Indiana’s Taylor Snively & Pennsylvania’s Chase Yenser Lead Following 1st Round of the 49th Junior PGA Championships

The world’s top junior golfers battled the elements and formidable courses as the first round of the 49th Junior PGA Championships teed off Tuesday at the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex. 

After an opening round that started with a fog delay and ended with a heat index in the triple-digits, Indiana native Taylor Snively leads the Girls Division while Chase Yenser sits atop the Boys Division.

Snively, from nearby Zionsville, Indiana, shot up to the top of the Girls leaderboard Tuesday afternoon with a bogey-free opening round of 7-under 65 as the girls played the Kampen-Cosler Course. 

“My ball striking was really good today,” said the rising high school sophomore. “I think I hit most of the greens, and when I didn't, I think I'd chip in. So, just everything was kind of working and I managed to make a few putts, which got the birdies on the card.”

Snively started strong on her front nine, opening with a birdie on the par-4 1st. Her round really took off with three straight birdies on holes 6-8 that she said gave her momentum into the back nine, where she added three more down the stretch.

“It's awesome to play courses that I know and feel like I'm at home still and spend the night in my own bed,” said Snively, who won both individual and team Indiana state high school titles last October as just a freshman. “It definitely is comforting and helps me out a lot. I played Kampen for the first time this summer, a little while back, but I've played it five times since then and Ackerman I've played a few times, so definitely a little bit of advantage there, which is nice.”

Alexis Myers, an incoming freshman on the University of Illinois women’s golf team, sits one-stroke behind Snively with a 6-under 66. The round was redemption for the Northbrook, Illinois, native, who was the leader after the first wave ended.

“I played pretty solid,” said Myers. “I played this course a month ago in the Dye [Junior Invitational], and it didn't go too well. And I played in [the Junior PGA] two years ago in Arkansas, where I missed the cut by a few. I'm really glad to finally get a good round in here.” 

Myers’ “good round” got off to a tough start with a bogey on the first hole, but she knew that she “didn’t have to force anything.” An eagle on the par-5, 476-yard 4th hole proved to be the spark the 18-year-old needed, and she went bogey-free with five birdies the rest of the round.

Jude Lee (Walnut, California) and Arianna Lau (Hong Kong) are tied for third at 5-under 67. Four players are tied for fifth at 4-under 68: Catherine Andino (Boca Raton, Florida), No. 2 AJGA-ranked junior Asterisk Talley (Chowchilla, California), No. 6 AJGA-ranked junior Anna Fang (San Diego, California) and Zoe Cusack (Potomac, Maryland).

Eileen Lee (Plano, Texas) recorded a hole-in-one on Kampen-Cosler’s par-3, 145-yard 13th hole.

Yenser, of Douglassville, Pennsylvania, also went bogey-free on Tuesday, posting an opening round 7-under 64 to lead the Boys Division as they played the Ackerman-Allen Course.

“I'm very pleased,” said the rising high school senior. “I kind of went into this round thinking like, you know, you can't win it on the first day, but you can definitely lose it. So I was just trying to put a decent round out there and I mean, I played better than decent today, so I'm really thrilled.”

Yenser’s impressive seven birdies started on his opening hole, the par-4, 380-yard 10th hole. He added three more on his front nine, including one on his “favorite hole,” the par-4 18th that ends at the new Pete Dye Clubhouse. Three straight birdies down the stretch on holes 2-4 helped give Yenser a two-stroke lead heading into the second round.

“I've been dealing with a sore back for the last week or two, so I haven't been able to play that much golf,” said Yenser. “I played in the AJGA Nemacolin last week and was a little sore after that. My range session today was just great. I just felt like I could do whatever I want with the golf ball, and that's always a pretty good feeling. Dropped a few putts early and then kind of just built on it the rest of the round.”

Four players are tied for second at 5-under 66: Mason Howell (Thomasville, Georgia), Liam Moloney (Chester, New York), Ryder Huish (Alpine, Utah) and Raghav Gulati (Dubai, India). Fourteen players are tied for sixth at 6-under 67.

A rising high school senior, Howell is no stranger to the big stage, qualifying as the youngest player in the field at last month’s U.S. Open at Oakmont. He posted six birdies Tuesday after starting on the back nine, including two back-to-back stretches on holes 15-16 and 6-7. 

“I played well today, just solid,” said Howell. “Only missed one green, missed a lot of putts today, but some went in, so that was nice. Definitely where I want to put myself after round one.”

Moloney, an incoming freshman at Loyola University Maryland, went bogey-free and is excited for the rest of the week after missing the cut at last year’s Junior PGA Championships at Congressional Country Club.

“I hit the ball really well, especially the long irons,” he said. “I was getting everything on the green, middle of the green, fairly close. So, it made the round pretty easy, really no stress or stressful pars out there.”

The 49th Junior PGA Championships continue Wednesday at the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex. Second-round action gets underway at 7:30 a.m. ET, with the girls set to play the Ackerman-Allen Course while the boys move to the Kampen-Cosler Course.

The cut after 36 holes will be to the low-60 girls and low-60 boys, plus ties, and after 54 holes to the low-30 girls and low-30 boys, plus ties.

The winner and runner-up from both the Girls and Boys Divisions at the Junior PGA Championships will earn positions on the 2025 U.S. Junior Ryder Cup Team, provided they are eligible to represent the U.S. and are members of the high school graduating class of 2026 or younger. The 2025 Junior Ryder Cup will be contested September 23-25 at Nassau Country Club and Bethpage Black in New York.

“I hit driver and then I was like six inches into the rough. I had a clear shot to the green, so I hit it right at the pin. Ended up kind of on the upslope like 15 yards short of the pin, and the lie was kind of buried, so I didn't really know how it would come out. And there was a little hill between it, so I just kind of jabbed at it. It came out a little hot actually, but just one-hopped, hit the pin and went in. It was really fortunate.” - Jude Lee on her memorable eagle on the par-5, 502-yard 16th on Kampen-Cosler. 

“I got off to a little bit of a slow start, a few putts didn’t drop, but I stayed patient. I knew that there were still more opportunities out there. I played pretty smart and kind of just stayed patient and waited for those birdies to come. It's awesome playing against some of the best players from all over the country” - Catherine Andino

“That was a fun week. I learned a lot, and that's been a big confidence booster for me because I was comparing my game to some of the best golfers in the world, which is awesome. I want to be back but that just takes playing good golf.” - Mason Howell on his experience playing in the 2025 U.S. Open.

“Obviously I'm really happy with the score at the end of the round, 67. Today I just really grinded. Didn't hit as well as I would have liked to, but I had a lot of one putts which really helped me out there.” - Austin Perkins, one of the 14 players tied for sixth in the Boys Division.

Twenty-three junior golfers from the host state of Indiana and the Indiana PGA Section are competing at the Junior PGA Championships this week.

Snively, the Girls Division overall leader, headlines the nine girls from Indiana.

Micah Sheffer (Brownstown, Indiana), who is committed to play at Purdue University, leads the 14 boys from the state at 3-under 68.

For more information about the Junior PGA Championships, visit JuniorPGAChampionship.com and follow on X and Instagram.