Ashley Gilliam did nothing to hurt her chances of defending her Tennessee Girls’ Junior Amateur title on Wednesday, July 11, according to a news release from the city of Murfreesboro.
In fact, she improved them.
The Manchester native and rising senior at Tullahoma High School fired a 68 at Old Fort Golf Club to move to 9-under par for the championship, leaving her six strokes up on Clarksville’s McKinley Cunningham entering the final round.
Thursday tee times begin at 7:30 a.m., with Gilliam, Cunningham and Kara Carter (Kingsport) set to go off at 10 a.m.
Gilliam, the 2017 Tennessee Girls’ Junior champion, has played 36 holes of bogey-free golf, including her opening round of 5-under, 67. She made two birdies on each side Wednesday.
Cunningham, who will be a junior at Clarksville High School, has also turned in back-to-back rounds of under par, going 71-70 to sit at 3-under for the tournament.
Carter, a sophomore at Sullivan South High School, followed up her opening-round 74 with a 69 and is 1-under.
Angelina Chan of Franklin enters the final round in fourth place at 3-over, while Kendall Maynard (Clarksville) and Shelly Jang of Franklin are tied for fifth at 5-over.
Jennaly Nolan of Knoxville tied for the lowest round of the day on Wednesday as she rebounded from an opening-round 82 to card a 68. Maynard also had a solid turnaround as she went 80-69.
55TH ANNUAL TENNESSEE GIRLS’ JUNIOR AMATEUR
Through second round, final round on Thursday
1 Ashley Gilliam 67-68-135
2 McKinley Cunningham 71-70-141
3 Kara Carter 74-69-143
4 Angelina Chan 74-73-147
5 Kendall Maynard 80-69-149
5 Shelly Jang 77-71-149
7 Isabella van der Biest 76-74-150
7 Jennaly Nolan 82-68-150
9 Hannah Nall 74-77-151
10 Lindsey Hollis 76-76-152
10 Rheagan Hall 79-73-152
12 Lily Bloodworth 76-78-154
13 Cameron Waltman 78-77-155
13 Tzunami Polito 78-77-155
15 Ainsley Simms 81-75-156
16 Gracie Johns 80-82-162
16 Sadie Pan 80-82-162
18 Kallie Robertson 80-83-163
19 Alayna Perryman 80-84-164
20 Ellie Bloodworth 80-88-168
20 Rachel Chan 84-84-168
For complete scoring: https://www.golfgenius.com/pages/1330048F or updates during tournament play: www.twitter.com/tngolf
