Larsen and Gaspar in contention after day one of the AJGA Junior

Garden City, KS (westernkansasnews.com)-After bogeying his first hole of the morning, Garden City High School golfer Taylor Larsen could have easily folded the tent. 

“It wasn’t a great start,” the soon-to-be junior said. “But I got things going after that.”

After another bogey on two, Larsen evened out, chipping in three birdies and parring 12 of his final 16 holes to finish tied for 10th at 1-over par. 

“I figured if I got to even or 1-over that I would be in good shape,” Larsen said. “I just needed to make a few birdies.”

His high school teammate Daniel Gaspar cooled off after scintillating rounds at the City Championship on Sunday and the AJGA qualifier on Monday. He finished his first 18 holes on Wednesday at 2-over; five shots back of first-round leader Nicholas Duggan from San Antonio, TX. 

“I left a lot of shots out there today,” a frustrated Gaspar said afterwards. 

Gaspar was 3-over through 12 but worked his way back near even with two birdies on his final six holes. But a bogey on 15 definitely wasn’t something that helped his cause.

“My driver let me down today,” he said. 

As for the other Garden City players: Logan Durst shot an 80 and is right near the cut line. Connor Schultz is 16 over while Sion Audrain is tied for 36th at 5-over. 

On the girls side, Ingalls’ Michaela Loewen shot 14-over. Japan’s Airi Tsujioka is clubhouse leader at even par.