San Diego Country Club in Chula Vista, Calif. didn’t seem to
fit for the local contingent that headed west for the 2017 U.S. Women’s
Amateur.
When the dust cleared from two rounds of qualifying for
match play Tuesday – well, actually it hasn’t completely cleared since five
players will return to the course at 10 a.m. our time Wednesday to sort out the
last four spots in match play with two players eliminated from a group of 11
vying for the last eight spots – the cut fell at 6-over-par 150 over the
6,423-yard, par-72 San Diego Country Club layout.
Some just missed, most notably four-time U.S. Mid-Amateur
and eight-time Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia Amateur champion Meghan
Stasi, who finished at 7-over 151. Stasi, a South Jersey native who lives in
Fort Lauderdale, Fla., added a 5-over 77 to her opening-round 74.
Before I left for an overnight shift at the U.S. Traffic
Network, I thought Mia Kness, who captured the PIAA Class AAA championship as a
senior at Peters Township last fall, was going to make it. But Kness gave away
four shots late in her round with a double bogey and a pair of bogeys.
Kness, who will start her freshman season at Seton Hall in a
few weeks, ended up with a 77 after opening with a 75 for an 8-over 152 total
that was two shots out of the large group that played off for the last eight
berths in match play.
Others weren’t so close to making it, most notably the
player who won the two PIAA Class AAA titles preceding Kness’ 2016 crown,
Radnor High product Brynn Walker.
Walker, who was in the starting lineup every step of the way
as a freshman for a North Carolina team that missed making match play in the
NCAA Championship by one shot, knew she had to try to make something happen
after opening with a 5-over 77. And that’s a tough way to have to play a course
set up by the USGA for a national championship.
When Walker made a bogey at two, a bogey at four and a
double bogey at five, she had no chance. She ultimately signed for an 81, which
left her at 158. She’ll go back to North Carolina and get better because that’s
what she’s always done. As Walker once told me, nobody expects more of Walker
than she does of herself.
Maddie Sager, who as a senior at Owen J. Roberts was the
runnerup to Walker in the 2015 PIAA Class Championship, improved three shots
from her opening-round 83 with an 80 to finish with a 163 total.
I don’t think Sager’s expectations were as high as say,
Walker’s were in southern California, but the experience of being there will
make her a better player when she returns for her sophomore season at Seton
Hall. And no doubt happy to have a player of Kness’ talents joining the team.
One of the best teams in college golf last season was
Stanford, the Cardinal coming up just short of a spot in the final of the NCAA
Championship when Pac-12 rival Arizona State, the eventual champion, edged them
in the semifinals at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill.
The Cardinal had three players finish among the top 11 in
qualifying, including medalist Shannon Aubert, a senior from Stuart, Fla. via
France. Aubert, who will be a senior this season, ripped off eight birdies in
Tuesday’s second round for a 6-under 66, which, combined with her opening-round
69, gave her a 9-under 135 total.
It was just two shots off the qualifying record set by
Mariel Galdiano a year ago at Rolling Green Golf Club. I got to witness most of
Galdiano’s second round, a brilliant 6-under 65, that gave her a 133 total,
which was 9-under for the par-71 William Flynn gem in Springfield, Delaware
County.
The best freshman in the country last year was Stanford’s
Andrea Lee of Hermosa Beach, Calif. She finished tied for seventh in
qualifying, adding a 69 to her opening-round 73 for a 2-under 142.
Lee was the only American among the eight quarterfinalists
at Rolling Green last summer. She lost in the quarterfinals to eventual
champion Eun Jeong Seong of South Korea, who had also defeated Lee in the final
of the U.S. Girls’ Junior a couple of weeks earlier at Ridgewood Country Club
in Paramus, N.J.
The overriding impression I got of Lee in a brief interview
after her loss to Seong was that she does not like to lose. Period. She’s
probably still pretty ticked about the way Stanford’s season ended. Look out
for her in match play.
Maybe the most talented freshman in the country last spring
was Switzerland’s Albane Valenzuela, a teammate of Aubert’s and Lee’s in Palo
Alto. She finished tied for 11th in qualifying, adding a 1-over 73
to her opening-round 70 for a 1-under 143 total.
Julianne Alvarez of New Zealand, one of the heroes of
Washington’s stunning run to the NCAA championship in the spring of 2016, was
the runnerup to Aubert in qualifying. Alvarez, who will be a junior for the
Huskies this season, fired a 68 Tuesday after opening with a 71 and finished
four shots behind Aubert at 5-under 139.
Holly Moore, a junior at Arizona and a local from Escondido,
Calif., shared third place in qualifying with Stephanie Lau, a junior at
Northwestern from Fullerton, Calif.
Moore had a share of the opening-round lead with a 5-under
67, but fell back with a 1-over 73 for a 4-under 140 total.
Lau was part of Northwestern team that seemed to relish the
bad weather that plagued Rich Harvest Farms for the NCAA Championship, earning
medalist honors and making it to the final before falling to Arizona State. She
carded a 4-under 68 Tuesday after opening with a 72 to share third with Moore
at 4-under.
If Lee wasn’t the best freshman in the country last year,
then Alabama’s Kristen Gillman was. The 2014 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion – as
a 16-year-old – from Austin Texas, had shared the opening-round lead with Moore
after a surgical 67. She struggled to a 76 Tuesday, but still finished in that
group tied for 11th at 1-under 143 that included Valenzuela.
Also in that group at 143 is last year’s medalist, Galdiano
of Pearl City, Hawaii. Coming off a solid freshman season at UCLA, Galdiano
carded a 3-under 69 Tuesday after opening with a 74. Galdiano’s opening-round
opponent will be none other than the runnerup to Galdiano in qualifying at
Rolling Green, Lucy Li, of Redwood Shores, Calif. She shot 7-under 135 in
qualifying at Rolling Green as a 13-year-old a year ago. It will be a
fascinating matchup.
Also in that group tied for 11th in qualifying is
Alexa Pano, the 12-year-old from Lake Worth, Fla. who I’m looking forward to
seeing play for the United States in 2022 Curtis Cup at Merion Golf Club.
Just kidding. Well, sort of, but she’s only 12, so it could
happen. But she doesn’t play like a 12-year-old. She added an even-par 72 to
her opening-round 71.
Two players who squared off in the semifinals at Rolling
Green finished in the top 20 in qualifying. Italy’s Virginia Elena Carta, who
lost on the 36th hole in the final to Seong, overcame the same kind
of dizzy spells that plagued her in last year’s final to post a 3-under 69
Tuesday and finished tied for 20th at 1-over 145.
Yuka Saso of the Philippines, who fell to Carta, 2 and 1, as
a 15-year-old in the semifinals at Rolling Green, had a 1-under 71 Tuesday and
finished tied for 18th at even-par 144.
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