Eun Jeong Seong and Andrea Lee may be only 16- and 17-years
old, respectively, but when they arrive at Rolling Green Golf Club for the U.S.
Women’s Amateur in a little more than a week, they will be two of the most
match-play tested players in the field.
First things first, though. Saturday at Ridgewood Country
Club, an A.W. Tillinghast classic in Paramus, N.J., Seong of South Korea and
Lee of Hermosa Beach, Calif. will meet in a scheduled 36-hole final for the
U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship. Seong will be seeking to become the first
player to repeat as the Girls’ Junior winner since Hall of Famer Hollis Stacy
won three straight titles from 1969 to 1971.
For her part, Lee will be trying to be the first player to
represent the United States in the Curtis Cup Match and win the Girls’ Junior
on the same year since Peggy Conley did it in 1964.
Lee will join the Stanford golf team next month, but think
about that for a second. She hasn’t played a college tournament yet, but she
has already represented her country in an international match played in Dublin,
Ireland.
While Seong cruised to a 4 and 3 victory over fellow South
Korean Yujeong Son in the semifinals Friday, Lee had her hands full with yet
another South Korean, Hye-Jin Choi, the tournament co-medalist and the low
amateur at the U.S. Women’s Open at CordeValle.
Lee found herself 1-down with two holes to play, but relying
on her match-play experience, she birdied the last two holes to win the match.
Seong and Lee met in the quarterfinals of the 2014 U.S. Women’s
Amateur quarterfinals at Nassau Country Club with Lee claiming a 2 and 1
victory. Lee fell to eventual champion Kristen Gillman in the semifinals.
FS1 will broadcast the final beginning at 1:30 p.m.
Saturday.
The U.S. Junior Amateur title will also be decided in a
scheduled 36-hole final Saturday at The Honors Course, a Pete Dye design in
Ooltewah, Tenn.
Noah Goodwin, a 16-year-old from Corinth, Texas will take on
Min Woo Lee, a 17-year-old from Australia.
Goodwin gutted out a victory on the 20th hole
over John Pak of Scotch Plains, N.Y. in one semifinal Friday. Lee earned his
ticket into the final with a 1-up win over Eugene Hong of Sanford, Fla. in the
other semifinal.
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