Competitors in the 116th U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship who prevailed in their Round-of-32 matches on Thursday morning at Rolling Green Golf Club had little time to bask in the glory of their triumphs. They had time to grab lunch and hit a few practice putts before refocusing for their afternoon Round-of-16 matches. But before they teed off, the USGA communications staff got a few comments from some of the victors:
Virginia Elena Carta - Defeated Muni He, 2 and 1:
"It was super tough, mentally, too, because I haven't been putting well today, so I stuck the ball to 4 feet on Nos. 2, 3, 4, and then like 7, 8, and I missed all those chances. So it was really tough to get it going. But at the same time, I think the turning point was for sure the putt on 10 to halve the hole, the par putt. That was huge."
Dylan Kim - Defeated Sirene Blair, 2 and 1:
"I'm feeling really good because I know that I kept my composure pretty well, and I came back from a deficit. So it's a good feeling. I hit the ball really well. The putting was a bit of a struggle, but I did make a good last putt at the end to end the match, so it was good.”
Hannah Green - Defeated Lucy Li, 6 and 4
"Yesterday I was 2 down through nine and then ended up winning on the last. I didn't even think I'd be playing today, and this morning I just said, you know, I have to give it everything I've got. I knew that Lucy played well the qualifying rounds, so I had nothing to lose. I wasn't the one to be expected to win, I guess, with my seeding, so I just played really well and let my game do the talking, so it was good.
She's really good. I asked her how old she was, and she's 13, and I was like, wow, I only just got my handicap at 13. It makes me feel like really old even though I'm not, but it's good to see that."
Katelyn Dambaugh - Defeated Kristen Gillman, 2 and 1
"I thought I played really well. Again, same as yesterday, I had a couple holes where I actually had a few really tough breaks at the end of the front nine with hitting good shots and just got bad breaks with that. But I didn't let it get to me, and I just kept playing the same that I've been doing."
Andrea Lee - Defeated Bing Singhsumalee, 5 and 4
"It was definitely a momentum-booster. She was kind of struggling a little bit, and I was just making my pars, getting on the green and two-putt out of there. I’m just really satisfied with the way I played, overall. I didn't make many mistakes today. I had just one three-putt, I think, on No. 12 or 13. But I played really well and minimized my mistakes, so hopefully I can continue that."
On playing good friend Robynn Ree in the Round of 16:
“Yeah, it's definitely hard. I mean, I know most of the girls out here, but I mean, Robynn and I grew up pretty much playing golf together, [we’ve] played junior tournaments since we were 8 years old and had the same coach for a while. It's definitely difficult playing close friends out here, but at the end of the day, it's who wants it more.”
