Miami's Rodriguez gusts to top of Jr. Orange Bowl chart; Canada's Liu widens girls' lead
CORAL GABLES, Fla. (Jan. 4, 2025) — As a South Florida native, Lorenzo Rodriguez has experienced enough blustery golf days like Saturday to have a good handle on how to approach things.
“No double bogeys,” Rodriguez said. “Bogey is fine — don’t get mad and just move on.”
Is it something you manage fairly easily?
“I like to tell myself that,” he said with a grin.
Rodriguez had reason to smile after finishing Day 2 at the Junior Orange Bowl International golf championships, coming away with one of just four rounds in the 60s to move to the top of the boys’ leaderboard.
Three birdies over the last six holes propelled Rodriguez to a 2-under-par 69, leaving him one shot clear of Zimbabwe’s Keegan Shutt and Switzerland’s Joshua Hess at historic Biltmore Golf Club.
“I was expecting the winds to pick up; it was more just a question of when,” said Rodriguez, who reached the midway point at 6-under 136. “I was practicing those (wind) shots and felt pretty good when I went out there.”
It was a bit of a different scenario for girls’ leader Shauna Liu, whose cushion from Friday’s stellar opening round allowed her to withstand a few lumps as she dealt with the gusty conditions.
“If you just look at the score, it might not look all that good,” the Canadian Girls’ Junior champion said after a 74 that was 10 shots higher than Round 1 but still managed to expand her advantage to four strokes.
“With the conditions today and how I was playing, it really wasn’t a bad round. Definitely not my best, but I wouldn’t consider it as bad.”
After Friday’s nearly perfect conditions, with warm temperatures and only mild breezes, things got a little more squirrelly for Round 2. A morning chill greeted the earliest tee times, with the high barely reaching 70. More concerning was wind that gusted between 10 and 20 mph.
How impactful was that? Consider that 11 boys fired opening rounds in the 60s, but only two could manage it Saturday. It wasn’t quite as pronounced on the girls’ side, where the number of scores at par 71 or better went from seven to four.
“Anything that goes in for par or less is a good hole,” Shutt said.
Not that there weren’t a few entrants who felt right at home in the conditions.
“This is like a really normal day in Iceland, so it was not a problem,” said Perla Sigursbrandsdottir, whose 70 moved her into a three-way tie for second in the girls’ division.
Said Hess, who joined Rodriguez as the only players with two rounds in the 60s: “My home course has a lot of wind by nature, so I know how to hit those little knockdown shots.”
Count Rodriguez in that comfort category as well. After sharpening his knockdown shots on the range, he put it to effective use on the course.
“This course has a lot of hard holes, then a lot of easy holes you need to take advantage of,” he said.
Starting his round at No. 10, Rodriguez opened with four pars before alternating birdies and bogeys through the turn. A birdie at No. 4 steadied things out, with an unexpected birdie at the par-4 sixth when he rebounded from a wayward drive to stick a wedge within a foot.
“That was big momentum,” he said, “because I had No. 7 coming up and that’s one of the toughest holes out there.”
Shutt also could smile about a bonus birdie, his taking place at No. 4. After hooking his drive into some trees, he hit a “terrible” punch shot that skittered across the fairway and into a bunker. From there, he holed out for his second birdie in as many days.
“I think that might be my favorite hole because of that shot,” he said after completing his 70.
Hess got off to a quick start with four birdies in his first six holes, then held on the rest of the way. A closing birdie moved him alongside Shutt for second.
“I think the wind picked up (late),” he said, “especially those last couple of holes where it isn’t easy in the wind.”
Liu, playing in the morning’s second group, birdied her opening hole — then didn’t make another the rest of the day. But she kept her card relatively clean with just two bogeys and a double bogey, stringing together eight pars to finish.
“I know it’s frustrating if you’re making bogeys and you’re trying to make a birdie,” she said. “But for me, I’m thinking that chance will come if I just stay consistent and keep hitting fairways and greens.”
Sigursbrandsdottir, who acknowledged she saw opportunity when she saw the morning conditions, made good on her hunch with three birdies and just two bogeys.
“Yeah, I thought it was definitely an advantage for me to have a windy day,” she said.
Maryland’s Zoe Cusack, though, had perhaps Saturday’s steadiest round. Her 69 featured 14 pars and three birdies, countered by her lone bogey at the par-4 fifth.
“I was just hitting a lot of greens and trying to two-putt. Then if a putt went in, that was great,” said Cusack, who joined Sigursbrandsdottir and Hawaii’s Alexa Takai (75) at even-par 142.
The Junior Orange Bowl International’s history features such champions as Tiger Woods (1991), LPGA Hall of Famer Inbee Park (2002), LPGA major winners Lexi Thompson (2009) and Brooke Henderson (2013) and recent Saudi International winner Joaquin Niemann (2014).
This year’s field brings together entrants from such diverse locales as Bermuda, Switzerland, Ecuador, Czechia, Paraguay, Peru, Iceland, Bolivia and Turkey.
The tournament also welcomes new sponsor Babygrande Golf, a multimedia company that also underwrites two other junior events.
The golf championships are one of nine athletic, artistic and cultural events that make up the Junior Orange Bowl International Youth Festival, which marks its 76th anniversary in 2023-24. The festival draws more than 7,500 youth participants to South Florida’s community each year.
For more information on the Golf Championships or other Junior Orange Bowl activities, visit JuniorOrangeBowl.org.
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BOYS TOP 5
1. Lorenzo Rodriguez, Miami 67-69=136 (-6)
t2. Keegan Shutt, Zimbabwe
t2. Joshua Hess, Switzerland 68-69=139 (-5)
4. Eric Zhao, Canada
t5. Oliver Betschart, Bermuda 69-71=140 (-2)
t5. Fernando Cobo, Spain 67-73=140 (-2)
GIRLS TOP 5
1. Shauna Liu, Canada 64-74=138 (-4)
t2. Alexa Takai, Honolulu 67-75=142 (E)
t2. Perla Sigursbrandsdottir, Iceland 72-70=142 (E)
t2. Zoe Cusack, Potomac, Md. 73-69=142 (E)
5. Sahana Chokshi, Jacksonville, Fla. 71-72=143 (+1)