The last time an Australian went low at the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass in an international competition was Cameron Smith, with a final-round 66 to win The Players Championship.
Watching that day back in his hometown of Bexley, Australia (a suburb of Sydney) was 18-year-old Jeffrey Guan, who did his best to channel Smith, one of his golfing heroes, on Friday in the first round of the Junior Players Championship.
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Guan birdied four holes in a row on the front nine, added an eagle at the par-5 ninth, then posted three more birdies on the back nine for a 5-under 67 to tie for the lead in the American Junior Golf Association event with Jay Leng Jr., of San Diego and Joshua Bai of New Zealand.
Jon Ed Steed of Enterprise, Ala., who played in Guan’s group, and Kelvin Hernandez of Puerto Rico are tied at 4-under.
The low area players of Camden Smith of Ponte…
