Written By: Greg Johnson
EAST LANSING – Lilo Tsai of Ann Arbor is 12 years old, hasn’t reached the five-foot mark in height yet and could have been competing in the 15-and-under division at the 48th Michigan Girls’ Junior Amateur Championship.
Instead, she opted to maximize the competition and play in the 18-and-under overall division and on Tuesday earned stroke play medalist honors by topping the field with second-round 73 for a 3-over 147 total at Michigan State University’s Forest Akers West Golf Course.
She is the youngest overall medalist in the history of the championship and will be the No. 1 seed in the 16-golfer match play bracket. Her first match will be the first on Wednesday at 8 a.m. against 16-seed Sophia McCollum of Twin Lake.
The morning winners will play in the quarterfinal round in the afternoon, and the semifinals and final match are scheduled for Thursday.
Tsai was playing in her first Golf Association of Michigan (GAM) tournament, but she said she has been playing competitive golf tournaments when her family travels to Florida since age 7.
She didn’t know she was leading the tournament, though she said she thinks about winning each tournament she enters.
“My mom didn’t tell me anything out there, so I was just playing my best,” she said. “You have to focus on the next shot. I was a little nervous at first, because it’s my first GAM tournament, but I just played hole-by-hole, and it turned out good for me.”
Her 73 for 147, which included a 15-foot curling par-saving putt on hole 9, her final hole of the round, kept her one shot ahead of first-round leader Sixtine Charnelet of Bloomfield Hills, who shot a 75 for 148.
Lillian O’Grady of Grand Rapids and Saisha Patil of Okemos, last year’s runner-up in the championship, were next at 149. O’Grady shot 72 and Patil shot 75.
Cameron Baker of Novi, last year’s 15-and-under champion, rounded out the top five overall with a 78 for 152.
As for this year’s 15-and-under Division, Hannah Kim of Troy, the runner-up to Baker a year ago, was the younger set’s stroke play medalist for the second consecutive year. She is just 13 and shot 73 in the second round for 148.
Belen Berishaj of Birmingham, who shot 77, was second at 151, and Bomin Jung of Novi, who shot 76 for 153, was third.
The 15-and-under golfers advanced just eight golfers to a bracket, and will have just one round of matches Wednesday, with semifinals and the final match on Thursday.
As for the overall championship chase, Tsai said she is used to playing against older and bigger junior golfers.
“I don’t think size matters that much,” she said. “In golf it is mostly your short game.”
She said she has no idea what to expect in match play but will be seeking advice from those around her.
“It will be fun to play it,” she said. “I’m hoping to do my best. I have two more days to go, so stay humble. That’s all I can do.”
Kim said winning medalist honors in the 15-and-under Division for the second consecutive year gives her a sense of comfort.
“I feel like I can do it, and I feel like I have a better chance to do it this year,” she said.
Kim said she had a great day with her wedges in the second round.
“I really like hitting 50 yards to 70 yards,” she said. “I hit those good today. I was kind of disappointed with my putting. I had four and five-footers that were lipping out. I could have saved a lot of strokes if I made a few of them.”
Kim said she learned a lot about match play by reaching the final match last year and hopes to work her way through the bracket and win this time.
“I struggle with thinking ahead, and then something happens that changes everything,” she said. “I have to keep that in mind this year.”
