Inclement Weather Can't Damper Incredible Second Day of the 46th Junior PGA Championships

Lightning and a few showers in the Palos Park, Illinois, area didn’t make cut day any easier at the 46th Junior PGA Championships at Cog Hill Golf & Country Club. A 2-½-hour weather delay on Wednesday suspended play at 1 p.m., which led to the second round being called due to darkness at 8:15 p.m. Second-round action resumes at 7 a.m. Thursday morning with the third round tentatively slated for a 10 a.m. start.

Three golfers on top of the leaderboard got through their second rounds. No. 4-ranked Nicholas Gross and University of Illinois Commit Max Herendeen lead the boys division at 10-under 134. On the girls’ side, No. 6-ranked Kaitlyn Schroeder used a 6-under par 66 to move into a tie for first with day 1 leader Julia Misemer, who is at 1-under with two holes remaining in the second round. 

Schroeder, of Jacksonville, Fla., matched Herendeen for the low-round of the day, a 6-under 66. Two eagles and four birdies moved her 11 spots up the leaderboard and the University of Alabama commit sits at 9-under-par 135 for the championship.

“This golf course is pretty tough, so to shoot what I shot is quite nice,” said Schroeder, who played Dubsdread along with the rest of the girls division Wednesday. “What helped is I had two five-footers for eagles. I’m hitting my driver pretty far right now so I only had 7-iron into one of them and 5-iron into the other one. With the 7-iron, I was perfect. It went to like 3 feet (from the hole). The one on 11 was quite difficult because of that pin. I got lucky. I got a good bounce. I could have gotten a bad bounce into the bunker, but instead I got a good bounce, rolled up by the pin 5 feet away.” 

Herendeen, of Bellevue, Washington, shot 6-under par 66 on the Ravines Course, which hosted the boys. He birdied seven times—four coming on the front nine.

“I was hitting my driver pretty well today, which is kind of key on this course when the fairways are tight and there’s really no first cut,” Herendeen said. “Staying in play. Hit a few really good wedge shots and rolled some putts in. It was a pretty simple, stress-free round.”

Gross, of Downingtown, Pennsylvania, carded his second straight 5-under 67 and managed to get into the clubhouse right before play was called for the afternoon wave. Copying yesterday, he fired a  bogey-free round and carded five birdies.

Misemer, of Overland Park, Kansas, was on No. 8 when play was suspended. Wearing a U.S. Junior Ryder Cup Team polo for the second straight day, she opened her round on the back nine of Dubsdread with two birdies and an eagle before finding some trouble on the front nine. She currently sits at 9-under par.

Along with Schroeder, Misemer and Malixi, Jaclyn LaHa of Pleasanton, California, and Katie Li of Basking Ridge, N.J., round out the top five in the girls division. Li, like Misemer, has two holes to finish.

On the boys side, Jay Leng of San Diego, California, and Luke Coyle of Campbellsville, Kentucky, both shot 3-under par 69 to sit third and fourth respectively. 

At the conclusion of second-round play, the top 60 boys and ties and top 60 girls and ties will begin third-round play on the Dubsdread Course. 

Of the 26 Illinois junior golfers competing this week at the Cog Hill Golf & Country Club in Palos Park, Illinois, three are projected to make the cut. The cut after 36 holes is to the top 60 and ties and after 54 holes to the top 30 and ties. Here are their standings thus far in the championship:

T11 | Jack Inabnit, Clarendon Hills, Ill. | +1 | 73 | 74 | 147

T45 | Martha Kuwahara, Northbrook, Ill. | +4 | 71 | 77 | 148

T42 | John Wild, Glen Ellyn, Ill. | +4 | 77 | Round 2 not yet completed