Edwards, Pitts begin play at U.S. Girls’ Junior

Greensboro players at different stages in their junior careers are among the 156 players entering Monday’s first-round of stroke play at the U.S. Girls’ Junior at Atlanta Athletic Club.

Leah Edwards, a two-time Class 4A state individual champion at Western Guilford High, will attempt to finish her junior career on a high note before heading to Western Kentucky University on a golf scholarship. Edwards qualified with a second-place finish at a qualifier filled with regional and international players at Spring Valley Country Club in Columbia, South Carolina.

Mallory Pitts, a 15-year-old rising sophomore at Greensboro Day School, made a big splash in June by winning the Carolinas Junior Girls’ Championship at WildeWood Country Club, also in Columbia, to earn an automatic U.S. Girls’ slot.

The tournament consists of two rounds of stroke play with the top 32 players advancing to match play.

The site of the 1976 U.S. Open won by Jerry Pate, AAC has since hosted one U.S. Women’s Open and three PGA Championships. The course is expected to play to par-71 at about 6,300 yards.

Rianna Maxili, a Filipina, won the U.S. Girls’ and U.S. Women’s Amateurs last year and now plays at Duke University.