Valenzuela will take on Ruffels for U.S. Women's Amateur title at Old Waverly

   It will be Switzerland vs. Australia and Stanford vs. Southern California when the Cardinal’s Albane Valenzuela takes on the Trojans’ Gabriela Ruffels in the scheduled 36-hole final of the U.S. Women’s Amateur Sunday at Old Waverly Golf Club in West Point, Miss.

   Valenzuela, a senior at Stanford and No. 5 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), survived a huge challenge from 15-year-old Megha Ganne, the fearless Jersey Girl from Holmdel, N.J., by holing a 10-foot birdie putt on the 19^th hole in a semifinal thriller Saturday at Old Waverly.

Ruffels, meanwhile, edged Valenzuela’s Stanford classmate, Andrea Lee of Hermosa Beach, Calif. and No. 2 in the Women’s WAGR, 2-up.

   It will be just the third time the final will be an all-international affair. It happened for the first time in 106 years when Eun Jeong Seong of South Korea defeated Virginia Elena Carta of Italy in a 36-hole thriller in 2016 in our backyard in the Philadelphia area at Rolling Green Golf Club, the William Flynn gem in Springfield, Delaware County.

   That this final will pit two of the top players from a Pac-12 Conference that is the best in Division I college golf is not the least bit surprising.

   The 21-year-old Valenzuela is Swiss, but, in a lot of ways, is a citizen of the world. She reached the final of the 2017 U.S. Women’s Amateur at San Diego Country Club before falling to Sophia Schubert, 6 and 5. Valenzuela has played in 11 major professional championships, most recently earning low-amateur honors in last month’s Evian Championship in the French Alps.

   But Ganne, who reached the Drive, Chip & Putt National Finals at Augusta National Golf Club the Sunday of Masters week for the fourth time in the spring, wasn’t backing down.

   It looked like Valenzuela was in good shape with a 2-up lead with five holes to play. But Ganne drove the green at the 236-yard, par-4 14^th hole and dropped a 12-foot eagle try. On the par-5 15^th hole, Ganne evened the match when she got it up and down for birdie, nearly holing her pitch and run from 50 yards away.

   Ganne fell behind again when her tee shot to the par-3 17^th green buried under the lip of a greenside bunker, but she sent the match to extra holes by stuffing her approach to six feet at the 18^th hole while Valenzuela missed the green and ultimately conceded the birdie to Ganne.

   Valenzuela, though, summoned all her considerable experience and holed the 10-footer for birdie at the first extra hole, the 10^th hole at Old Waverly. Ganne had one last shot with a birdie putt of her own from eight feet, but couldn’t get it to fall. Suffice it to say, it’s not the last we’ve seen of this young lady.

   “A win is a win,” Valenzuela told the USGA website. “I didn’t have my best game today. I missed some shots out there. But I just knew I had to stick to my game plan, eventually they’d fall and it fell in the playoff, the one putt that I really struck well.

   “It was a tough match. She’s a great competitor. She has amazing composure for a 15-year-old and she made me work hard.”

   The 19-year-old Ruffels, No. 52 and rising in the Women’s WAGR, is playing in her first U.S. Women’s Amateur, but came to Old Waverly on a bit of a match-play roll after capturing the North & South Women’s Amateur Championship at the Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina.

   And Ruffels knew she was in for a fight against the 20-year-old Lee, who was playing in her seventh U.S. Women’s Amateur and had lost in the semifinals as a 15-year-old five years ago at Nassau Country Club.

   Ruffels had edged Lee, 2 and 1, to clinch an East Lake Cup victory for Southern Cal over Stanford last fall.

   The Aussie with impeccable sporting bloodlines was always ahead in the semifinal match, but Lee wouldn’t go away and she dropped a 15-foot birdie putt on the 17^th hole to send the match to the 18^th hole, but with Ruffels still holding a 1-up advantage.

   Ruffels, playing the 18^th hole for the first time in match play, stuck her approach to nine feet. Lee was 22 feet away and blew the downhiller six feet by the hole. Ruffels lagged her birdie try to three feet. When Lee missed her comebacker, she conceded Ruffels’ par putt for the win.

   It is likely Lee’s final U.S. Amateur as she plans to turn pro after taking one more shot at a national championship with Stanford. She has represented the United States twice in the Curtis Cup Match and has and will continue to represent the game with class.

   And Ruffels’ reward for surviving one Stanford stud is the other half of the Cardinal’s dynamic duo.