Lily Wachter of St. Augustine got off to a fast start and posted a 4-under-par 68 on July 28 in the first round of the Junior PGA Championship at the Fields Ranch at PGA Frisco West Course.
Wachter is four
shots behind first-round leader Carolyn Liu of Katy, Texas, who had an 8-under 64.
Sahana Chokshi
of Jacksonville posted a 2-under 70 and is tied for 24th. Sofia Rivera of St. Augustine shot 1-over 73 and is tied for 66th.
Wachter, who began her round at the ninth hole, birdied Nos. 12, 13, 17 and 18, then turned and birdied No. 1 to go 5-under through 10 holes. She slipped back with bogeys at Nos. 2 and 6, wrapped around another birdie at the fourth hole.
Wachter has been playing on the Florida Junior Tour, with five victories, 13 top-five finishes and 17 top-10s in the past three years. She was the girls 10-11 champion at the 2024 Drive, Chip and Putt competition at the Augusta National Golf Club, the first winner from the First Coast in the event, and the first girl to qualify.
Chokshi was 3-under through 10 holes, with birdies at Nos. 17 and 18. She shot 2-over on the back nine.
Rivera started her round with a triple-bogey 7 at No. 9 but recovered to play 2-under the rest of the round, with birdies at Nos. 18, 5 and 8,
Wachter will have an early tee time for the second round on July 29, at 8:54 a.m. (EDT) at the East Course. Chokshi tees off at 3:09 p.m. and Rivera at 3:42 p.m. The tournament will be cut to the low-60, plus ties, after the second round.
What did Charlie Woods shoot?
In the boys tournament, Kailer Stone of Alameda, Calif, shot 4-under 68 on the East Course to take the lead. Charlie Woods, who contended deep into the final day of last year's Junior PGA at the Purdue Golf Course, struggled with an opening-round 75.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: St. Augustine's Lily Wachter posts 68 in first round of the Junior PGA
