‘I’m happy with where I stand.’ Chowchilla High freshman near top of U.S. Open leaderboard

Chowchilla High freshman Asterisk Talley turned heads with her performance in the first round of the 2024 U.S. Women’s Open Golf Championship on Thursday.

Talley, 15, finds herself near the top of the leaderboard after shooting an even-par round of 70 at the Lancaster Country Club in Pennsylvania. Talley is tied for fifth, just two shots behind leader Yuka Saso of Japan, who shot a 2-under 67.

“I feel like I could have done a lot better today but I’m not mad at my round at all,” Talley said.

Talley found herself tied for the lead at 1-under early on her round after scoring a birdie on the sixth hole.

Talley’s lone blemish was a triple-bogey, posting an eight on the par-five seventh hole, which dropped her back to plus-2 midway through her round.

Talley battled back with birdies on holes 11, 13 and 16 to pull back into a tie for the lead at 1-under before recording a bogey on No. 17.

“Coming into the round, I was hearing everyone that even par was a good round today,” Talley said. “I wish I could have been a couple under par — you know with that triple — I could have play a lot better, but I’m happy with where I stand and I feel that gives me confidence going into tomorrow.”

Lancaster Country Club played tough for the world’s top women golfers with only four competitors recording rounds below par.

Talley knew the course would be difficult after going through her practice rounds earlier this week.

“It was hard, yeah for sure,” she said. “When I was on the first hole, I was just like these greens are stupid. It’s just so hard. The pins they had on the practice rounds, I was like if they put the pins here I’m going to start crying.

“I was on the verge on a couple holes, the way I was playing. I’m not mad where the pins were today the way I played the course so I feel like I’m happy with how I hit.”

Talley knew just where she stood during her round, often looking up at the leaderboard.

“I look at the leader board all the time,” Talley said. “I feel some people get scared to look at it but I don’t really do that. I want to see where I’m at and then if I need to start playing better golf and get my head in the game or if I’m doing well I still want to charge for the lead and get ahead.”

Talley is the youngest player in the field at the U.S. Open.

Just this past fall, Talley was golfing for the Chowchilla High girls team. Talley was The Merced Sun-Star Girls Golfer of the Year after becoming the first golfer in school history to win the Central Section championship, shooting a 5-under par round of 67 at Ridge Creek Golf Course in Dinuba.

Talley, an amateur, qualified for the U.S. Open after shooting a 5-under-par 137 to earn the second and final spot from the San Joaquin Country Club qualifier in Fresno on May 6.

Talley has been on a torrid pace on the junior circuit, she won the prestigious Junior Invitational at Sage Valley, then finished eighth in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.

Earlier this month, Talley teamed up with partner Sarah Lim to win the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball title at Oak Hills C.C. in San Antonio.

Talley says the United States Golf Association tournament helped prepare her for the U.S. Open.

“I feel any USGA will prepare you for any tournament you have coming up,” Talley said. “They always say the courses are similar, they’re always tough, there’s nothing too different about them except the course in general and how it plays. I feel like the rough and stuff, you have to stay in the fairway and in the greens and if you do that you’ll be fine.”

Talley says she plans to take her same aggressive approach into tomorrow’s second round.

“I think my game plan is going to stay the same because I wanted to go low today and it didn’t really work out that well,” Talley said. “I feel like if I would have just stayed with bogeys today I would have been better, but I feel the game plan is still the same for tomorrow, knowing that I can go low tomorrow.”

Talley will tee off at 3:56 a.m. on Friday. The tournament can be watched on Peacock.