JERSEY CITY – One of the most unique aspects of the Mizuho Americas Open is junior golfers on the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) circuit getting the opportunity to compete, and possibly learn from, the professionals on the LPGA Tour.
On the first two days of the tournament, the juniors are put in groups with their fellow junior golfers. However, once the LPGA field is cut after Friday’s round, the AJGA golfers are grouped with two LPGA professionals, and sometimes, based on their finish on Friday and the luck of the draw, a junior golfer may get the opportunity to play with the world number one.
Such was the case for Short Hills’ own Aphrodite Deng, who, based on her tied-for-first-place finish on Friday at this year’s Mizhuho Americas Open, and a little luck of the draw, was able to compete with current Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings No. 1 Nelly Korda on Saturday.
“That was really cool,” Deng said of her round competing with Korda, adding, “She’s really nice and it was really fun.”
Deng said that she did not discuss golf any during their round, or get any pointers from Korda, because they were both focused on their own games. However, Deng did say that she did pay attention to how Korda played and approached her game, noting that, “She hits every shot in play and she’s really straight.”
Not only did Deng get the opportunity to play along side a world number one golfer, she also got the opportunity to be on Golf Channel’s tournament broadcast. While Deng and her playing group were waiting for a group ahead of them to finish before teeing off on hole 16, Deng was approached for an interview by the Golf Channel’s on-course reporter.
“That was pretty cool,” Deng said about being interviewed. “We were waiting, so they decided to interview me.”
Beyond getting the opportunity to play a round with Korda, Deng had a good day on the course as well. She finished her afternoon in second place with 106 points, one point shy of the lead.
The other professional golfer in Deng’s and Korda’s group on Saturday was Somi Lee, who is competing in her second season on the LPGA Tour.
Finally, if one day of golfing with the world number one was not good enough, Deng will get to do it all over as she will tee off with Korda again on Sunday along with Andrea Lee. Their tee time is scheduled for 9:31 a.m.
Jeeno Thitikul currently leads the LPGA competition, while Alice Ziyi Zhao holds the lead in the AJGA tournament heading into “Championship Sunday” at Liberty National Golf Club.
