After sixteen months of enforced layoff from regional and international competitive golf, 17 years old BOA Emerging Athlete of 2019, Emily Odwin, finally started her 2021 campaign last weekend in the Northern NJ Spring Junior Championship.
The Hurricane Junior Golf Tour (HJGT) event was played on the Mountain View golf course in West Trenton, New Jersey, May 22 – 23.
Emily opened with a brilliant 4 under par 68 which included 6 birdies, enough to give her a four-stroke lead over Sydney Kuo who played the 18 holes in even par, 72.
On the final 18 holes on Sunday 23, Emily increased her lead to 6 strokes with a very Faldo-like round which included only 1 birdie but 15 pars, 9 of which followed one after the other through the back nine.
This was Emily’s first tournament on the HJGT since 2019 when she punctuated her outstanding year with a win in the HJGT Tournament of Champions. Emily was ranked 4th in the HJGT standings in 2019, but, unfortunately, her international campaign came to an abrupt halt early in 2020 due to the Covid 19 pandemic.
Emily’s tournament schedule continues on May 29 in the HJGT Memorial Day Junior Open at Deerfield Golf Club in Newark, Delaware. This will be followed on June 8, by the sectional qualifier for the U.S. Girls Championships. This qualifier will be played at the Hawk Pointe Golf Club in New Jersey.