Jordan holds solo 4th place after day one of the Southern States Central Florida Junior Qualifier for the Notah Begay III Junior Golf National Championship. (click for more).

On a very cold and windy day Jordan had a strong start to the tournament today shooting par on the first three holes. She bogeyed 4 and then doubled 5 to put her at 3 over after 5. On 6, the B would chip to within 6 inches then tap in for birdie. 7 was a bogey, 8 a par, then a second bird on 9 to finish the front at plus 2 and in second place. On the back, she went par on 10, bogey on 11, par on 12, bogey on 13, then par on 14. The biggest trouble of the day came on 15, a par three that is surrounded by water when Jordan sent her drive in for a swim. She then had to hit 3 from the drop zone which thumped on the green. From there she barely missed a long putt that would have given her a great bogey and two putted for a double on. She parred 16, then came the number one handicap hole on the course, the famed “Devil’s Delight.”

Drive was long and exactly where she wanted it to be. Shot two landed under a tree on the right side of the fairway. The pin was 130 yards away with a canopy of leaves and long strands of moss less then 30 feet overhead. Breeze was coming straight on at 18 knots making the 130 play closer to 170. Not an easy shot to make when you have to keep the ball low as to not hit the leaves, but with enough backspin so that when it landed it would stayon the green all the while clearing the water. {Interestingly enough, Carl had forced Jordan to practice this shot all week as this kind of trouble is all over this course which is exactly why it is referred to as “Mission Impossible.”} B executed the shot perfectly, actually hitting the pin and the ball would drop to within inches of dunking for eagle. Jordan sunk it for birdie, her 3rd of the round. It was the shot of the day, and with the complexity and level of difficulty required for its successful execution, one of the best she has ever hit.

Jordan would bogey 18 to finish the side at a plus 4, and the round at plus 6 putting her in 4th place, two strokes out of 2nd place and six out of the lead. Top two make it to the Championship in Louisiana in November and it is still very much in her reach. T time for tomorrow is scheduled for 11:10 where B will be in the final group of her division. It looks to be a very cold morning and the tournament director has indicated that a frost delay of up to 3 hours is a distinct possibility. Carl had said that the scores today were going to be high and he was certainly accurate.

Yirong and Dad will be there to cheer Jordan on tomorrow. Thanks everyone for the texts, emails, comments etc.

Yirong, again, so grateful for you coming all of the way from Chicago to watch Jordan play and spend the weekend with us. Sarah, feel better (she had her wisdom teeth out today).

Thats all we got for today.