Recap: PKBGT Invitational

Bermuda Run, NC-The Peggy Kirk Bell Girls’ Golf Tour concluded play at the twelfth annual PKBGT Invitational hosted at Bermuda Run Country Club. Played over Veterans Day weekend every year, the tour’s best compete on the West and East Course over two days, with the top thirty and ties advancing to the East Course’s final round. The PKBGT Invitational has the strongest field of the season every year, and 2020 was no different! Although a handful of players were unable to attend due to travel restrictions, ninety-percent of the field ranked inside the top 1000 on Junior Golf Scoreboard. 

Anderson Fends Off the Tour’s Best

Adrian Anderson (Murrels Inlet, SC 2022) began day two five shots off the lead. When the final putt fell, the Palmetto State native won the Tour’s elite event by one stroke. Adrian’s name is now etched in the National Tournament of Champions history books and joins an illustrious group of winners of the PKBGT Invitational.

Sara Im (Duluth, GA 2023) was the talk of the town on Saturday at the West Course, where she carded ten birdies, seven pars, and a lone birdie en route to breaking two PKBGT records that have been held since 2012. Im’s 63 (-9) not only gave her a five-shot lead but also snapped Katie Kirk’s round of 66 (-5) as the lowest round ever recorded at the PKBGT Invitational, and Shannon Brooks round of 64 (-8) as the lowest round ever recorded at a Peggy Kirk Bell Girls’ Golf Tour event.

On Sunday, Im had an unfortunate mishap when she teed off from the wrong tee box resulting in a two-shot penalty. At the time, Anderson was still lurking a handful of shots behind the Duluth, GA native. After the penalty, Sara couldn’t get the round going eventually giving up the lead to Adrian Anderson on the eleventh hole after Anderson made birdies on nine and eleven. Adrian added two more blue numbers on the card to take a four-shot overnight lead heading into the final day. The big mover on Moving Day was Sydney Yermish (Wynnewood, PA 2023), who fired the low round of either day on the East Course of 69 (-3), propelling the first junior fire cadet in Pennsylvania into the final pairing for Monday’s final round.

Three players saw their name atop the standard-bearers carts during the final round. Day one leader, Sara Im, held the solo lead for two holes, Thienna Huynh (Lilburn, GA 2022) grabbed a tie of the lead for four holes, and the eventual winner held a piece or solo lead for fifteen holes. Im did her best to put the pressure on Anderson, shooting 37 (+1) on her homeward nine. Adrian faltered on the par-three sixteenth when she three-putted from thirty feet to reduce her lead to a shot heading into the par-five seventeenth. Im’s birdie putt on seventeen stopped two rotations before the hole. Anderson sealed the deal knocking her approach on the eighteenth to ten feet above the hole. She let the slope take her birdie putt half a foot from the hole & tapped in for par winner by a shot over Im.

Adrian’s rounds of 68 (-4), 70 (-2), and 76 (+4) tied the record for the lowest fifty-four hole total score set by Amanda Sambach (Davidson, NC 2021) at 214 (-2).

News and Notes

Katherine Lu (Plainsboro, NJ 2021) celebrated her birthday on Monday with an ace on the par-three sixteenth. Lu is the fifth player this year to record a hole-in-one during a PKBGT event.

Ellen Yu (Greensboro, NC 2026), the youngest player to make the cut, finished sixth at (+4).

 

  1. Adrian Anderson (Murrels Inlet, SC 2022) | 68 / 70 / 76 = 214 (-2)
  2. Sara Im (Duluth, GA 2023) | 63 / 79 / 73 = 215 (-1)
  3. Iris Cao (Duluth, GA 2022) | 71 / 74 / 72 = 217 (+1)
  4. Thienna Huynh (Lilburn, GA 2022) | 71 / 73 / 74 = 218 (+2)
  5. Sydney Yermish (Wynnewood, PA 2023) | 73 / 69 / 77 = 219 (+3)
  6. Ellen Yu (Greensboro, NC 2026) | 71 / 77 / 72 = 220 (+4)*

*Denotes Scorecard Playoff*

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About the PKBGT

Founded in 2007 by Girls Golf of America, a non-profit 501(c)(3) charitable organization, 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 2020 season will feature over 110 tournaments in 9 states on the East Coast, and with over 1,000 members, the PKBGT is the largest girl’s only Tour in the country.  Learn more about the PKBGT at http://www.pkbgt.org/.


For complete coverage of the Peggy Kirk Bell Girls’ Golf Tour, follow the PKBGT on social media @PKBGirlsTour (Twitter), facebook.com/girlsgolftour (Facebook), @pkbgirlstour (Instagram), or visit our website at www.pkbgt.org.


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