U.S. Women's Amateur Four-Ball Home

The average age of the field is 22.4.

Isabell Pellot, 12, of Apopka, Fla., is the championship’s youngest competitor. She is 14 months younger than 13-year-old Amanda Sambach, of Davidson, N.C.

Pellot and Chloe Schiavone, 15, of Jacksonville, Fla., form the youngest team in the field with an average age of 13.5. Two teams have an average age of 14: Jennifer Cai, 14, or Irvine, Calif., and Olivia Yun, 14, of Carlsbad, Calif., are a combined two months younger than the pairing of 2016 Women’s Amateur Four-Ball runners-up Angelina Kim, 14, of Los Angeles, Calif., and Brianna Navarrosa, 14, of San Diego, Calif.

The championship’s oldest competitor is Katie Falk, 70, of Milwaukee, Wis., who is four years older than Therese Quinn, 66, of Jacksonville, Fla.

The team with the oldest combined age of 128 is Quinn and Diane Lang, 62, of Weston, Fla.

The team with the largest age difference of 30 years is the mother-daughter duo of Kay Daniel, 46, and Abbey Daniel, 16, of Covington, La.

There are seven countries represented in the championship: Canada, Colombia, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Sri Lanka, Thailand and the United States of America.

There are 26 states represented in the championship: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Ohio, Oregon, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.

There are six USGA champions in the field:

• Hailee Cooper, 17, of Montgomery, Texas (2016 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball with Kaitlyn Papp)
• Lauren Greenlief, 26, of Oakton, Va. (2015 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur)
• Sherry Herman, 59, of Middletown, N.J. (2009 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur)
• Diane Lang, 62, of Weston, Fla. (2005, 2006, 2008 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur)
• Kaitlyn Papp, 18, of Austin, Texas (2016 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball with Hailee Cooper)
• Meghan Stasi, 39, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (2006, 2007, 2010, 2012 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur)

Three players were members of USA Curtis Cup Teams:

• Meghan Stasi (2008)
• Bailey Tardy, 20, of Norcross, Ga. (2016)
• Monica Vaughn, 22, of Reedsport, Ore. (2016)

There are two sister teams in the field, including one set of twins:           

• Jessica Spicer, 19, and Sarah Spicer, 19, of Bahama, N.C.
• Nicole Whiston, 15, of San Diego, Calif., and Waverly Whiston, 17, of San Diego, Calif.

There is one mother-daughter team in the field:

• Abbey Daniel and Kay Daniel

There are 18 teams consisting of current or former college teammates:    

• Jennifer Ayala, 20, of Colombia, and Kristina Ortiz, 19, of Puerto Rico – Lynn University
• Hannah Berman, 19, of Jacksonville, Fla., and Lauren Lamm, 23, of Pensacola, Fla. – West Florida University
• Elizabeth Bose, 19, of Norfolk, Va., and Whitney Stevenson, 21, of Blacksburg, Va. – Virginia Tech University
• Julia Calbi, 20, of South Barrington, Ill., and Isabelle Kane, 20, of Winnetka, Ill. – Dartmouth College
• Megan Carter, 19, of Waycross, Ga., and Adela Cejnarova, 23, of Boston, Mass. – Boston University
• Josephine Chang, 18, of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., and Sarah Shipley, 18, of Hastings, Mich. – University of Kentucky
• Alice Chen, 21, of Princeton, N.J., and Taylor Totland, 22, of Tinton Falls, N.J. – Furman University
• Kelly Contreras, 21, of San Antonio, Texas, and Allison Howarth, 23, of San Antonio, Texas – St. Mary’s University (Texas)
• Brigitte Dunne, 20, of Camarillo, Calif., and Alexandra Rossi, 22, of Austin, Texas – Southern Methodist University
• Brittany Fan, 21, of Pearl City, Hawaii, and Esther Lee, 22, of Los Alamitos, Calif. – University of Colorado
• Mikayla Fitzpatrick, 18, of Phoenix, Ariz., and Lindsey Murray, 21, of Dayton Ohio – Xavier University
• Tiffany Kang, 18, of Suwanee, Ga., and Lauren Lightfritz, 19, of Suwanee, Ga. – Mercer University
• Sammi Lee, 22, of Athens, Ga., and Mary Ellen Shuman, 22, of St. Simons Island, Ga. – University of Georgia
• Kortnie Maxoutopoulis, 23, of Pleasanton, Calif., and Camry Tardy, 24, of Arlington, Texas – Texas Christian University
• Christina Parsells, 19, of Bernardsville, N.J., and Alexa Popowitz, 20, of Boca Raton, Fla. – Georgetown University
• Katrina Prendergast, 19, of Sparks, Nev., and Ellen Secor, 19, of Portland, Ore. – Colorado State University
• Jessica Spicer and Sarah Spicer – Virginia Tech University
• Maria Torres, 22, of Puerto Rico, and Samantha Wagner, 20, of Orlando, Fla. – University of Florida

Nine intact sides competed in last year’s U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball at Streamsong (Fla.) Resort; Olivia Herrick and Samantha Sommers, and Meghan Stasi and Dawn Woodard have competed in all three Women’s Amateur Four-Balls together.

One player in the field hails from South Carolina:

• Dawn Woodard, of Greenville

General Player Notes

Debbie Adams, 50, of Asheville, N.C. & Sherry Herman, 59, of Middletown, N.J.

Adams won two Florida Women’s Amateur titles and the 2004 North Carolina Women’s Amateur, and won team and individual gold medals representing the United States in the Maccabi Games. She is a high school golf coach at Carolina Day School. Herman won the 2009 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur and is a two-time U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur semifinalist.

Alexandra Austin, 24, of Burke, Va. & Lauren Greenlief, 26, of Oakton, Va.

Austin was the Virginia Player of the Year in 2016 and holds the Radford University record for lowest career scoring average at 77.03. Greenlief won the 2015 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship at Squire Creek Country Club in Choudrant, La., becoming the youngest winner in the championship’s history. She is a three-time Virginia State Golf Association stroke-play champion and the 2015 VSGA Player of the Year.

Hannah Berman, 19, of Jacksonville, Fla. & Lauren Lamm, 22, of Pensacola, Fla.

Berman and Lamm were teammates at the University of West Florida this year; Berman completed her freshman season and Lamm was a senior. Berman started her own charity at the age of 12 called Hitting it With Hannah. She has raised more than $50,000 for various charities, including the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. She will represent the U.S. in the Maccabi Games in July with fellow 2017 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball competitor Alexa Popowitz. Lamm won the 2013 Florida Women’s Amateur Stroke-Play Championship.

Jennifer Chang, 17, of Cary, N.C. & Gina Kim, 17, of Chapel Hill, N.C.

Chang was named 2015 North Carolina Girls Player of the Year and is a two-time American Junior Golf Association All-American who has verbally committed to play for the University of Southern California in 2018. Kim was named the 2014 and 2015 North Carolina Girls Player of the Year and won the 2016 AJGA Rolex Junior Girls Championship. A 2016 member of the U.S. Junior Ryder Cup Team and an AJGA First-Team All-American, Kim has verbally committed to play for Duke University in the fall of 2018.

Alice Chen, 21, of Princeton, N.J. & Taylor Totland, 22, of Tinton Falls, N.J.

Chen and Totland are teammates at Furman University in Greenville, S.C. Chen played on the victorious New Jersey team in the 2013 USGA Women’s State Team Championship and has won six New Jersey State Golf Association titles, including the 2013 NJSGA Women’s Amateur. Chen was named Southern Conference Freshman of the Year in 2015. Totland was the Southern Conference Player of the Year in 2015 and the Freshman of the Year in 2014.

Jayna Choi, 16, of Collierville, Tenn. & Erica Shepherd, 16, of Greenwood, Ind.

Choi is a multi-time AJGA tournament champion who advanced to the semifinals of the 2015 U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship, losing to eventual champion Eun Jeong Seong. She is verbally committed to Vanderbilt University. Shepherd competed in the 2016 U.S. Women’s Open at CordeValle and is a two-time Indiana Girls’ Junior champion. In 2016, she played with two-time U.S. Women’s Open champion Betsy King. Her middle name is Leigh in honor of family friend and 1998 U.S. Girls’ Junior champion Leigh Anne Hardin. The left-hander is verbally committed to Duke University.

Hailee Cooper, 17, of Montgomery, Texas & Kaitlyn Papp, 18, of Austin, Texas

Cooper and Papp are the defending U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball champions, defeating fellow 2017 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball side Angelina Kim and Brianna Navarrosa in 19 holes in the championship match at Streamsong (Fla.) Resort. One of the most decorated junior players in the country, Cooper is verbally committed to attend the University of Texas in 2018. Papp has signed her letter of intent and will attend the University of Texas this fall.

Susan Curtin, 47, of Westwood, Mass. & Pamela Kuong, 56, of Wellesley Hills, Mass.

Curtin served in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserves and serves on the board of severable charitable organizations, including the National Coast Guard Museum Association and Boston Children’s Hospital. She is also on the executive committee of the Massachusetts Golf Association. She played college golf at Brigham Young University at the same time 2003 Masters champion Mike Weir competed for the men’s team. Kuong finished runner-up in the 2015 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Championship. She has won two Massachusetts Women’s Amateur Championships, the 2011 New England Women’s Amateur and three New England Senior Women’s Amateurs. She was also named Massachusetts Player of the Year in 2012. Away from golf, she is also a swimming trainer who has coached Olympic hopefuls.

Abbey Daniel, 16, of Covington, La. & Kay Daniel, 46, of Covington, La.

The Daniels’ are the only mother-daughter team competing in the 2017 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship. When she was 14, Abbey fractured her right arm in four places and was told she may never be able to play golf again. A year later, she advanced to the National Finals of the 2015 Drive, Chip & Putt Championship at Augusta National Golf Club. Also a volleyball player, Abbey has verbally committed to attend Mississippi State University in 2018, the same school her mother and her father, Chuck, attended. Born in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Kay is now an orthodontist. The 2005 Louisiana Women’s Amateur champion advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2015 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur at Squire Creek Country Club in Choudrant, La.

Kathleen Gallagher, 20, of Greenwood, Miss. & Kendall Griffin, 18, of Sebring, Fla.

Gallagher comes from a family of decorated golfers. Her mother Cissye, like Kathleen, played at Louisiana State University, and then on the LPGA Tour. Her father, Jim, played on the PGA Tour and the PGA Tour Champions and currently works as an analyst on Golf Channel. Her aunt, Jackie, also played at LSU and won on the LPGA Tour. She played high school golf on the boys’ team at Pillow Academy in Mississippi, winning four state championships and one individual state championship. She also won the 2013 Mississippi Women’s Amateur. Griffin will play with Gallagher next season at LSU. Along with partner Athena Yang, Griffin medaled in the inaugural U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship at Bandon Dunes. She won the 2013 Florida State Golf Association Girls’ Junior Amateur and finished runner-up in 2014.

Angelina Kim, 14, of Los Angeles, Calif. & Brianna Navarrosa, 14, of San Diego, Calif.

Kim and Navarrosa finished runner-up in the 2016 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship at Streamsong (Fla.) Resort, losing in 19 holes to Hailee Cooper and Kaitlyn Papp. Kim won the 2015 Southern California Girls’ Junior Amateur Championship. Navarrosa advanced to the Round of 32 in the 2016 U.S. Girls’ Junior.

Diane Lang, 62, of Weston, Fla. & Therese Quinn, 66, of Jacksonville, Fla.

Lang and Quinn are the oldest team in the 2017 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship. Lang is a three-time U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur champion (2005, 2006, 2008), going 22-1 in match play over a four-year period in the event. Originally from Kingston, Jamaica, Lang moved to Florida to attend Florida Atlantic University and played on the LPGA Tour in the early 1980s, making the cut in the 1985 U.S. Women’s Open at Baltusrol Golf Club, where she was in second place after the second round. She gave up competitive golf for 16 years to raise her family and was reinstated as an amateur in 1989. Quinn played in three consecutive U.S. Women’s Opens from 1971-1973 and is the second-oldest player in the field.

Jennifer Liedes, 24, of Olympia, Wash. & Kerry Postillion, 53, of Scottsdale, Ariz.

Liedes and Postillion are the only aunt-niece team in the 2017 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball field. Liedes was named 2014-15 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Player of the Year for Saint Martin’s University in Washington. Postillion is a three-time U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur runner-up and reinstated amateur who competed in two U.S. Women’s Opens. The 29-year age gap between the two is the second-largest in the field.

Mari Miezwa, 37, of Brooklyn Park, Minn. & Thuhashini Selvaratnam, 40, of Sri Lanka

Miezwa was a quarterfinalist in the 2006 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship and a two-time runner-up in the Minnesota Women’s Public Links Championship. Selvaratnam finished runner-up in the 2006 Women’s Mid-Amateur, beating Miezwa in the quarterfinals, 2 up. Together, they won the 2015 Arizona Women’s Golf Association Four-Ball Championship and competed together in the inaugural U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship at Bandon Dunes.

Amanda Sambach, 13, of Davidson, N.C. & Muskan Uppal, 16, of Cornelius, N.C.

Sambach, the second-youngest player in the 2017 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball, is also an accomplished tennis player, winning the 2013 North Carolina singles and doubles championships, as well as the 2013 Southern doubles title. Uppal, who moved from New Delhi, India, to the U.S. seven years ago, volunteers more than 200 hours a year to various organizations, including The First Tee of Charlotte, raising money from individual contributions for every birdie she makes.

Jessica Spicer, 19, of Bahama, N.C. & Sarah Spicer, 19, of Bahama, N.C.

The identical twins are one of three sister sides competing. Teammates at Virginia Tech University, the Spicers both qualified for the 2015 U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship. The duo used to compete in synchronized ice skating, advancing to the 2010 U.S. Synchronized Skating National Championship.

Meghan Stasi, 39, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. & Dawn Woodard, 42, of Greenville, S.C.

Stasi is a four-time U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion (2006, 2007, 2010, 2012) and represented the USA Team in the 2008 Curtis Cup Match on the Old Course at St. Andrews in Scotland, where she got engaged to her husband, Danny, on the iconic Swilcan Bridge. She also served as the head women’s golf coach at the University of Mississippi from 2000-2007. A Tulane University graduate, Meghan and Danny own a restaurant in Fort Lauderdale. Woodard, a graduate of Furman University in Greenville, S.C., is the only player in the field from South Carolina. The three-time U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur medalist has competed in 27 USGA championships. She is also  a six-time South Carolina stroke-play champion, five-time South Carolina match-play champion and the 2007 Tennessee Women’s Amateur champion.

Bailey Tardy, 20, of Norcross, Ga. & Monica Vaughn, 22, of Reedsport, Ore.

Tardy and Vaughn are two of the best collegiate players in the country, with Tardy just finishing her sophomore season at the University of Georgia and Vaughn graduating from Arizona State University. Vaughn became the sixth ASU golfer to win the NCAA Division I individual title by shooting 1 over par for 54 holes. She rallied from a late three-stroke deficit to edge Jennifer Kupcho and Leona Maguire by one stroke. Two weeks earlier, Vaughn won the NCAA Lubbock Regional individual title. Vaughn also won the 2010 Oregon Women's Amateur at the age of 15, the youngest in the event's history. Tardy qualified for the 2014 and 2016 U.S. Women’s Opens. She also qualified for the 2017 U.S. Women's Open on May 22. She was the medalist in the 2013 U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship, advanced to the Round of 16 in the 2015 U.S. Women’s Amateur and won the 2015 North & South Women’s Amateur Championship at Pinehurst Resort & Country Club’s Course No. 2, which is hosting the 2017 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship. Tardy and Vaughn were teammates on the 2016 USA Curtis Cup Team, going a combined 2-1 in foursomes and four-ball matches as a side at Dun Laoghaire Golf Club outside of Dublin, Ireland. Both players also won their singles matches on the final day.

Although it was a different format, here's a Tweet from last year's Curtis Cup regarding their big comeback in a foursomes match.

Nicole Whiston, 15, of San Diego, Calif., and Waverly Whiston, 17, of San Diego, Calif.

Another one of the three sister sides in this year’s field, the Whistons advanced to the quarterfinals of last year’s U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball at Streamsong (Fla.) Resort. After advancing to match play via a 4-for-3 playoff, the Whistons upset the touted duo of Kristen Gillman (2014 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion) and Sierra Brooks (2015 U.S. Women’s Amateur runner-up, member of the 2016 USA Curtis Cup Team) in the Round of 64. The Whistons also both advanced to match play in the 2016 U.S. Girls’ Junior, with Waverly losing in the quarterfinals to eventual runner-up Andrea Lee. 

Compiled by Joey Flyntz, associate editor/writer for the USGA.