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• GolfweekTV: Round 2 recap; McCloskey medals
• Complete U.S. Juniors coverage • Blog Jr.

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By RAY McCARTHY
Assistant Editor

One question echoed silently across the U.S. Girls’ Junior Tuesday: Is there really such a thing as the USGA medalist jinx?

Lisa McCloskey hopes not.

McCloskey shot an 8-under 63 Tuesday to medal in the stroke-play qualifying portion of the U.S. Girls’ Junior, one shot shy of the U.S. Girls’ stroke-play record of 62 set by Christina Kim in 2001 and matched by Kimberly Kim in 2007.

“Even if I go out, I have (medalist honors) to show for it,” McCloskey said, downplaying the notion of a jinx. “It feels good, especially at the U.S. Girls’ Junior. I’d rather shoot it here than anywhere else.”

McCloskey strung together four consecutive birdies on her back nine and rode a wave of momentum that she said began with her first shot of the day.

“From the opening tee shot, I was playing pretty good,” said McCloskey, who went as low as she did despite three-putting two holes, including one from five feet.

McCloskey will be joined in match play by some of the strongest names in junior golf.

Seven of the top 10 girls in the Golfweek/Titleist Junior Rankings qualified for match play, including top-ranked Kimberly Kim, No. 2 Tiffany Lua and third-ranked Alexis Thompson.

“I come to these and I’m still nervous,” said Thompson, who at 13 has already played in the Women’s Open twice. “I actually like stroke play better... but match play I’ll be more aggressive because you can only lose one (at a time).”

Defending champion Kristen Park and 2006 champ Jenny Shin both qualified. Park will try to become the first girl to successfully defend since Hollis Stacy won three consecutive titles from 1969-71. Shin is looking for redemption after failing to qualify for match play last year.

“It feels really nice to have my game back and being able to think that I’m able to get into match play and compete with the other girls,” said Shin.

Shin missed the cut at the Women’s Open by one agonizing shot, but her mind has repressed the pain.

“I don’t really remember much because I was so excited, playing with Lorena (Ochoa) and Annika (Sorenstam),” she said. “It was a really great experience.”

Perhaps the biggest name missing from match play is Jane Rah, whose 11-over 153 was two shots shy of the cut. Rah, ranked 6th in the Golfweek/Titleist Junior Rankings, had knee surgery in May.

Joining Rah on the road will be Michelle Shin, who was a semifinalist last year before losing to Ayaka Kaneko. Shin matched Rah round-by-round with a 77-76-153 total.

The story of the day, however, was McCloskey. Her 10-birdie effort was a women’s course record and personal best. McCloskey, who will turn 17 in August, took an accelerated program of classes to graduate high school in April because her parents are moving to Abu Dhabi. She will attend Pepperdine in the fall.

“It was a lot of work,” she said. “I was taking 11 classes at one time.”

McCloskey is coming off a win at the AJGA’s Valero Texas Open Junior Shootout two weeks ago. She began the final day with a five-shot lead but shot 78 and had to outlast two others in a three-way playoff to win. Trouble closing tournaments has been a recurring problem for McCloskey.

Earlier this month, McCloskey was leading when she made the turn in the final round of the Rolex Tournament of Champions. But a back-nine 39 resulted in a fifth-place finish, four shots shy of eventual winner Jennifer Johnson.

“I don’t know what was going on that day,” she said. “I don’t know if the pressure got to me. I just couldn’t get anything going.”

Despite her late-round problems, McCloskey birdied five of her last six holes Tuesday to medal at the U.S. Junior.

So what has she learned?

“It’s not as easy as Tiger Woods makes it look.”

• • •

Ray McCarthy is a Golfweek assistant editor. To reach him e-mail rmccarthy@golfweek.com.

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Scores with relation to par from the second round of stroke -play qualifying at the U.S. Girls’ Junior Amateur, played July 22 at the par-71 Hartford GC in West Hartford, Conn.:

1. Lisa Mccloskey	71-63--134			-8
2. Stephanie Kim	68-70--138			-4
3. Madison Pressel	69-71--140			-2
4. Jennifer Kirby	68-73--141			-1
4. Ani Gulugian	71-70--141			-1
4. Jenny Shin	72-69--141			-1
7. Kristina Wong	72-70--142			E
7. Daniela Lendl	73-69--142			E
7. Emma Talley	70-72--142			E
7. Alexis Thompson	71-71--142			E
11. Sarah Brown	72-71--143		+	1
11. Courtney Gunter	74-69--143		+	1
11. Pearl Jin	72-71--143		+	1
11. Lindy Duncan	71-72--143		+	1
15. Kimberly Kim	72-72--144		+	2
15. Marina Alex	73-71--144		+	2
15. Austin Ernst	75-69--144		+	2
15. Sue Kim	70-74--144		+	2
15. Stacey Kim	74-70--144		+	2
15. Kristen Park	73-71--144		+	2
21. Samantha Swinehart	68-77--145		+	3
21. Rachel Rohanna	72-73--145		+	3
23. Victoria Tanco	73-73--146		+	4
23. Mary Michael Maggio	73-73--146		+	4
23. Kyle Roig	67-79--146		+	4
23. Caroline Powers	73-73--146		+	4
23. Tiffany Lua	74-72--146		+	4
28. Mariah Stackhouse	74-73--147		+	5
28. Karen Chung	71-76--147		+	5
28. Sarah Beth Davis	73-74--147		+	5
28. Casey Grice	73-74--147		+	5
28. Dorothy Schwartz	74-73--147		+	5
33. Nicole Agnello	76-72--148		+	6
33. Katia Joo	75-73--148		+	6
33. Ginger Howard	73-75--148		+	6
33. Alison Lee	75-73--148		+	6
33. Cyna Marie Rodriguez	74-74--148		+	6
33. Erica Popson	77-71--148		+	6
39. Jessica Wallace	74-75--149		+	7
39. Marisa Kamelgarn	76-73--149		+	7
39. Julie Yang	74-75--149		+	7
39. Danielle Kang	75-74--149		+	7
39. Susana Benavides	72-77--149		+	7
39. Courtney Ellenbogen	77-72--149		+	7
39. Emilie Burger	71-78--149		+	7
39. Katie Sylvan	78-71--149		+	7
39. Stacy Kim	75-74--149		+	7
39. Veronica Valerio	76-73--149		+	7
39. Christine Cho	74-75--149		+	7
39. Portland Rosen	75-74--149		+	7
51. Christine Shimel	74-76--150		+	8
51. Kelly Shon	74-76--150		+	8
51. Amy Anderson	76-74--150		+	8
51. Danielle Frasier	72-78--150		+	8
51. Luz Alejandra Cangrejo	75-75--150		+	8
51. Esther Lee	73-77--150		+	8
51. Erynne Lee	72-78--150		+	8
51. Amanda Steinhagen	77-73--150		+	8
51. Betsie Johnson	73-77--150		+	8
60. Katrina Hegge	74-77--151		+	9
60. Seshia-Lei Telles	72-79--151		+	9
60. Christine Song	77-74--151		+	9
60. Chelsey Cothran	75-76--151		+	9
60. Anna Jang	77-74--151		+	9
60. Taylor Schmidt	77-74--151		+	9
60. Saby Dagenais	73-78--151		+	9
60. Stephanie Meadow	75-76--151		+	9
60. Natalie Reeves	74-77--151		+	9
• • •
Missed the cut
69. Simin Feng	75-77--152		+	10
69. Brittany Altomare	76-76--152		+	10
69. Lindsey Weaver	76-76--152		+	10
69. Whitney Hillier	75-77--152		+	10
73. Felicia Marie Espericueta	77-76--153		+	11
73. Leigh Henderson	74-79--153		+	11
73. Michelle Shin	77-76--153		+	11
73. Alina Ching	77-76--153		+	11
73. Jennifer Yang	76-77--153		+	11
73. Samantha Esguerra	75-78--153		+	11
73. Jane Rah	77-76--153		+	11
73. Rebecca Lee-Bentham	76-77--153		+	11
73. Amy Ruengmateekhun	76-77--153		+	11
73. Chessey Thomas	73-80--153		+	11
73. Rochelle Chan	76-77--153		+	11
73. Alexandria Buelow	77-76--153		+	11
73. Mariko Tumangan	78-75--153		+	11
73. Anna Keith	78-75--153		+	11
87. Jacqueline Yanch	80-74--154		+	12
87. Cheyenne Hickle	75-79--154		+	12
87. Jacy Benites	77-77--154		+	12
87. Kyndall Ardoin	77-77--154		+	12
87. Amelia Hill	76-78--154		+	12
92. Shamira Marshall	76-79--155		+	13
92. Gabi Oubre'	76-79--155		+	13
92. Kimberly Kaufman	77-78--155		+	13
92. Bethany Buchner	78-77--155		+	13
92. Ginger Jun Ki Mak	78-77--155		+	13
92. Sun Park	78-77--155		+	13
92. Isabel Han	80-75--155		+	13
99. Linda Brown	79-77--156		+	14
99. Haley Sanders	77-79--156		+	14
99. Harin Lee	76-80--156		+	14
99. Paige Spiranac	79-77--156		+	14
99. Lalita Patipaksiri	78-78--156		+	14
99. Rui Li	78-78--156		+	14
105. Seo Hee Moon	79-78--157		+	15
105. Haley Wilson	78-79--157		+	15
105. T J Kliebphipat	76-81--157		+	15
105. Aurora Kan	76-81--157		+	15
105. Belen Hernandez	77-80--157		+	15
110. Kristen Garabedian	78-80--158		+	16
110. Regina Alonso	76-82--158		+	16
110. Ashlee Pickerell	77-81--158		+	16
110. Maria Piccio	79-79--158		+	16
110. Casie Cathrea	84-74--158		+	16
110. Lauren Weaver	82-76--158		+	16
110. Blair Lewis	79-79--158		+	16
110. Julia Thead	78-80--158		+	16
118. Cyd Okino	83-76--159		+	17
118. Erin Sharpee	81-78--159		+	17
118. Isabelle Lendl	81-78--159		+	17
118. Nadia Luttner	76-83--159		+	17
122. Olivia Weber	87-73--160		+	18
122. Beth Sellers	76-84--160		+	18
122. Gabriella Dominguez	80-80--160		+	18
125. Nicole Morales	83-78--161		+	19
125. Olivia Garard	82-79--161		+	19
125. Alexandra Groetsema	86-75--161		+	19
125. Brittany Weddell	78-83--161		+	19
125. Whitney Rhodes	84-77--161		+	19
130. Amelia Lewis	87-75--162		+	20
130. Laura Hildebrandt	78-84--162		+	20
130. Amy Meier	80-82--162		+	20
130. Stephanie Smith	84-78--162		+	20
130. Olivia Lugar	82-80--162		+	20
130. Darlea Carr	80-82--162		+	20
136. Brittany Mai	83-80--163		+	21
136. Emily Podzielinski	82-81--163		+	21
138. Samantha Wagner	83-81--164		+	22
138. Sarah Almond	88-76--164		+	22
140. Gianna Misenhelter	86-79--165		+	23
140. Bryce Schroeder	88-77--165		+	23
140. Abbie Horan	82-83--165		+	23
140. Sarah Schmelzel	84-81--165		+	23
144. Taylor Fisher	83-83--166		+	24
144. Tory Bauman	82-84--166		+	24
146. Lauren Kim	85-83--168		+	26
147. Chelsea Bretcher	85-84--169		+	27
147. Breanna Patz	82-87--169		+	27
149. Rachel Uremovich	87-84--171		+	29
150. Mary Larsh	86-86--172		+	30
151. Jamie Lavin	87-86--173		+	31
152. Gianna Digrazia	89-86--175		+	33
152. Christina Ocampo	88-87--175		+	33
154. Isabel Southard	86-90--176		+	34
155. Chanet Fiorina	96-87--183		+	41
156. Cassie Deeg	95-90--185		+	43

Posted: 7/22/2008

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