The quest to add another USGA title to her résumé before heading off to college ended abruptly for Erica Shepherd on Wednesday at the U.S. Girls Junior in Stevens Point, Wisconsin.
Seeded ninth in the 64-player bracket after tying for eighth in stroke play, Shepherd tried to climb out of a big hole late but wound up getting knocked off in her first-round match, 3 and 2, by No. 56 seed Kelly Xu of Claremont, California.
The Center Grove graduate had won the U.S. Girls Junior title in 2017 and was looking to become just the fifth player in the tournament’s 71-year history to win it more than once.
"Hats off to the girl that beat me," Shepherd said. "She played near perfect golf today. She made no mistakes, which is really impressive on a championship golf course."
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Xu grabbed the upper hand early just by remaining steady. She parred each of the first nine holes and yet made the turn with a commanding four-hole lead after Shepherd finished with bogeys on the third, sixth, eighth and ninth.
The Center Grove graduate finally got one back with a birdie — the first by either player on the day — on the par-4 13th hole, and she followed with a second birdie on the par-5 14th to trim the deficit to two with four to play.
But a bogey on 15 left her with no wiggle room, and a par on 16 sealed the victory for the 15-year-old Xu, who faces No. 41 seed Yoona Kim of New Jersey in the second round today.
Shepherd will next head off to North Carolina to begin her freshman year at Duke, where she’ll suit up for the reigning NCAA women’s golf champion. Shepherd will be joined in the freshman class there by Illinois native Megan Furtney, who she teamed up with to win the USGA Women’s Amateur Four-Ball last spring.
"I’m disappointed for sure," Shepherd said Wednesday, "but I’m ready to move in to Duke and start a new chapter in a couple of weeks."
The Blue Devils begin their fall season at the Annika Intercollegiate in Lake Elmo, Minnesota Sept. 16-18.
