Gianna Clemente wins Girls Junior PGA Championship by three strokes

Gianna Clemente added a major accomplishment to her ever-expanding resume Friday, winning the Girls Junior PGA Championship with a clutch final-round performance at Hot Springs (Ark.) Country Club.

Leading by one stroke heading into the final three holes, the 15-year-old Estero golfer closed with consecutive birdies on Nos. 16 and 17 to finish 9-under for the tournament, winning the Patty Berg trophy by three strokes.

Clemente shot a 3-under 68 Friday, which included a 33 on the Arlington Course's back nine where she notched three birdies. On Thursday, she struggled on the back half, shooting 2-over, which left her tied for third place entering the final round, two shots behind leader Kylee Choi.

Clemente got off to an inauspicious start Friday with a double-bogey on the par-4 No. 1. However, she bounced back with consecutive birdies on Nos. 3 and 4 to jump back into a first-place tie.

“I knew it was just the first hole,” she said. “There were 17 holes left. Just kind of tried to focus on the front on getting it back to even, which I did pretty quickly. I knew I could go super low on the back. Just getting it back to even and finally making a birdie to get it to red numbers was really important.”

Choi, meanwhile, lost her lead with a rough start of her own, bogeying three of the first five holes, including a double on the par-3 No. 2. She ended up in fifth place after shooting a 5-over 76.

Yana Wilson, 18, of Henderson, Nevada, who defeated Clemente in the final of the U.S. Girls Junior last July, finished in a three-way tie for second place at 6-under, along with Kylee Chong (Torrance, Calif.) and China's Kinsley Ni.

Clemente got off to a blazing start in the opening round Tuesday, shooting a 7-under 64 on Tuesday, tying the Girls Junior PGA Championship record with a bogey-free round on the Parks Course. But she cooled a bit the next two days, shooting 70-73 before Friday's tournament-clinching round.

“It’s a huge win for me,” Clemente said. “Definitely kind of a rollercoaster day starting off with a double. Not an ideal start. But I just grinded it out all day and tried to make as many birdies as possible. It’s really, really special for sure.”

By virtue of her victory, Clemente secured a spot on the U.S. Junior Ryder Cup Team, which will travel to play in Rome Sept. 26-28. The juniors will get to showcase their skills on the same course that will host the pros when the Ryder Cup begins on Sept. 29.

“I’ve been thinking about it for years,” she said. “I’m pretty sure I put up a piece of paper three years ago that said Ryder Cup on it because I wanted to make the team so bad. I was probably 12 or 13 when I did that. I’ve been looking forward to it forever. It’s super important to me. It’s going to be really fun.”

Clemente, who entered the Junior PGA Championships ranked No. 2 in both the Golfweek/Sagarin Junior Golf Rankings and the Rolex AJGA Rankings, is next set to play in the U.S. Women's Amateur at Bel Air Country Club in Los Angeles from Aug. 7-13.

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Gianna Clemente wins Junior PGA Championship by three strokes