GRANITEVILLE, S.C. (March 13, 2026) – With clear skies and sun back at Sage Valley today, the leaderboards saw plenty of movement in round three. Tyler Watts shot his second 67 in three rounds to move to the top of the boys leaderboard while Asterisk Talley rolled in a lot of putts en route to a three-under par 69 to reclaim the lead in the girls field.
The final boys pairing of Tyler Watts, Mason Howell and Miles Russell provided plenty of drama and scoring opportunities throughout the day. After a birdie on 18, Watts now sits at 13-under par 203, two shots ahead of Howell, who also carded a 67 to move into solo second at 11-under. Defending champion Miles Russell remains firmly in the hunt at 10-under par 206, three shots off the pace heading into Saturday’s final round.
“I hit my irons really well, putted really well, my driver was a little squirrelly but I kinda got it around and made it work. That was nice,” said Watts. “We had a good group. Mason and Miles are two good buddies and I think we were kinda feeding off of each other all day and made each other better.”
On the girls’ side, Asterisk Talley rebounded from her second round in a big way, shooting another three-under par 69 to reclaim the lead she had after the opening round. She sits at 3-under par 213, one stroke ahead of Amelie Zalsman, who posted the low round of the day in the girls field with a 5-under par 67.
“I had a lot of putts go in today,” said Talley. “I think yesterday they just weren’t falling and today I had my reads a little better. I feel like it could have been a five over round if I didn’t make so many putts. But, I was rolling the rock today.”
Defending Champion Aphrodite Deng sits in third, just one back from Zalsman, with Yujie Liu and Anna Iwanaga tied for fourth at even par. With only one stroke between first, second and third, Saturday’s final round is shaping up to be a tight battle for the gold jacket in the girls field.
When asked about her approach heading into Saturday, Talley kept it simple and said, “I think just play the same game. It was working today and the first round so I think just trying to do the same thing and hopefully, it works out.”
The final round tees off at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, March 14. Live scoring and pairings can be found at www.juniorinvitational.com.
About the Junior Invitational
The 14th annual Junior Invitational features 24 of the top junior girl players and 36 of the top boy players in the world. Recognized by Golfweek as the No. 1 junior event in golf, the Junior Invitational welcomes the best golfers from around the world to Sage Valley Golf Club in Graniteville, S.C. Founded in 2011, the Junior Invitational has become one of the most desired invitations in the world of competitive junior golf. Past participants have included some of the top names in golf: Scottie Scheffler, Justin Thomas, Colin Morikawa, Viktor Hovland, Cameron Young, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Anna Davis, Megha Ganne and more. For more information and tickets, visit www.juniorinvitational.com.