Elizabeth Wang of San Marino posted a 1-under-par 71 to take a one-stroke lead over Mariel Galdiano of Pearl City, Hawaii, into the final round of the Girls’ Division of the 40th PGA Junior Championship at Miramont Golf Club in Bryan, Texas.
Wang, a sophomore at San Marino High, took the lead with birdies on the 10th and 13th holes before holding steady by finishing with five consecutive pars.
“It felt like a battle out there,” said Wang, who was second in her last outing, the AJGA Bishops Gate Golf Academy Junior Open in Chico. “I had a lot of pressure. … “I’ll work on my putting , but hopefully everything else stays pretty good.”
Wang finished three rounds at 68-70-71–209, 4-under-par, followed by Galdiano at 70-70-70–210, Yujeong Son of Norman, Okla., at 64-73-75–212, Fai Khamborn of Cincinnati at 67-73-74–214, Kaitlyn Papp of Austin, Texas, at 68-71-77–216, and Karah Sanford of Escondido at 73-72-73–218.
Alyaa Adbulghany of Newport Beach shot 73-77-72–222 and wound up in a tie for ninth that included Luci Li of Redwood Shores, who finished at 73-75-74–222.
Brad Dalke of Hobart, Okla., led the Boys’ Division at 68-62-64–194, followed by Cole Hammer of Houston at 70-68-59–197 and Kaiwen Liu of San Diego a 69-67-62–198.
Kendel Hodges of Temecula was tied for 29th at 71-78-73–222, Ashwin Arasu of San Diego was tied for 35th at 72-72-79–223 and Ashkaan Hakim of San Ramon was tied for 39th at 74-74-77–225.
