BRYAN, Texas – The Dominican Republic’s Juan Delgado fired a 5-under 67 in Saturday’s opening round of the inaugural Fall Challenge at the Traditions Club to lead the Boys 15-18 division by one shot.
In the Girls 12-18 division, Dallas’ Hailey Jones carded a stellar 3-under-par 69 at The Traditions Club. Treed Huang of Katy also carded 3-under 69 to lead the Boys 14 & Under division heading into Sunday’s final round.
Conducted by the Legends Junior Tour, the inaugural Fall Challenge is taking place at the Jack Nicklaus designed Traditions’ Club. The LJT returns to the club for the first time since the 2013 Jackie Burke Cup. The Traditions Club is home to the men’s and women’s Texas A&M University Golf Teams. The Boys 15-18 division is playing 6,907 yards, the Boys 14 & Under division is playing 6,297 yards and all girls are playing 6,007 yards.
Delgado, who attends the prestigious Jim McLean Academy in Fort Worth had a bogey-free round. Starting on the 10th hole, Delgado made a par on the difficult 559-yard, par-5, then had back-to-back birdies on the par-3 11th and par-4 12th holes. He had nine straight pars following those birdies before closing his round with three birdies in his final six holes to get to 5-under and one shot clear of Temple’s William Paysse.
Paysse, who’s older brother plays on the Texas A&M Men’s Golf Team, carded a 4-under 68 Saturday. He bogeyed his opening hole, the aforementioned 10th, then went mistake free the remaining 17 holes. Like Delgado, Paysse got hot late, carding three birdies in his final five holes.
Pearland’s Vishnu Sadagopan, the 2016 LJT Boys 14 & Under Player of the Year, and Granbury’s Jake Holbrook sit in third place, two shots back of Delgado after a 3-under 69s. Holden Wisener, Matthew Griggs, and Rodrigo Rodas sit in a tie for fifth place just four shots back of Delgado.
Jones, the reigning two-time LJT Girls Player of the Year, bogeyed three consecutive holes early in her round on holes three through five. She righted the ship on the short, par-4 sixth hole, and was mistake free the rest of the afternoon.
Her back-nine was nothing short of amazing. She birdied the difficult par-5 10th hole to start her back nine, then parred the par-3 11th. She had three consecutive birdies on the next three holes, and carded another on the challenging par-3 16th hole for a closing 5-under 31.
Jones will look to claim her fourth title of the 2017 season Sunday afternoon at Traditions. She leads by five shots over Isha Dhruva and Elise Parel heading into the final round. Houston’s Zoe Slaughter sits in fourth place, and Frisco’s Halle Whitney rounds out the top five.
In the Boys 14 & Under division, Huang started off his round as well as he could have asked for. He birdied the first two holes of the day, and then had two more birdies on the front nine on holes six and eight before surrendering his first bogey on the difficult par-4 ninth hole.
Huang, who qualified for the 2017 Drive, Chip, and Putt Championships held at Augusta National Golf Club and recently qualified again for 2018 Championships, played consistently on the back, carding one birdie against one bogey.
Huang’s opening round 69 gives him a four-shot lead over Plano’s Rohan Reddy Aerrabolu. Shaheen Momin, Keaton Vo, Matthew Spaulding, Sebastian Moss, and Jack Usner all sit in a tie for third heading into Sunday.
Sunday’s final round is scheduled to begin at 8:00 am off the first and 10th tees, barring another weather delay.
For more information on the Fall Challenge or the Legends Junior Tour, please visit www.TXGA.org.
For full first round results, click here.