By Aidan McLaughlin
SOUTH HADLEY, Massachusetts – On day one of the 93rd Massachusetts Girls’ Junior Amateur Championship Powered by KOHR Golf, defending champion Maddie Smith (Mount Pleasant Golf Club) showed why she’s headed to play Division I golf at the University of Memphis this Fall, shooting a 4-under-par 68 en route to being Monday’s clubhouse leader.
“On the fourth hole, I made about a 20-footer to save par, so it got my round going pretty nicely,” Smith added, which proved to be true as she would card back-to-back birdies just a few holes later.
Those birdies would come on the sixth and seventh holes, and then another set of back-to-back birdies would come on the 10th and 11th holes.
“I didn’t play a practice round, but I did play here last year in the U.S. Junior Qualifier. I also remember playing here in a High School State, I think two years ago… So it definitely challenged my brain a little bit, seeing how much I remembered, but overall a good day.”
Safe to say Smith remembered it enough to go low in the round. Although she has a history here at Ledges GC, she also had a little luck on her side.
“No. 11 was actually pretty lucky, honestly; I had 178 in and kind of just tried to run a five iron up there from the right rough, and rolled it up there and put one in.”
Not far behind Smith would 13-year-old Hazel Hegstrom (Student Member/MIAA) turning in an even-par 72 for solo second. Her round was highlighted by an eagle on the par-5 5th hole.
“So I had a good drive, and then a five iron into the green, and it was maybe 15 to 20 feet. I hit it a little hard but luckily, it went in, and it was pretty nice,” Hegstrom said on her eagle.
Although just 13 years old, Hegstrom has quite the resumé, appearing in Drive,Chip and Putt at Augusta National in 2023. When asked about her mindset for this week’s tournament, she added, “I just want to take it one hole at a time, not get too nervous about where I am on the leaderboard. I just wanna take it slow and enjoy the round.”
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