Walker earns third straight trip to U.S. Women's Amateur with 72 at Raritan Valley

   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 10^th 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.