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April McCoy

Courtney Radford

Brianna Murray

Sarah Fulfer

Adriana Morillo

The hard work that April McCoy has devoted to her short game the past several months paid off at Diamond Oaks Country Club in the first round of the Fort Worth Junior Golf Association's Girls City Junior Golf Championship.

Her ability to get up and down on several holes helped her salvage a 73 over the tree-lined course from the white teams (about 5,900 yards) and take a four-shot lead over Courtney Radford (77), five over Brianna Murray (78) and six over Adriana Morillo, 14, of Southlake.. They were the only ones who managed to break 80 over the tight course that not only has trees but a challenging rough to contend with.

April, 17, was runner-up last year when she lost by three shots to Gabriella Dominguez in the 54-hole tournament.

''My front nine was pretty solid. Tee shots were pretty solid,'' said April, 17, of Creekview High School in Carrollton. She made the turn in 2 over par despite carding an ''uncalled for'' double bogey 5 on the par-3 sixth hole. ''I hit it in the sand, skulled it out over the green, chipped up and two-putted. So that was uncalled for.''

''I had a birdie on No. 8, so that was a good comeback,'' she said.

On the back nine, April said her tee shots were scattered everywhere. ''I had so many up-and-downs. A lot (in the trees). The short game really paid off. I've worked hard on it, I really, really have because lately it's been hurting me.''

The second round is scheduled at Glen Garden Golf & Country Club and April said she has never played at the shorter course that features small greens. But April, who tied for fifth in the 5A state tournament, has shown she can adapt to almost any course and has had some other impressive outings such as tying for first at the AJGA Under Armor/Hunter Mahan tournament at the TPC Craig Ranch course in McKinney.

Radford, 18, of Allen and who's off to Dallas Baptist said she also relied on some scrambling to carding her 77. ``It was OK,'' she said of her run. ''I wasn't hitting the ball solid at all. It was frustrating. What killed me was not hitting the fairways because the rough was real thick.

She said she went through a big swing change this past season to help gain more distance and she's just becoming more comfortable with it. Courtney said she has played a couple of practice rounds at Glen Garden, so is somewhat familiar with the course.

Brianna, 17, of Southlake said her driver got her into trouble on the front when she carded four bogeys, but she said she figured out the driver on the back even though she shot 39 on each nine. ''It felt better on the back,'' she said with a laugh. Brianna, the team leader the past two years at Carroll High School, feels good about her chances and she has been playing well most of the summer and has two top-10 finishes in AJGA tournaments.

Sarah Fulfer, 18, the 1A champion from Stephenville, got off to a slow start with an 80 and said ''I didn't play very well at all. I had a couple of double-bogeys and a triple.'' But her game started coming around the last four holes, which gave her hope heading into the final round.

For best quality, watch the video in 480p. This video shows a few of the girls teeing off on the first day of play.

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