The odds that Archmere Academy senior Phoebe Brinker would,
for the second year in a row, draw Valery Plata of Colombia in the opening
round of the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship were bordering on astronomical.
But when the smoke cleared from 36 holes of qualifying
Monday and Tuesday at SentryWorld in Stevens Point, Wis., there it was:
Brinker, who claimed her third DIAA crown in May at Cripple Creek Country Club,
versus Plata, coming off a solid freshman season at Michigan State.
A year ago at the Poppy Hills Golf Course on northern
California’s foggy Monterey Peninsula, Brinker battled Plata all the way to the
18th hole before Plata claimed a 2-up decision.
In a tight battle in which neither player led by more than a
hole, Brinker avenged last year’s opening-round setback with a 1-up victory
over Plata Wednesday.
Brinker’s reward for the win is a second-round meeting Thursday
morning with qualifying medalist Yuka Saso, an 18-year-old from the Philippines
who is No. 25 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR). Saso, who is
playing as well as any junior player on the planet right now, rolled to a 6 and
4 decision over Kaylee Sakoda of Cypress, Calif. in her opening-round match.
But let Brinker, who plans to join the powerhouse Duke
program in the summer of 2020, savor her victory over Plata.
Brinker was coming off a tie for 13th place in
the Girls Junior PGA Championship at the Keney Park Golf Course in Windsor,
Conn. and earning medalist honors in a U.S. Women’s Amateur qualifier at
Thorney Lea Golf Club in Brockton, Mass., so she was playing some good golf.
Plata worked her way into the Michigan State lineup by the
end of the college season and the Spartans were seeded fifth in the East
Lansing Regional, which they hosted at the Forest Akers West Golf Course, their
home course. But Michigan State was unable to advance to the NCAA Championship
at The Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Ark.
Brinker got the jump in the match by taking the second hole
with a birdie, but Plata came right back by winning the fifth hole with a par
and the sixth hole with a birdie to take a 1-up advantage. Brinker won the
seventh hole with a par to draw even.
Plata again inched in front by taking the 11th
hole with a birdie to go 1-up. But Brinker answered right back by winning the
12th hole with a par to again draw even. After four straight holes were halved,
Brinker took a 1-up lead by winning the 17th hole with a par and
made it stand up by halving the 18th hole with a par to take the
match.
Brinker knows she will have her hands full in taking on
Saso, who will join the Georgia program in the summer of 2020. Saso claimed a
two-shot victory in the Girls Junior PGA Championship at Keney Park and was
nothing short of brilliant in rolling to medalist honors this week with rounds
of 65 and 67 at SentryWorld for a 12-under 132 total that left her five shots
clear of the field.
Saso has been unable to get past the second round in three
previous U.S. Girls’ Junior, but she quite memorably reached the semifinals of
the 2016 U.S. Women’s Amateur as a 15-year-old in our neck of the woods at
Rolling Green Golf Club, the William Flynn gem in Springfield, Delaware County.
While Saso rolled into the second round, some big names in
the match-play bracket were not so fortunate.
Rachel Heck of Memphis, Tenn., No. 35 in the Women’s WAGR
and the 2017 American Junior Golf Association’s Rolex Player of the Year, fell
to Lauren Beaudreau of Lamont, Ill., who claimed a 1-up decision. Heck will
join the Stanford program in the summer of 2020.
Beaudreau will join the Notre Dame program this summer,
where she will be a teammate of Rachel Heck’s older sister, Abby Heck, who will
be a junior for the Fighting Irish in the upcoming season.
Alexa Pano, the 14-year-old phenom from Lake Worth, Fla. and
No. 37 in the Women’s WAGR was ambushed by Grace Kim, an 18-year-old from
Australia, 4 and 3.
Pano, who lost in the final to Yealimi Noh a year ago at
Poppy Hills, fell behind early as Kim made birdies on three of the first four
holes.
Erica Shepherd of Greenwood, Ind., who claimed the 2017 U.S.
Girls’ Junior at Boone Valley Golf Club in Augusta, Mo., suffered a 3 and 2
setback at the hands of Kelly Xu, a 15-year-old from Claremont, Calif. Shepherd
and her fellow Duke recruit, Megan Furtney, teamed up to win this spring’s U.S.
Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship at Timuquana Country Club in
Jacksonville, Fla.
Lurking in Saso’s part of the bracket, though, is Rose
Zhang, a 16-year-old from Irvine, Calif. and No. 22 in the Women’s WAGR. Zhang
survived a tough battle with Sophie Guo of China by making a birdie on the 19th
hole to advance.
Zhang led the Girls Junior PGA Championship at Keney Park
before being overtaken by Saso in the final round and finishing in a tie for
fourth. She won the event in 2017 at the Country Club of St. Albans’ Lewis
& Clark Course in St. Albans, Mo. and was the runnerup to Noh last year at
the Kearney Hill Golf Links in Lexington, Ky.
Zhang played the weekend after making the cut at the U.S.
Women’s Open this spring at the Country Club of Charleston. Zhang plans to join
the Stanford program in the summer of 2021.
Her opponent in Thursday morning’s second round will be Michaela
Morard of Huntsville, Ala., who rolled to a 6 and 4 decision over Bobyun Park
of South Korea in Wednesday’s opening round. Morard will join the Alabama
program in the summer of 2020.
Virginie Ding of Hong Kong, who came out of the Golf
Association of Philadelphia-administered qualifier at the Steel Club, pulled
out an opening-round win on the 19th hole over Yue Zhang of China.
Ding will take on another Chinese player, Lei Ye, in
Thursday morning’s second round. Ye is joining the Stanford program later this
summer.
Caroline Wrigley, who won the PIAA Class AAA Championship as
a senior at North Allegheny last fall, was unable to grab a ticket to match
play as she was ousted on the first hole of a playoff that involved 13 players
vying for the last two match-play berths.
Wrigley, who will join the Furman program later this summer,
had rallied for a second-round 71 Tuesday to join the large group tied for 63rd
at 6-over 150.
Turned out the playoff got started with darkness descending
on Stevens Point Tuesday evening and Wrigley bogeyed the first hole. The
playoff continued Wednesday morning with Cali girl Sakoda earning the final
spot in the match-play bracket before running into Saso in the opening round.
If the weather cooperates – and it sounds like it's been spectacular the
first three days -- only eight quarterfinalists will be still be standing by
the end of the day Thursday as the winners in Thursday morning’s second round
will turn right around and play the round of 16 in the afternoon.
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