. Albans in St. Albans, Mo.

With no birdies on her scorecard during either round this week, Yoemans said the odds of qualifying were not in her favor.

“I didn’t think I had a chance at all,” she said. “We had [Janice Kim] at 1-under and I was three back and not making birdies.

“I knew [Kim] was probably going to have another good day so I just tried to play my own game. I wasn’t playing with them, so I never knew what was going on and didn’t really focus on them.”

Yoemans’ high school teammate at Red Wing, Leah Herzog, grabbed the other qualifying spot Friday, advancing from a three-way playoff with Olivia Peterson and Megan Welch after all three finished 36-holes at 8-over par 152.

Herzog fired an even par 72 to begin the championship Thursday, but struggled early during the final round, shooting 7-over par on her front nine before regaining her footing to shoot 1-over par on the back, despite a double-bogey on the final hole.

“Yesterday I played really well. I hadn’t broken 75 recently and it felt good to be able to do that,” Herzog said Friday. “Today was rough. I didn’t hit the ball great or make any putts but I held it together on the back nine.”



2017 MN GIRLS’ JUNIOR PGA CHAMPIONSHIP
BUNKER HILLS GOLF CLUB
COON RAPIDS, MINN.

EAST/WEST COURSE
5,585 YARDS, PAR 72


FINAL RESULTS

1. Sophia Yoemans, 74-74—148
T2. Leah Herzog, 72-80—152 (won playoff)
T2. Olivia Peterson, 75-77—152
T2. Megan Welch, 74-78—152
T5. Isabella McCauley, 78-75—153
T5. Janice Kim, 71-82—153
7. Madison Hicks, 76-78—154
8. Joanna Kim, 80-75—155
9. Aayushi Sarkar, 77-79—156
T10. Sofia Morin, 79-78—157
T10. Molly Stevens, 78-79—157


For complete tournament results go to: https://mnpgajr.bluegolf.com/bluegolf/mnpgajr17/event/mnpgajr1730/contest/10/leaderboard.htm
 

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