Charlie Woods makes it through a complicated first round on his AJGA debut
Charlie Woods encountered difficulties in the first round of the 2024 Will Lowery Junior Championship on Friday, March 22. The 15-year-old American golfer made his debut on a sponsor's exemption at the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) event, facing challenges in the tournament underway at Carolina Trace Country Club in Sanford, Florida.
Jr. Woods shot 6-over 78 in the first round among a field of 51 players, finishing in a tie for 31th place with Kevin Wang, Jack Callahan, Bryson Hughes, Conner Brummitt and Mingbo Jiang.
Charlie Woods started the first round with two double bogeys on the second and third holes. He then shot a bogey on the fifth hole but swiftly recovered with two consecutive birdies on the sixth and seventh holes. However, he encountered difficulties on the back nine, recording four bogeys and a birdie to score 78.
As for the second round of the tournament, which began on Saturday, Woods had completed eight holes at the time of writing. Once again, he started the game with bogeys on the first two holes, followed by a birdie on the fourth hole and a double bogey on the fifth.
At the time of writing, Patmon Malcom topped the leaderboard with a score of under 6, finishing five strokes ahead of Anthony Purcea. Preston Howe settled in a tie for third place with Vijay Kumar, scoring even par.
Charlie Woods has been trying to earn a chance to compete in a PGA Tour event. He previously participated in the Cognizant Classic pre-qualifiers earlier this year but failed to advance to the Monday qualifiers, shooting a 16-over par 86 in the pre-qualifiers.
2024 Will Lowery Junior Championship leaderboard
Here is the leaderboard of the 2024 Will Lowery Junior Championship (at the time of writing):
- 1 Patmon Malcom: -6
- 2 Anthony Purcea: -1
- T3. Preston Howe: E
- T3. Vijay Kumar: E
- T5. Jake Valentine: +1
- T5. Dawson Lew: +1
- T7. Jack Cook: +2
- T7. Reece Sanders: +2
- T9. Hunter Stetson: +3
- T9. Carson Looney: +3
- T9. Clark Sonnenberg: +3
- T12. Thad Whitfield: +4
- T12. Clark Xander Goboy: +4
- T12. Uzair Mirza: +4
- T15. Benjamin Baker: +5
- T15. Ayden Febres: +5
- T15. Arjun Caprihan: +5
- T15. Taft Courie: +5
- T15. Major Ewing: +5
- T15. Jake Lewis: +5
- T21. Thomas Horne: +6
- T21. Tucker Wick: +6
- T21. Jack Michael: +6
- T21. Spencer Mills: +6
- T25. Tyler Loree: +7
- T25. Evan Rogers: +7
- T25. Aston Lee: +7
- T25. Colgin Youssi: +7
- T25. Dylan Takenaga: +7
- T25. William Easterlin: +7
- T31. Kevin (Haoran) Wang: +9
- T31. Charlie Woods: +9
- T31. Jack Callahan: +9
- T31. Bryson Hughes: +9
- T31. Conner Brummitt: +9
- T31. Mingbo Jiang: +9
- T37. Yiwen Wang: +10
- T37. Benjamin Siriboury: +10
- T39. Antoine Jasmin: +11
- T39. Caden Blanchette: +11
- T41. Wyatt Cochran: +13
- T41. Zachary Munno: +13
- T41. Carson Etters: +13
- T44. Andrew Hwang: +15
- T44. Lucky Cruz: +15
- 46 Luke Balaskiewicz: +16
- 47 Thomas Reid: +17
- 48 Hayden Canary: +18
- 49 McCartney Hinkle: +20
- T50. Hunter Duncan: +24
- T50. Ryder Hodgson: +24