JUNIOR ORANGE BOWL INTERNATIONAL GOLF – Day 2

Karl Vilips stays on top in Boys, Somi

 Lee now leads Girls

FROM DAVID MACKINTOSH

JOB Press Officer

CORAL GABLES, 28^TH Dec: On a virtually windless day overnight leader, 15-year old Australian Karl Vilips, added a smooth 67 to his opening-day 65, racing to a five-stroke lead at 10-under par.

In the Girls Division, with a two-day total of 137, South Korea’s 17-year old Somi Lee overtook France’s Agathe Laisne, who added 72 to her opening 67. Canada’s Monet Chun (68, 73) and Mexico’s Ana Laura Collado (69, 72) are tied third, 12-year old US phenom Alexa Pano posting 71 for a share 5^th place.   

Lee became interested in golf at age 7, when PGA Tour star K.J. Choi offered golf classes at her school and she was quickly hooked. “I immediately liked the discipline of the game,” she said through a translator. Over time she has become one of her country’s most talented amateurs, winning a national tournament for her spot at the Junior Orange Bowl.

“Today I wasn’t as sharp on the greens as I would like,’ she explained. “I missed a lot of birdie chances, by just an edge on several. I need to improve on that but otherwise I’m happy with the way I’ve performed so far.”

Agathe was also pleased that she was able to recover from a poor start. “I don’t know what or why, maybe because the sun was really hot, but I felt tired at the beginning, not sharp, and after seven holes I was three-over. But somehow I was able to switch on some concentration and finish strong.” Birdies at both back-nine par fives help cement that recovery.

Again Vilips made simple work of a less-than-easy golf course. Starting at 10^th with a birdie, pitching to tap-in distance, he held steady for that nine, then pounced on three more birdies on the shorter front side. “I could have putted better, but it was a fair round, nothing too much went wrong. No eagles like yesterday, but my driving was fine, and I had good flight control.”

Chile’s Joaquin Neumann, the 2014 winner, complied a solid 1-under par 70, marred only by a double-bogey at the par- 12^th, moving him into a second-place tie with 16-year old Argentine Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira. 

“I had a good driving day and my long iron play was accurate, so I was able to make a lot of chances,” the Argentine Junior Champion said, disappointed only by a short putt missed at his 17^th hole.

USA’s Brian Tech’s 67, highlighted by an eagle 3 at the final hole, 

tied Vilips for low round of the day.

Scottish boys champion Eric McIntosh (Bruntsfield Links) is tied 

for 46th place with rounds of 79 and 75 for a 12-over-par tally of 

154 over the par 71 Biltmore Course.


Eric  is finding the outward half hard to master.  For the second 

day in a row it cost him 40 strokes (five over par). In contrast he 

covered the second nine in one-under-par 35 with birdies at the 

11th, short 14th and par-5 18th


 

SECOND-ROUND LEADERBOARD

BOYS

par 142 (2x71), yardage 6,742

132 Karl Vilips (Australia) 65 67

137 Joaquin Niemann (Chile) 67 70, Mateo Fernandez de Oliveir 

(Argentina) 69 68

138 Edgar Catherine (France) 68 70

140 Bryan Teoh (USA) 73 67, Will Dickson (USA) 71 69, Pedro Silva (Portugal) 70 70, David Rauch (Germany) 70 70

SELECTED SCORE
154 Eric McIntosh (Scotland) 79 75 (T46)

GIRLS
par 142  (2x71) yardage 6,089

137 Somi Lee (South Korea) 68 69

139 Agathe Laisne (France) 67 72

141 Monet Chun (Canada) 68 73, Ana Laura Collado (Mexico) 69 7

72

144 Tanya Eathakotti (USA) 71 73, Alexa Pano (USA) 73 71