Hilts of the Bahamas in the boys 18 to 21 group after the first round of the 17th annual Atlantic Junior Golf championships at Belmont yesterday.

But it was Alisa Hardy who stole the spotlight as she fired a sparkling four-over-par 74 in the girls open division. Hardy was one-under 33 on the front nine before stumbling but still managed to shoot the low round of the day in all divisions.

Trailing Hardy was Morgan McLaughlin (82), Molly Driscoll (84), Sarah Lindo (89), Kristen Pepe (99), Lisa Broomfield (100) and Roma Kessaram (109).

In the boys 18-21 level, Garland and Hilts were followed by Darren Whitten of Canada (79) and Nathan Oberle of the US (79).

Canadian Kyle Smith scored a seven-over-par 77 to lead the boys 15-17 category, but close behind was Craig Brown of Bermuda with a respectable score of 79.

Rounding out the age group were Chris Eby (80), Steven Carruthers (82), Nigel Lewis (83), Ricky Carruthers (84), Nigel Swan (88), Kent Smith (88), Jon Legere (88), Chris Ruggles (90), Jean-Paul Dyer (91), Shaun Wade (92) and Ian Smith (93).

Nathanial Hoopes of the US turned in an eye-opening round of 79 to lead the 12 and unders. Trailing close behind by six shots was Alex Fox of the Bahamas (85) with the gap widening significantly after that.

Bermudian Michael Sims' nine-over-par score of 79 was good enough to grab the lead in the boys 13-14 division. One shot behind and providing a good measure of pressure was another Bermudian, Robert Spurling, with a score of 80.