Bandon, Ore. – Stroke-play medalist Cheyenne Woods of Phoenix, Ariz., won both of her Thursday matches to advance to the quarterfinals at the 2011 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship. Both the second and third rounds were conducted at 6,095-yard, par-71 Bandon Trails at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort.
The 20-year-old Woods played two very different matches on Thursday. While she seemingly had her way through the first three days of the championship, Bethany Wu, her 14-year-old second-round opponent from Diamond Bar, Calif., certainly did not make the Wake Forest senior’s second-round match an easy one, as Woods rallied for a 2-up win.
Wu birdied the par-4 first hole to immediately take a 1-up lead, a lead she stretched to 2 up and held for the majority of the match. Woods started her comeback on the 11th hole, which she won despite sending her second shot into a water hazard.
I started hitting it better after that, said Woods, the 2011 Atlantic Coast Conference champion. I had a good birdie and then just played really well coming in.
Woods, the niece of nine-time USGA champion Tiger Woods, then needed only 11 holes to quickly dispatch Alex Stewart, 19, of Peoria, Ariz., in the third round on Thursday afternoon. The 8-and-7 victory margin tied for the second-largest in WAPL history.
Next to face Woods in Friday’s quarterfinals at Old Macdonald will be Annie Park, 16, of Levittown, N.Y., a 1-up winner over Julie Yang of Mesa, Ariz. Park, who has gone the full 18 holes in all three of her matches, worked her way through a back-and-forth match that featured five lead changes.
After Yang took an early lead with a birdie on the par-3 second hole, Park quickly struck back with an eagle-3 on the ensuing hole.
I wasn’t even expecting that, said Park, a 1-up winner over Brittany Mai in the second round. I just wanted to get it close because the match before, I hit it too far and flew the green, so I just wanted to get it on the green.
Twenty-one-year-old UCLA teammates Brianna Do, of Vietnam and Stephanie Kono, of Honolulu, Hawaii, will face off in Friday’s quarterfinals. Do trailed for most of her third-round match with defending champion Emily Tubert, 20, of Burbank, Calif., but converted a 15-foot birdie putt at the par-4 14th hole to go all-square, then took the lead for good at No. 15.
By defeating Tubert, Do managed to eliminate both past USGA champions in the field. Do knocked off 2006 U.S. Girls’ Junior champion Kristen Park in the first round.
I went into it like, ‘Okay, it’s match play,’ said Do, a quarterfinalist at the 2010 Women’s Amateur Public Links. You never know what can happen. I just played my own game, stayed in my own bubble and it turned out well for me.
Kono, a member of the winning 2010 USA Curtis Cup Team, took the lead in her match with fellow 21-year-old Catherine Dolan at the seventh hole and never looked back, stretching her lead to 3 up and eventually settling for a 2-and-1 victory.
The third morning quarterfinal match will feature 17-year-old Marissa Dodd of Allen, Texas, and 20-year-old Sally Watson of Scotland. Dodd played perhaps the afternoon’s most thrilling match, when the dormie-5 lead she had built over Prima Thammaraks dwindled to a one-hole lead walking to 18. Dodd eventually prevailed, 2 up.
Sometimes a couple bad shots creep in and they rattle your cage a little bit, said Dodd, who has signed to play at Wake Forest this fall. You really just have to stay mentally focused, realize what kind of lead you have going in and hold it together as best you can.
Watson, who attends Stanford University and has represented Great Britain and Ireland at the last two Curtis Cup Matches, never trailed in defeating 12-year-old Angel Yin, 6 and 5.
Kono’s UCLA and Curtis Cup teammate Tiffany Lua also moved into Friday’s quarterfinal round with a 1-up victory over Lauren Cate. The 20-year-old from Rowland Heights, Calif., will face Brittany Altomare, 20, of Shrewsbury, Mass., in the morning’s final match. Altomare, who plays for the University of Virginia, advanced after defeating Kelsey Vines, the leader after the first round of stroke play, 2 up.
All the quarterfinalists are now exempt into the 2012 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links, which will be conducted at Neshanic Valley Golf Course in Neshanic, N.J.
The 2011 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links, which is being conducted concurrently at Bandon Dunes with the U.S. Amateur Public Links, continues Friday with the quarterfinal and semifinal matches. The 36-hole championship final will be played Saturday. The final three rounds for both championships will be conducted at Old Macdonald.
The U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links is one of 13 championships conducted annually by the United States Golf Association, 10 of which are strictly for amateurs.
Christina Lance is a coordinator of championship communications for the USGA. Email questions or comments to clance@usga.org.
Bandon, Ore. – Results following Thursday’s second and third rounds of match play at the 2011 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links, conducted at the 6,095-yard, par-71 Bandon Trails at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort:
Round of 32
Upper Bracket
Cheyenne Woods, Phoenix, Ariz. (141) def. Bethany Wu, Diamond Bar, Calif. (154), 2 up
Alex Stewart, Peoria, Ariz. (150) def. Tiffany Lim, San Jose, Calif. (150), 3 and 1
Julie Yang, Mesa, Ariz. (149) def. Mariel Galdiano, Pearl City, Hawaii (152), 6 and 5
Annie Park, Levittown, N.Y. (158) def. Brittany Mai, Poway, Calif. (155), 1 up
Brianna Do, Viet Nam (155) def. Kelsey Chugg, Ogden, Utah (158), 2 and 1
Emily Tubert, Burbank, Calif. (150) def. Harin Lee, Bayside, N.Y. (152), 1 up
Catherine Dolan, Ballwin, Mo. (158) def. Grace Na, Oakland, Calif. (153), 2 and 1
Stephanie Kono, Honolulu, Hawaii (152) def. Hanule Seo, St. Louis, Mo. (150), 3 and 2
Lower Bracket
Marissa Dodd, Allen, Texas (154) def. Emilie Burger, Hoschton, Ga. (145), 1 up
Prima Thammaraks, Ames, Iowa (151) def. Joanne Lee, San Carlos, Calif. (150), 1 up
Sally Watson, Scotland (148) def. Katie-Rose Higgins, Charleston, S.C. (155), 1 up
Angel Yin, Arcadia, Calif. (149) def. Somin Lee, Denver, Colo. (152), 19 holes
Tiffany Lua, Rowland Heights, Calif. (154) def. Christine Wolf, Chattanooga, Tenn. (147), 5 and 4
Lauren Cate, St. Augustine, Fla. (157) def. Wanasa Zhou, People's Republic of China (152), 1 up
Brittany Altomare, Shrewsbury, Mass. (148) def. Ellen Mueller, Bartlesville, Okla. (155), 1 up
Kelsey Vines, San Antonio, Texas (149) def. Ket Preamchuen, Kennesaw, Ga. (152), 2 and 1
Round of 16
Upper Bracket
Cheyenne Woods, Phoenix, Ariz. (141) def. Alex Stewart, Peoria, Ariz. (150), 8 and 7
Annie Park, Levittown, N.Y. (158) def. Julie Yang, Mesa, Ariz. (149), 1 up
Brianna Do, Viet Nam (155) def. Emily Tubert, Burbank, Calif. (150), 1 up
Stephanie Kono, Honolulu, Hawaii (152) def. Catherine Dolan, Ballwin, Mo. (158), 2 and 1
Lower Bracket
Marissa Dodd, Allen, Texas (154) def. Prima Thammaraks, Ames, Iowa (151), 2 up
Sally Watson, Scotland (148) def. Angel Yin, Arcadia, Calif. (149), 6 and 5
Tiffany Lua, Rowland Heights, Calif. (154) def. Lauren Cate, St. Augustine, Fla. (157), 1 up
Brittany Altomare, Shrewsbury, Mass. (148) def. Kelsey Vines, San Antonio, Texas (149), 2 up
Bandon, Ore. – Pairings for Friday’s fourth round of match play at the 2011 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links, conducted at the 6,098-yard, par-71 Old Macdonald course at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort:
Upper Bracket
7:30 a.m.: Cheyenne Woods, Phoenix, Ariz. (141) vs. Annie Park, Levittown, N.Y. (158)
7:40 a.m.: Brianna Do, Viet Nam (155) vs. Stephanie Kono, Honolulu, Hawaii (152)
Lower Bracket
7:50 a.m.: Marissa Dodd, Allen, Texas (154) vs. Sally Watson, Scotland (148)
8 a.m.: Tiffany Lua, Rowland Heights, Calif. (154) vs. Brittany Altomare, Shrewsbury, Mass. (148)