Saso-Zhang match will highlight four intriguing quarterfinals in U.S. Girls' Junior at SentryWorld

   Once the match-play brackets were established following the completion of 36 holes of qualifying in the 71^st U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship at SentryWorld in Stevens Point, Wis., there was a certain air of inevitability about a Yuka Saso-Rose Zhang quarterfinal.

   The 18-year-old Saso of the Philippines and No. 25 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) and the 16-year-old Zhang of Irvine, Calif. and No. 22 in the Women’s WAGR made sure it happened, too, as they blitzed two opponents Thursday to set up a match between the two best junior players on the planet not named Lucy Li.

   And no, I have no idea why Li isn’t in Stevens Point. I know she withdrew from the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship in April with an injury, but haven’t heard much about her since. Even Li might have a hard time beating either Saso or Zhang the way they’re playing right now.

   Archmere Academy senior Phoebe Brinker, who won her third DIAA championship at Cripple Creek Country Club in May, actually put up a pretty good fight against Saso in Thursday morning’s round of 32 before Saso, who plans to join the Georgia program in the summer of 2020, pulled out a 3 and 2 victory.

   Brinker, who plans to join the powerhouse Duke program in the summer of 2020, won the seventh hole to take a 1-up lead on Saso, who won medalist honors in qualifying with an otherworldly, bogey-free 12-under 132 total.

   Saso evened the match by making a birdie on the ninth hole. Then Saso put the hammer down, winning the 13^th, 14^th and 15^th holes, all with birdies, to take a 3-up lead with three holes to play. A par at the 16^th hole finished the job.

   Brinker has established herself as one of the top junior players in the country these last couple of weeks. She finished tied for 13^th in the Girls Junior PGA Championship at the Keney Park Golf Course in Windsor, Conn. – Saso rallied in the final round to take that championship – and made a nice run to the second round this week.

   And last week Brinker punched her ticket to the U.S. Women’s Amateur, which tees off in a couple of weeks at the Old Waverly Golf Club in West Point, Miss. Brinker will bring a ton of confidence along with her obvious talent to Old Waverly.

   While Saso was getting past Brinker in the round of 32, Zhang, who plans to join the Stanford program in the summer of 2021, made eight birdies in 12 holes as she dismantled Michaela Morard of Huntsville, Ala., 7 and 6. Morard will join the Alabama program in the summer of 2020.

   In the afternoon’s round of 16, Saso was 4-under when she completed a 5 and 4 victory over Anne Chen of Sugar Land, Texas, who, like Brinker, is headed for Duke in the summer of 2020.

   Zhang took out another Cali girl, Kelly Xu of Claremont, 4 and 3, in the round of 16. Zhang was 13-under for the 27 holes she played in her two match wins Thursday.

   It’s not all that unusual for her to have streaks like this. Zhang went 20-under in winning the 2017 Girls Junior PGA Championship at the Country Club of St. Albans’ Lewis & Clark Course in St. Albans, Mo. and went 20-under again in last year’s Girls Junior PGA Championship at the Kearney Hill Golf Links in Lexington, Ky., although that was only good enough for a runnerup finish to the white-hot Yealimi Noh.

   Zhang made the cut in the U.S. Women’s Open at the Country Club of Charleston this spring and finished in a tie for 55^th. She is a giant hurdle for Saso as Saso tries to duplicate the feat of Noh, who turned pro earlier this year, last summer in sweeping the Girls Junior PGA Championship and the U.S. Girls’ Junior at the Poppy Hills Golf Course on northern California’s foggy Monterey Peninsula.

   So yeah, Saso versus Zhang is going to be a great match. But don’t hand the trophy to the winner of the match just yet.

   Take Brooke Seay, for example. Seay of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. is playing in her sixth U.S. Girls’ Junior. Do you have any idea how good you have to be just to qualify for this thing six times? Two summers ago when Seay was still just 16, she made the cut in the U.S. Women’s Open at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J.

   With her back against the wall in her round-of-16 match with Grace Kim of Australia Thursday afternoon, Seay drained a 35-foot birdie putt on the 18^th hole to send the match to extra holes. Three holes later, on the 21^st hole of match, Seay stuffed her approach to four feet and made the birdie putt to earn her ticket to the quarterfinals. It was the longest match of the week.

   Seay, who lost in the round of 16 a year ago at Poppy Hills, will take on Lei Ye of China, who rolled to a 6 and 5 decision over Grace Summerhays of Scottsdale, Ariz. On the bag for Summerhays was brother Preston, who won the U.S. Junior Amateur Saturday at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio.

   Seay and Ye will be teammates in a few weeks as both are joining the Stanford program later this summer.

   Ye reached the third round with a 2 and 1 victory over Virginie Ding of Hong Kong in Thursday morning’s round of 32. Ding reached SentryWorld out of the Golf Association of Philadelphia-administered qualifier at the Steel Club.

   Two other Cali girls, Nicole Whiston of San Diego and Briana Chacon of Whittier, will battle it out in another quarterfinal.

   Whiston, who will join big sister Waverly at Tennessee later this summer, edged 15-year-old Sophia Bae of Norwood, N.J., 1-up, in her round of 16 match. Chacon, who will join the Oregon program later this summer, claimed a 5 and 4 decision over TCU sophomore Sabrina Iqbal of San Jose, Calif.

   The winner of the Saso-Zhang match will also face a tough opponent in Friday afternoon’s semifinals as Lauren Beautreau of Lemont, Ill. will take on Jillian Bourdage of Tamarac, Fla. in the fourth quarterfinal Friday morning.

   Beautreau, who will join the Notre Dame program later this summer, already owns a win over a top-50 Women’s WAGR player this week as she took out Rachel Heck of Memphis, Tenn., 35^th in the world, in the opening round.

   Beautreau reached the quarterfinals with a 3 and 1 victory over Jasmine Ly of Canada, who will join the Northern Illinois program later this summer.

   Bourdage, who will join the Ohio State program in the summer of 2020, teamed with her pal, Casey Weidenfeld, to reach the final of the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship this spring at Timuquana Country Club in Jacksonville, Fla. and shot 3-under in qualifying this week at SentryWorld.

   Bourdage reached the quarterfinals with a 2 and 1 win over Mika Jin of China in her round-of-16 match.

   And boy, is there some serious talent about to be unleashed on the college golf scene as soon as about six weeks from now.

   By the end of the day Friday, just two players will be left standing for Saturday’s scheduled 36-hole final.