Top seeds beaten in first round but Bronte Law wins
PORTLAND,
Oregon. – In a day of upsets, both stroke-play medalists were eliminated
during Wednesday’s Round of 64 in the 2015 U.S. Women’s Amateur
Championship, being conducted at the 6,360-yard, par-72 Portland Golf
Club.
Justine Dreher, who survived a 16-for-10 playoff to earn the 64th
seed in the match-play bracket, took a 5-and-4 win over No. 1 seed Angel
Yin, while Vanessa Ha, another playoff survivor, rolled to a 4-and-3
victory over No. 2 seed Jennifer Hahn.
Dreher,
a native of France who at age 23 is the oldest player remaining in the
championship, won the par-4 second hole for a 1-up lead and never looked
back. She built a 5-up lead through nine holes, an insurmountable
advantage over Yin, 15, of Arcadia, Calif.
“I
putted really, really well,” said Dreher, who completed her eligibility
at the University of South Carolina in May. “I didn't miss any
10-footer or less besides hole No. 3, and I had a lot of them.”
Dreher
arrived in Portland less than 12 hours before her Monday tee time after
competing in Stage I of the LPGA Tour Qualifying Tournament. After two
days of admitted struggles during stroke play after having never seen
the course, as well as the disappointment of not advancing to Stage II,
Dreher knew she needed to turn things around, especially mentally.
“The
last 48 hours [were] really tough for me, since Q School, so I knew
going into today, I have nothing to lose,” said Dreher, who pointed to
countrywoman and caddie Shannon Aubert as a calming presence. “I had to
force myself to let it go, so I think it was really good for me to play
against the No. 1 seed.”
Ha,
19, of Plano, Texas, took a commanding 4-up lead over Hahn, 21, of
Henderson, Nev., after winning holes 4-7 with three birdies. As with
Dreher, Ha pointed to a reinvigorated mental game – and a hot hand with
her putter – as a key aspect of her Wednesday success.
“I
was focusing mostly on my mental game, and that's the biggest indicator
for my putting,” said Ha, a sophomore at the University of San
Francisco. “The key was that I wasn't focusing on trying to make the
birdies. They just went in.”
In
yet another upset, Lydia Choi, 18, of Beverly Hills, Calif., earned a
1-up victory over No. 3 seed Nelly Korda, 17, of Bradenton, Fla. Choi, a
sophomore at UCLA, pointed to her win on the par-5 15th that squared
the match as the thing that turned momentum in her favor.
“That
was the turning point of when I started hitting my drives well,” said
Choi, who won the par-3 17th for the final 1-up advantage. “She hit her
drive to the right, so I think it just gave me a little bit more
comfort.”
Korda’s
older sister, Jessica, an LPGA Tour star and the 2010 U.S. Women’s
Amateur runner-up, was in the gallery, as the LPGA Tour is in Portland
this week for the Cambia Portland Classic at Columbia Edgewater Country
Club.
Eun
Jeong Seong, who two weeks ago captured the 2015 U.S. Girls’ Junior
Championship over Yin, trailed early and needed all 18 holes for a
hard-fought 1-up win over Duke University standout Celine Boutier, the British women's open amateur champion from Paris.
Seong, 15, of the Republic of Korea, will face a familiar opponent in
Thursday’s Round of 32 – 2014 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links champion
Alice Jo, who beat Seong in that final match. Jo, 16, of Clermont,
Fla., advanced with a 2-and-1 win over Muni He.
Hannah
O’Sullivan, a 2014 U.S. Women’s Amateur semifinalist, notched
Wednesday’s fastest victory, taking a 7-and-6 win over Haley Mills. She
will meet Dreher in Thursday’s Round of 32.
Bronte
Law, pictured at the top of the article, at No. 2 the championship’s highest-ranked player in the Women’s
World Amateur Golf Ranking™, eliminated Canadian National Team member
Maddie Szeryk, 3 and 2. Her next opponent will be University of Arkansas
senior Gaby Lopez, who earned a 5-and-3 win over Samantha Wagner.
Mariah
Stackhouse, a member of the 2014 USA Curtis Cup Team, three-putted the
18th green and fell by a 1-up margin to Elizabeth Wang.
Other
notables to reach Thursday’s Round of 32 include 2014 U.S. Women’s
Amateur champion Kristen Gillman (2 up over Kelly Su); local favorite
Caroline Inglis, an Oregon native and a senior at the University of
Oregon (1 up over Alice Chen); 2015 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball
co-champion Mika Liu (19 holes over Lauren Kim); and 2014 U.S. Women’s
Amateur medalist Bethany Wu (2 and 1 over Emilie Alonso).
PORTLAND,
Ore. – Results from the first round of match play a the 2015 U.S.
Women’s Amateur Championship, being conducted at the 6,360-yard, par-72
Portland Golf Club:
Upper Bracket
Justine Dreher, France (148) def. Angel Yin, Arcadia, Calif. (138), 5 and 4
Hannah O'Sullivan, Chandler, Ariz. (145) def. Haley Mills, Tyler, Texas (146), 7 and 6
Haley Moore, Escondido, Calif. (143) def. Kelly Grassel, Chesterton, Ind. (147), 1 up
Jennifer Kupcho, Westminster, Colo. (147) def. Aliea Clark, Carlsbad, Calif. (143), 4 and 3
Caroline Inglis, Eugene, Ore. (141) def. Alice Chen, Princeton, N.J. (148), 1 up
Annie Dulman, Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. (146) def. Hannah Wood, Highlands Ranch, Colo. (145), 3 and 2
Kristen Gillman, Austin, Texas (142) def. Kelly Su, Scottsdale, Ariz. (148), 2 up
Lindsey McCurdy, Liberty Hill, Texas (147) def. Binny Lee, Frisco, Texas (145), 2 and 1
Hannah Green, Australia (139) def. Brigitte Dunne, Camarillo, Calif. (148), 3 and 2
Bailey Tardy, Peachtree Corners, Ga. (145) def. Dylan Kim, Plano, Texas (146), 1 up
Anna Newell, Tampa, Fla. (147) def. Cathleen Santoso, Australia (142), 5 and 4
Lucia Gutierrez Ballon, Peru (143) def. Cheyenne Knight, Aledo, Texas (147), 2 and 1
Kenzie Neisen, New Prague, Minn. (148) def. Maria Fassi, Mexico (140), 20 holes
Mathilda Cappeliez, France (145) def. Soo Jin Lee, Australia (146), 1 up
Wanasa Zhou, Australia (142) def. Molly Skapik, Miamisburg, Ohio (147), 6 and 4
Elizabeth Wang, San Marino, Calif. (147) def. Mariah Stackhouse, Riverdale, Ga. (143), 1 up
Lower Bracket
Vanessa Ha, Plano, Texas (148) def. Jennifer Hahn, Henderson, Nev. (138), 4 and 3
Maddie McCrary, Wylie, Texas (145) def. Andrea Lee, Hermosa Beach, Calif. (146), 4 and 3
Hailee Cooper, Montgomery, Texas (147) def. Taylor Totland, Tinton Falls, N.J. (143), 20 holes
Sierra Brooks, Sorrento, Fla. (143) def. Ana Paula Valdes, Mexico (147), 2 and 1
Gaby Lopez, Mexico (148) def. Samantha Wagner, Orlando, Fla. (141), 5 and 3
Bronte Law, England (146) def. Maddie Szeryk, Canada (145), 3 and 2
Alice Jo, Clermont, Fla. (148) def. Muni He, Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. (142), 2 and 1
Eun Jeong Seong, Republic of Korea (144) def. Celine Boutier, France (147), 1 up
Lydia Choi, Beverly Hills, Calif. (148) def. Nelly Korda, Bradenton, Fla. (139), 1 up
Malia Nam, Kailua, Hawaii (145) def. Rong Ji, Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. (146), 2 up
Bethany Wu, Diamond Bar, Calif. (142) def. Emilie Alonso, France (147), 2 and 1
Laura Restrepo, Panama (147) def. Waverly Whiston, San Diego, Calif. (143), 5 and 3
Mariel Galdiano, Pearl City, Hawaii (140) def. Kimberly Mitchell, Woodbridge, Va. (148), 7 and 5
Mika Liu, Beverly Hills, Calif. (145) def. Lauren Kim, Los Altos, Calif. (146), 19 holes
Cindy Ha, Demarest, N.J. (142) def. Aneka Seumanutafa, Frederick, Md. (147), 1 up
Elizabeth Tong, Canada (144) def. Magdalena Simmermacher, Argentina (147), 6 and 4
PORTLAND,
Ore. – Pairings for Thursday morning’s second round of match play at
the 2015 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship, being conducted at the
6,360-yard, par-72 Portland Golf Club (all times PDT):
Upper Bracket
7 a.m. – Justine Dreher, France (148) vs. Hannah O'Sullivan, Chandler, Ariz. (145)
7:10 a.m. – Haley Moore, Escondido, Calif. (143) vs. Jennifer Kupcho, Westminster, Colo. (147)
7:20 a.m. – Caroline Inglis, Eugene, Ore. (141) vs. Annie Dulman, Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. (146)
7:30 a.m. – Kristen Gillman, Austin, Texas (142) vs. Lindsey McCurdy, Liberty Hill, Texas (147)
7:40 a.m. – Hannah Green, Australia (139) vs. Bailey Tardy, Peachtree Corners, Ga. (145)
7:50 a.m. – Anna Newell, Tampa, Fla. (147) vs. Lucia Gutierrez Ballon, Peru (143)
8 a.m. – Kenzie Neisen, New Prague, Minn. (148) vs. Mathilda Cappeliez, France (145)
8:10 a.m. – Wanasa Zhou, Australia (142) vs. Elizabeth Wang, San Marino, Calif. (147)
Lower Bracket
8:20 a.m. – Vanessa Ha, Plano, Texas (148) vs. Maddie McCrary, Wylie, Texas (145)
8:30 a.m. – Hailee Cooper, Montgomery, Texas (147) vs. Sierra Brooks, Sorrento, Fla. (143)
8:40 a.m. – Gaby Lopez, Mexico (148) vs. Bronte Law, England (146)
8:50 a.m. – Alice Jo, Clermont, Fla. vs. Eun Jeong Seong, Republic of Korea (144)
9 a.m. – Lydia Choi, Beverly Hills, Calif. (148) vs. Malia Nam, Kailua, Hawaii (145)
9:10 a.m. – Bethany Wu, Diamond Bar, Calif. (142) vs. Laura Restrepo, Panama (147)
9:20 a.m. – Mariel Galdiano, Pearl City, Hawaii (140) vs. Mika Liu, Beverly Hills, Calif. (145)
9:30 a.m. – Cindy Ha, Demarest, N.J. (142) vs. Elizabeth Tong, Canada (144)
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Labels: Amateur Ladies
