Grace Carter, 15, of Jupiter, Fla., carded a bogey-free, 4-under 67 on Tuesday morning at Atlanta Athletic Club’s Riverside Course in Johns Creek, Ga., wrapping up her stroke play portion of the 76th U.S. Girls' Junior Championship at 6-under-par 136 and atop the leader board as play was suspended due to darkness with 24 players still needing to complete their second rounds.
Carter recorded just a single bogey during stroke play, on her final hole (No. 9) Monday afternoon. Starting on No. 1 Tuesday morning, Carter birdied the first and fourth holes before stringing together eight consecutive pars, interrupted only by another birdie on No. 13. She’d play her last four holes in 1-under-par, chipping in from off the green on No. 17.
“I’m just trying to enjoy myself this week, acting like it’s just another tournament. Staying patient with myself,” said Carter, who is ranked No. 82 in the AJGA Rolex Rankings. “If I hit as many fairways and greens as I can, I can play pretty well.”
Not far behind, a quartet of players from Asia completed their stroke play portion of the competition at 5-under-par 137: Arianna Lau and Sophie Han, of Hong Kong, first-round leader Rinka Nakayama, of Japan, and Xingtong Chen of Singapore.
“I was playing alright today, my irons were working well, putts were going in,” Chen said. “The weather delay was a nice little break in between from the heat, I’m glad I managed to recover well from it.”
Lau, 17, is making her third appearance in the championship. Ranked No. 48 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking®/WAGR® and committed to Northwestern University, she tallied four birdies against just one bogey Tuesday morning.
“I just played really consistently. I made very little mistakes, four birdies and just one bogey, so I’m happy with how I played today,” said Lau, who last year lost in the Round of 32. “I can see how much I’ve improved each year, so my goal is just to do better than last year.”
After shooting an opening round 4-under 67, Han’s second round featured five birdies and four bogeys, finishing stroke play at 5-under. She made the Round of 32 during last year’s championship.
A weather delay of nearly two hours forced the afternoon wave off the course shortly after 3:30 p.m. ET. Asterisk Talley, 16, of Chowchilla, Calif. — last year’s runner-up and the highest-ranked player in the field — carded a 2-under 69 in her second round. Competing in her fourth U.S. Girls’ Junior, Talley currently sits in a tie for 10th.
What's Next
The 24 players who still need to complete Round 2 will resume play at 7:15 a.m. ET. A playoff for the final match play spots will occur immediately after the second round, if necessary. The Round of 64 is scheduled to begin at the conclusion of Round 2.
Notable
Play was suspended at 8:46 p.m. ET due to darkness with 24 players still on the course. Earlier in the day, the championship sustained a 1 hour and 57-minute suspension due to dangerous weather in the area.
Clara Ding, 14, of Canada, recorded an ace on No. 3 using a 9-iron. Ding’s playing group during stroke play included Aubrey Hilgers, who recorded an ace on Monday on No. 8. Combined with 2025 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball champion Asia Young’s 3 on the par-5 first hole on Monday, three eagles have been recorded during the championship thus far.
All four USGA champions in the field - Sarah Lim, Asterisk Talley, Natalie Yen and Asia Young - are projected to make the cut. Lim and Talley won the 2024 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball, while Yen and Young paired to win the 2025 championship earlier this year.
Rachel Lee, 17, of Australia shares a home club – Avondale Golf Club, located on Sydney’s northern shore – with 2025 Evian champion Grace Kim.
Anna Fang, a member of the U.S. National Junior Team, had Tuesday’s biggest turnaround. After an opening round 74, Fang shot a second round 66, tied for the lowest round of the championship.
Quotable
“I’m going to university soon, and the course conditions, the format, the challenge, is very useful. I think this is a very meaningful experience.” – Arianna Lau on competing in the U.S. Girls’ Junior
“I think playing in the [U.S. Women’s Amateur] Four-Ball really helped me get comfortable with the distance. That really helps here, knowing which irons I was going to have, what kind of shots I’d have to hit. It’s a similar type of course.” – Athena Singh, who finished runner-up alongside partner Keira Yun in the 2025 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball, on how that experience helps this week
“It’s really nice. The greens are so smooth, there’s lots of break – it’s different than a normal Georgia course. It’s really cool, I like it a lot.” – Grace Carter on Atlanta Athletic Club’s Riverside Course
“Very nervous. I was very nervous. There were college coaches all over and there was a pretty big crowd all watching.” – Grace Lee, 15, of Suwanee, Ga., on her emotions hitting the championship’s opening tee shot
“I went to the locker room and made bracelets… there were a bunch of Aussies, basically the entire Australian team was there, and I made it with the other Singaporean, who finished playing in the morning.” – Xingtong Chenon how she spent her time during Tuesday’s afternoonrain delay
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