Kristen Gillman will begin defense of her U.S. Women’s Amateur title at 8:05 a.m. PDT on Monday at Portland (Ore.) Golf Club.
Groupings and starting times for the 115th U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship were announced on Wednesday by the USGA. The field of 156 golfers will play 36 holes of stroke play on Monday and Tuesday, with the low 64 scorers advancing to match play beginning on Wednesday. The 36-hole final is scheduled for Sunday, Aug. 16.
Gillman, 17, of Austin, Texas, is grouped off the first tee with Haley Moore, of Escondido, Calif., and Lauren Greenlief, of Reston, Va. They will start their second and final stroke-play round on Tuesday at 1 p.m. on the 10th tee. Moore, 16, earned low-amateur honors in the ANA Inspiration – one of five women’s professional majors – in March.
Including Gillman, nine USGA champions are in the field.
Six-time USGA champion Ellen Port (1995, 1996, 2000, 2011 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur; 2012, 2013 U.S. Women’s Senior Amateur), of St. Louis, Mo., who also captained the victorious 2014 USA Curtis Cup Team, is grouped with Gurman Kaur, of Elk Grove, Calif., and Nelly Korda, of Bradenton, Fla. They tee off No. 1 at 9:25 a.m. on Monday and 2:20 p.m. off No. 10 on Tuesday. Korda is the younger sister of 2010 U.S. Women’s Amateur runner-up Jessica Korda, a three-time LPGA Tour winner.
More From the Women's Amateur
Eun Jeong Seong, 15, of the Republic of Korea, who claimed the U.S. Girls’ Junior title at Tulsa (Okla.) Country Club on July 18, goes off No. 1 at 1:45 p.m. on Monday with Sarah Burnham, of Maple Grove, Minn., and Marisa Messana, of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. Seong is bidding to become the first player to win the Girls’ Junior and Women’s Amateur in the same year, a feat nearly accomplished by JoAnne Gunderson Carner and Nicole Perrot in 1956 and 2001, respectively. Both lost in the Women’s Amateur final.
Fumie (Alice) Jo, who in 2014 became the first player from the People’s Republic of China to win a USGA championship when she claimed the last U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links, is grouped with Avery French, of Laguna Niguel, Calif., and Megan Thothong, of Dallas, Texas. Jo, who now resides in Clermont, Fla., starts on No. 1 at 2:35 p.m. on Monday.
Last year’s U.S. Girls’ Junior champion, Princess Mary Superal, of the Philippines, starts on the 10th tee at 12:30 p.m. on Monday with Emmy Martin, of Odessa, Fla., and Monica Vaughn, of Reedsport, Ore.
Two U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champions will begin play on Monday morning off the 10th tee. Reigning champion Margaret Shirley, of Roswell, Ga., is paired with Brigitte Dunne, of Camarillo, Calif., and Ana Paula Valdes, of Mexico, at 7:40 a.m., while 2013 champion Julia Potter, of Indianapolis, Ind., starts at 9:30 a.m. with Waverly Whiston, of San Diego, Calif., and 2015 U.S. Women’s Open qualifier Samantha Wagner, of Orlando, Fla.
Mika Liu, of Beverly Hills, Calif., and Rinko Mitsunaga, of Roswell, Ga., who teamed to win the inaugural U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship in May at Bandon Dunes, five hours south of Portland, are on opposite ends of the draw. Liu is grouped with Selena Costabile, of Canada, and Taylor Ledwein, of New Prague, Minn., at 8:20 a.m. off No. 10, while Mitsunaga also starts off No. 10 at 2:10 p.m. with Rachel Welker, of Terre Haute, Ind., and Sabina Pena, of Mission, Texas.
Three competitors from last year’s Curtis Cup Match at St. Louis Country Club are also in the field.
Mariah Stackhouse, of Riverdale, Ga., goes off the 10th tee at 2:20 p.m. with Kassidy Teare, of Long Beach, Calif., and Michelle Kim, of Canada. Bronte Law, of England, who also played in the 2012 Match at Nairn for the winning Great Britain & Ireland side, starts on No. 10 at 1 p.m. with Danielle Lee, of La Mirada, Calif., and Alessandra Liu, of Bala Cynwyd, Pa. Charlotte Thomas, of England, starts 35 minutes later from the first tee with Malia Nam, of Kailua, Hawaii, and Xinying Wang, of Pleasanton, Calif.
Reigning Ladies British Open Amateur champion Celine Boutier, of France, goes off the first tee at 7:55 a.m. with Taylor Totland, of Tinton Falls, N.J., and 2014 U.S. Women’s Open qualifier Jessica Porvasnik, of Hinckley, Ohio.
David Shefter is a senior staff writer for the USGA. Email him at dshefter@usga.org.