A torrid finish allowed Erica Shepherd to fire a 7-under-par 65 in the first round of the Girls Junior PGA Championship at Kearney Hill Links Golf Course in Lexington, Kentucky on Monday.
The Center Grove senior is in second place in the 144-player field after birdieing four of her final five holes. She is two strokes back of Alexa Melton, who shot a tournament-record 63.
“For the first time ever, I took the driver out of play and hit 3-wood all day off the tee,” Shepherd said after her round. “Heading into this tournament, I’ve put a lot of pressure on myself with the Junior Ryder Cup on the line and what this event means. (But) I was able to perform today. I’ve always liked having the pressure on me.”
Teeing off on the 10th hole in the afternoon, Shepherd opened with four pars before collecting back-to-back birdies on the par-5 14th and the par-3 15th. She added another birdie on the par-5 18th to make the turn with a 33.
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Shepherd carded four more pars to start the front side before notching three straight birdies on holes 5 through 7. She then closed out her bogey-free round with another birdie on the par-4 ninth.
Coming off of a second-place finish at the AJGA Polo Golf Junior Classic two weeks ago, Shepherd entered the week ranked fourth in the Junior Ryder Cup points standings and sixth in the Rolex AJGA rankings.
Shepherd begins her second round at 8:50 a.m. today.
