A full-day rain delay slowed the momentum that Erica Shepherd had built during Tuesday’s opening round at the AJGA Rolex Girls Junior Championship, but by the end of the day Thursday, she was able to get back on track.
Out in front by three strokes after shooting a blistering bogey-free 65 on Tuesday, Shepherd sputtered out of the gate on Thursday morning en route to a second-round 77, before bouncing back with a 70 in the afternoon to land in a tie for fourth at 4 under par overall.
Shepherd heads into today’s final round eight shots behind leader Alexa Pano, who fired matching 67s in both of her Thursday rounds.Â
The morning didn’t go well for Shepherd, who was 5 over par through her first six holes to fall back into the pack.
She parred nine straight holes, then bogeyed the 16th and birdied the 17th to finish out with a 77, six shots back of the lead in a tie for eighth heading into the afternoon. Her third round helped her climb back up the leaderboard a bit on an afternoon that saw only 11 of the 72 players in the field break par.
