Summerhays maintains lead at Southwestern Women's Amateur

After jumpstarting her second round with an eagle at the par-5 first, Grace Summerhays went two over the remainder of the day at Desert Mountain's Geronimo Course. She'll still carry a one-shot lead into the third round of the Southwestern Women's Amateur.

“I feel like my score today doesn’t quite show how good I was playing,” said Summerhays. “I made a lot of birdies, just a lot more bogeys than yesterday.”

The second-best score of the day in Scottsdale went to the player sitting closest to Summerhays on the leaderboard, UCLA junior Ty Akabane. The Danville, Calif. native made six birdies and posted 66. She's a shot ahead of Camille Boyd and two ahead of Seattle University graduating senior Samantha Bruce.

The round of the tournament thus far goes to one of three players tied for fifth 3 under, UC Davis sophomore Abby Leighton. The Santa Rosa, Calif. native began the morning with a pair of bogeys at holes 2 and 3, but quickly recovered with two birdies and an eagle to close out the opening nine. She continued to press, ringing up five more birdies on the back side post 64 — an 11-shot difference from her first round score of 75 Wednesday afternoon.

Ohio State senior Kailie Vongsaga and Pepperdine sophomore Lauren Gomez are also at 3 under, just four back of the lead.

The field was cut to the top 36 and ties following the conclusion of Thursday's second round, with exactly 36 players finishing at 4 over par or better.

ROUND 1 RECAP

Grace Summerhays made eight birdies during the opening-round of the Southwestern Women's Amateur, carding a pair of 32s at Desert Mountain's Geronimo Course to lead the field by four over Washington junior Camille Boyd and Ting-Hsuan Huang.

Summerhays, the younger sister of Sun Devil men's golfer Preston Summerhays and daughter of teaching professional Boyd Summerhays, began the day with three birdies in her first six holes and made her lone bogey at the par-4 seventh — her third to last hole. The Scottsdale native reached match play at last year's U.S. Women's Amateur and tied for 10th last month at the NCAA Women's Central Regional, carding three consecutive rounds of 73.

Boyd, the Husky from Yorba Linda, Calif. who tied the Meadow Club course record during her three-stroke win in April at the Juli Inskter Invitational, also circled three birdies on her card in the first six holes, but suffered a costly double-bogey on her final nine, coming at the par-3 4th.

Huang, the 16-year old from Chinese Taipei, made two birdies and an eagle en route to her 3-under 68. Boyd and Huang are a shot clear of Ohio State senior Kailie Vongsaga, and two clear of a seven-way tie for fifth at 1 under.

Like the men's division, the field will be cut to the low 36 and ties following Thursday's second round.