On Sunday, May 26, the Peggy Kirk Bell Girls’ Golf Tour played the second round of the 2019 PKBGT Open Championship at Country Club of Salisbury in Salisbury, NC.
As the saying goes, the early bird gets the worm. With the first tee times at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday, the Peggy Kirk Bell Girls Golf Tour was graced with a clean, crisp golf course at the Country Club of Salisbury.
The sun beat down on players and spectators early and often, blessed with another scenic day of bright blue skies and a mix of soft white clouds. A double-tee start was set to place, sending girls off of holes one and ten. In contrast to Saturday’s all-out blitz of a shotgun start, the PKBGT course takeover was slow and steady.
It was moving day at the 2019 PKBGT Open Championship on Sunday, with the field shrinking following the completion of the second round. Players hit the practice facilities from the moment they arrived at the course until their respective tee times. All working out the kinks from their previous round in hopes of earning a spot in Monday’s final round.
There were snakes falling out of trees, a five-under-par front nine, a slew of college coaches in attendance and a strong batch of talent vying for their position on the leaderboard. Sunday was far from an ordinary day on the course, with post round Cheerwine slushies by the pool. If that is any indication for what’s to come on Monday, we are all in for a treat.
Let’s take a look at how the leaderboard panned out in the second round.
Bell National
Leading the Bell National field of 23 remaining players following the cut is Kendall Turner (Chesapeake, VA 2019). Turner followed up her first-round performance with a second consecutive under-par score, posting a 70 (-1). The future Duke shined in the spotlight as her coaches from James Madison University were on sight for the afternoon. With a clean front nine scorecard, Turner took advantage of three birdies on the back nine to enter the final round with a two-under-par 140 total score.
Kayleigh Reinke (Rock Hill, SC 2021) and Kelley Topiwala (Matthews, NC 2020) are in a two-way tie for second place heading into Monday’s final round with total scores of 145 (+3).
Reinke made a Sunday surge in the second round, posting a two-under-par 69 on the afternoon. She channeled the heat from the scorching sun onto her scorecard, where she made five birdies throughout her round. Topiwala held on to her spot near the top of the leaderboard with a three-birdie showing on Sunday.
Rounding out the Top Five, in a three-way tie for fourth place is Melissa Meng (Blacksburg, VA 2020, Kara Carter (Kingsport, TN 2021) and Vynie Chen (Centreville, VA 2020) with total scores of 146 (+4). Carter and Chen matched each other with back-to-back scores of 73 (+2) in the first two rounds. Meng followed a Saturday score of 74 (+3) with a 72 (+1) on Sunday.
Futures National
The Top Two remains unchanged atop the Futures National field now standing at 16 players following Sunday’s cut. Grace Ridenour (Cary, NC 2025) sits in first place after posting a 75 (+4) in the second round, following up her first round 70 (-1). She made two birdies on the afternoon and enters Monday’s final round with a total score of 145 (+3).
One stroke behind Ridenour after matching her second-round score of 75, Ellen Yu (High Point, NC 2026) is currently in second place in Salisbury. Yu made three birdies on the afternoon, including two in a row at the beginning of her back nine to boost her confidence. She heads to the final round with a total score of 146 (+4).
Becca Connolly (Winston-Salem, NC 2020) and Madison Messimer (Myrtle Beach, SC 2025) are in a two-way tie for third place heading into the final round. Both players posted two-day total scores of 151 over the weekend.
Messimer made five birdies in her 76 (+5) on Sunday. Connolly dropped in three of her own to keep pace and remain in the chase, posting a 75 (+4).
Rounding out the Top Five, in a two-way tie for fifth place is Lauren Denhard (Salisbury, NC 2019) and Josephine Nguyen (Springfield, VA 2024) with total scores of 154 (+12).
Looking Forward
Memorial Day Weekend and the 2019 PKBGT Open Championship comes to a close with Monday’s final round in Salisbury! Will anyone in the Bell National field make a charge and challenge Turner for the title? Who will prevail in the dual between Ridenour and Yu, or will a dark horse emerge from within the shadows to take the Futures National championship?
Stay tuned to the live scoring link below to find out!
Live Scoring
About the PKBGT
Founded in 2007 by the Triad Youth Golf Foundation, a non-profit 501(c)(3) charitable organization, as a local girls’ golf tour in the Triad region of North Carolina, the tour began as a simple concept: create more effective competitive playing opportunities for girls. By utilizing innovative yardage-based divisions instead of the traditional age-based format, the tour focused on developing tournament experience at the player’s pace. The 2019 season will feature over 90 tournaments in 9 states on the East Coast and with over 900 members, the PKBGT is the largest girl’s only tour in the country. Learn more about the PKBGT at http://www.pkbgt.org/.
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