Elizabeth Rudisill third in Girls Division; Three boys tied for second at Purdue University’s Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (July 30, 2025) — Purdue University’s Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex avoided a storm Wednesday, but the same could not be said for the leaderboard during the second round of the 49th Junior PGA Championships. 

No. 2 AJGA-ranked junior Asterisk Talley and Zoe Cusack are the new co-leaders in the Girls Division while Lunden Esterline tied a course record to take a five-shot lead among the Boys.

Talley showcased why she is the No. 14-ranked female amateur in the world, shooting a bogey-free 6-under 65 as the girls played the Ackerman-Allen Course Wednesday. The Chowchilla, California, native moves to 10-under 133 to share a two-stroke lead with Cusack.

“It gives me some confidence just knowing that I can play this course and that it wasn't too hard for me today,” said Talley, who played in the 2024 U.S. Women's Open. “Just giving me a chance to learn today and just learning the greens, learning the course just a little bit more every day and getting to shoot a good score is just going to help me improve.”

Talley’s round was highlighted by six birdies, including back-to-back on holes 6-7, and she finished on a high with a birdie on the par-4, 367-yard 18th. Across her two rounds, the rising junior has just one bogey, giving her confidence as both divisions will play the Ackerman-Allen Course for the final two rounds. 

“Today I feel like it was a super calm round of golf,” said Talley. “I only had one bogey yesterday, but, you know, it makes all the difference just knowing that I had like no mistakes out there and that I'm going to be playing this course for the next two days. I feel like yesterday was just kind of one and done, but this was more like a learning experience, so it was a super fun day.”

Cusack, a rising high school senior from Potomac, Maryland, matched Talley with a 6-under 65 in the second round. The pair entered the day tied for fifth after opening rounds of 4-under 68. 

“I played really solid,” said Cusack, who has committed to play at the University of Virginia. “I hit a lot of greens and I gave myself some good looks for birdie, like 15 feet and under. I just tried to stay patient and hoped that those putts would drop at some point.”

The putts dropped early for Cusack, as she opened with three straight birdies on three par-4s: the 348-yard 10th, 348-yard 11th and 353-yard 12th. She carded four more birdies against one lone bogey the rest of the way to share the lead heading into Thursday’s third round. 

“I was just hitting it really close,” said Cusack. “I made like a 4-footer on 10, a 12-footer on 11 and then about a 4-footer on 12. There's two more rounds, so a lot can happen in 36 holes. Just take it one shot at a time and stay patient”

After posting a second-round score of 7-under 64, Elizabeth Rudisill jumped 20 spots up the leaderboard and sits two strokes behind the leaders at 8-under 135. A birdie-eagle start on holes 1 and 2 jumpstarted a day that saw the Charlotte, North Carolina, native add five more birdies against just one bogey. 

“I built a lot of confidence after hitting the first fairway,” said Rudisill, who finished tied for second last year and will head to Vanderbilt University this fall. “Usually starting off with the fairway ball, it just gives you confidence throughout the round. Then I had a good drive on hole two, so just kind of had some momentum and carried it on through the rounds.” 

China’s Ying Xu (4-under 67) is fourth at 7-under 136, followed by three players tied for fifth at 6-under 137: Anna Fang from San Diego, California (2-under 69); Lisa Herman from Jenks, Oklahoma (3-under 68); and Alexis Myers from Northbrook, Illinois (even-par 71).

“Everything worked” for Esterline, as he tied a course-record with a bogey-free 10-under 62 as the boys played the Kampen-Cosler Course. The Andover, Kansas, native is 14-under 129 after two days to lead the Boys Division by five heading into tomorrow’s third round.

“I made a couple putts early from long-distance,” said the rising high school junior. “It felt really good, it was just all coming together.”

And come together it did. 

Esterline went 7-under on his front-nine, opening with back-to-back birdies on the par-4, 383-yard 1st and the par-3, 186-yard 2nd. The Auburn University-commit began to pull away from the pack after a stretch on holes 4-7 that saw him post three consecutive birdies before an eagle on the par-4, 310-yard 7th. 

“On 5, I thought I hit a hole-in-one,” recounted Esterline. “It was really close, and was probably one of my better shots today. And then on 6, I hit 7-wood and almost popped it up short. I had like 30 yards, I hit like 25 feet deep and then just made a long putt. On 7, I probably had my best drive of the day to about 15 feet and made that putt.”

Esterline’s success continued on the back nine, where he added three more birdies, highlighted by a memorable sequence on the par-5, 570-yard 10th.

“I hit a good drive and then I hit 4-iron to the back right of the green, just off the green on the fringe,” said Esterline. “I hit my putt too hard about 8 feet past and made a good comebacker. I felt good, it was breaking left to right. That's my favorite one, it was uphill, so I knew it could be aggressive with it.”

Max VanderMolen (Hickory Corners, Michigan), Chase Yenser (Douglassville, Pennsylvania) and William Chang (Danville, California) are tied for second at 9-under 134. Chang, who carded an eagle, and VanderMolen both went bogey-free Wednesday, finishing with scores of 5-under 67.

“It just felt easy,” said VanderMolen, a rising senior committed to the University of Louisville. “I was hitting it close all day. I just grinded out a really nice par on the last hole there for par.”

Yenser, who led entering the day following an opening round 7-under 64, battled Wednesday to a score of 2-under 70 and remained in contention. 

“You know, coming off a really strong performance, I wasn't going to go out there and shoot 7-under again,” said Yenser. “That's unrealistic. But I'm happy with 2-under and I'm excited to keep things going.”

Zenghao Hou from Beijing, China, and Pennson Badgett from Pilot Mountain, North Carolina, both posted rounds of 6-under 66 to jump up 26 spots on the leaderboard into a  tie for fifth (8-under 135).

126 Players Make the Cut

The cutline came in at 2-over for the Girls after play ended, sending 60 competitors into the third round.

In the Boys Division, the cutline was even-par, with 66 advancing to play on Thursday.

A second cut will be made after 54 holes to the low-30 girls and low-30 boys, plus ties.

Third Round

The 49th Junior PGA Championships continue Thursday at the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex with play moving exclusively to the Ackerman-Allen Course. Third-round action gets underway at 8 a.m. ET, with the girls teeing off in the morning and the boys playing in the afternoon.

Quotable

“I hit it about the same as I did in the first round, but the putter finally woke up today. It just felt really good in my hands, and I was able to roll a few in after some solid iron shots. Nice to get myself back in the mix—looking forward to getting after it again tomorrow." -Charlie Woods, who jumped 39 spots up the leaderboard into a tie for seventh after posting a 6-under 66 in the second round

“I just think Kampen has a lot more water and it’'s a little bit longer. I feel like this course (Ackerman) has more trees. So I feel like that's how their trouble kind of differs. I feel like both courses are relatively short, but they're definitely going to be moving the tees around the next two days, so we'll see how that goes.” -Asterisk Talley, on the differences between the two courses this week

“It's great. The courses are really in nice condition and it's really nice to play here. The facilities are amazing, so I'm really lucky to be here.” -Zoe Cusack, on her experience at the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex

“I like my chances over on that other course. I think it suits my game pretty well.” -Chase Yenser, on moving back to the Ackerman-Allen Course for the final two rounds

U.S. Junior Ryder Cup Spots on the Line

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.

Indiana Standings

Of the 23 junior golfers from the host state of Indiana and the Indiana PGA Section competing this week, six players made the cut.

Taylor Snively (Zionsville, Indiana), who led the Girls Division after the first round, was the lone girl from the state to make the cut. She is now tied for eighth overall at 5-under 138.

Sam Carraher (Crown Point, Indiana), who is committed to play at Purdue University, is tied for seventh overall in the Boys Division at 7-under 136. The other boys from Indiana to make the cut are T-11: Silas Haarer (Middlebury, Indiana), 6-under 137; T-11: Samuel Harris (Charlestown, Indiana), 6-under 137; T-18: Luke Johnston (Evansville, Indiana), 5-under 138; and T-49: Landon Tropf (Gas City, Indiana), 1-under 142.

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