North Carolina senior Brynn Walker, who plays out of St.
Davids Golf Club, earned her third straight trip to the U.S. Women’s Amateur
with an even-par 72 Wednesday in a qualifier administered by the New Jersey State
Golf Association at Raritan Valley Country Club in Bridgewater, N.J.
It will be the fourth time Walker, a two-time PIAA Class AAA
champion at Radnor, will tee it up in the U.S. Women’s Amateur, although she
has yet to qualify for match play. She’ll get another shot to be among the top
64 in the match-play bracket when the U.S. Women’s Amateur tees off Aug. 5 at
Old Waverly Golf Club in West Point, Miss.
The 21-year-old Walker honed her match-play skills with a victory
in the Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Match Play Championship last
week on her home course. She rolled to the title with a 12 and 11 victory over
Samantha Perrotta of Old York Road Country Club of Chesterfield in the
scheduled 36-hole final.
The NJSGA scoring portal indicated that Walker opened her
round with an eagle. The NJGA roundup indicated that the eagle came on the 10th
hole. Walker had two birdies and two bogeys in her first nine holes and
remained at 2-under.
After a run of seven straight pars, Walker made a pair of
bogeys on two of her last four holes to end up with an even-par round over the
6,432-yard, par-72 Raritan Valley layout.
Megha Ganne, the talented 15-year-old from Holmdel, N.J.,
and Linda Wang, a senior at St. John’s from Plainview, N.Y., shared medalist
honors, each carding a 1-under 71.
Ganne was coming off a tie for sixth in the Girls Junior PGA
Championship at Keney Park Golf Course in Windsor, Conn. last week. She fired a
women’s course-record of 8-under 62 in the second round at Keney Park.
Ganne, who has appeared in the Drive, Chip & Putt
National Finals each of the last four springs at Augusta National Golf Club,
also teed it up in the U.S. Women’s Open at the Country Club of Charleston this
spring. She will be making her second appearance in the U.S. Women’s Amateur.
Ganne’s round Wednesday was highlighted by a hole-in-one on Raritan
Valley’s 198-yard sixth hole as her 4-hybrid shot found the bottom of the cup. Ganne
started on the back nine and the ace at six was part of a closing burst that
saw Ganne go 3-under over her final four holes.
A couple of youngsters, Gio Kim, a junior at Northern
Highlands High School from Upper Saddle River, N.J., and Katie Li, a freshman
at Ridge High School from Basking Ridge, N.J., joined Walker at even-par as
each carded a 72 and rounded out the fivesome who punched their tickets to Old
Waverly.
Rina Jung, a junior at Penn from Briarcliff Manor, N.Y., was
the first alternate as she posted a 2-over 74. The second alternate was Emily
Zhu of Canada, who matched Jung’s 2-over 74.
Dartmouth sophomore Kaitlyn Lees, who plays out of Merion
Golf Club, came up short of a U.S. Women’s Amateur berth with a 3-over 75. Lees
gave Walker a battle in the semifinals of the WGAP Match Play Championship last
week at St. Davids before Walker pulled out a 1-up victory.
Recent Conestoga graduate Samantha Yao, who will join Lees
at Dartmouth later this summer, carded a 78 at Raritan Valley. Yao, a two-time District One Class AAA champion at Conestoga, played four
rounds in last week’s Junior Girls PGA Championship at Keney Park.
Jackie Rogowicz, who completed an outstanding four-year
career at Penn State this spring, also carded a 78 at Raritan Valley. Rogowicz
earned a trip to the U.S. Women’s Amateur a year ago, but, like Walker, was
unable to qualify for match play at the Golf Club of Tennessee. Rogowicz was a
two-time PIAA runnerup during a standout scholastic career at Pennsbury.
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