Walker finally lands a match-play berth in U.S. Women's Amateur at Old Waverly

   In her fourth start in a U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship, North Carolina senior Brynn Walker, a two-time PIAA Class AAA champion at Radnor, finally punched her ticket into the match-play bracket Tuesday.

   Walker carded a steady 1-under-par 71 at Old Waverly Golf Club in steamy West Point, Miss. after opening with an even-par 72 Monday and her 1-under 143 total left her among the group tied for 17^th place. More importantly, Walker, who plays out of St. Davids Golf Club, didn’t have to do a lot of nervous scoreboard-watching Tuesday afternoon. She was in.

   Pretty sure this is Walker’s ninth start in a USGA championship. In 2015, at the end of her junior year in high school, Walker and her pal, Madelein Herr, a former Council Rock North standout who will be a senior on the Penn State golf team this season, made a stunning run to the semifinals of the inaugural U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship at Bandon Dunes.

   Walker has twice teed it up against the pros in the LPGA ShoptRite Classic at the Seaview Hotel & Golf Club’s Bay Course at the Jersey Shore. And she has been in countless high-stakes situations in her three seasons with the Tar Heels, including an unlikely run to the NCAA Championship in 2017 at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill. in Walker’s freshman season.

   It is the kind of experience you need to get through the gauntlet of 36 holes of qualifying for match play in a U.S. Women’s Amateur.

   Walker got off to a good start after teeing off at the 10^th hole Tuesday. She made birdies at the 12^th and 14^th holes to quickly get it to 2-under. Bogeys at the 15^th and 18^th holes left her at even-par. She made a birdie at the second hole, gave that shot back with a bogey at the fourth and then birdied the sixth hole to get it to 1-under.

   It won’t hurt that Walker navigated a match-play bracket last month to capture the Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Match Play Championship on her home course at St. Davids.

   That kind of experience should prove valuable in Walker’s opening-round match Wednesday against the lone mid-amateur to survive qualifying, 31-year-old Julia Potter-Bobb, a two-time winner of the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship from Indianapolis. You don’t win two U.S. Mid-Ams without pulling out some tough matches. Looks like it will be a 12:20 p.m. EDT start for Walker.

   It’s hard to believe that it was only three years ago that 11-year-old Alexa Pano showed up in a U.S. Women’s Amateur for the first time at Rolling Green Golf Club in Springfield, Delaware County.

   A grizzled veteran at 14 – she’ll turn 15 before the end of the month if it somehow makes her less of a phenom – Pano of Lake Worth, Fla. fired a 4-under 68 at Old Waverly Tuesday to share medalist honors with Jiarui Jin of China, the younger sister of beaten U.S. Junior Amateur finalist Bo Jin, at 6-under 138.

   The 16-year-old Jin matched the low individual round of the two days of qualifying, a 6-under 66, after opening with an even-par 72.

   Pano had opened with a 2-under 70 and it was a bumpy ride for her on the back nine at Old Waverly, the first nine holes of her round Tuesday. Pano birdied the 10^th hole, bogeyed the 11^th and 14^th holes, birdied the 15^th and 17^th holes and bogeyed the 18^th hole, which added up to an even-par 36.

   But Pano settled down nicely on the outgoing nine at Old Waverly, making birdies at the first, third, fifth and ninth holes for a sparkling 4-under 32.

   Pano lost in the final of the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship a year ago to Yealimi Noh at the Poppy Hills Golf Course on northern California’s Monterey Peninsula – the kid played 51 holes that day, beating Lucy Li in a semifinal match before embarking on a scheduled 36-hole final with Noh.

   It was a little surprising to see Pano go out in the first round a couple of weeks ago in this year’s U.S. Girls’ Junior at SentryWorld in Stevens Point, Wis. It wouldn’t be surprising in the least if she were to make a deep run this week at Old Waverly.

   “The past few years I’ve been really close to top seed,” Pano told the USGA website. “Last year, I doubled the final hole (and) I was the fifth seed and the year before I was like maybe seventh seed and I lost in the first round both times.

   “To be honest with you, the higher the seed, the better, I suppose. Like my dad (and caddie) said, I can’t go out and play for second.”

   Pano is the second youngest medalist ever behind only the precocious Lydia Ko, who earned medalist honors in 2011 at Rhode Island Country Club as a 14-year-old. Pano actually ended up with the second seed.

   Jin, meanwhile, became the first Chinese player to win medalist honors in a USGA event with her brilliant bogey-free 66.

   Starting on the 10^th hole, Jin quietly made birdies at the 14^th and 17^th holes for a 2-under 34 on Old Waverly’s incoming nine. But she went off on the outgoing nine, ripping off four birdies in the first five holes.

   Jin’s older brother Bo Jin fell, 2 and 1, to Preston Summerhays in a hard-fought final in the U.S. Junior Amateur last month at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio.

   Lauren Hartlage, a senior at Louisville from Elizabethtown, Ky., and Megan Schofill of Monticello, Fla., who will join the Auburn program in a couple of weeks, shared third place, a shot behind the co-medalists at 5-under 139.

   Hartlage added a 1-under 71 to her opening-round 68 while Schofill carded a solid 2-under 70 Tuesday after opening with a 69.

   Heading a trio of players tied for fifth place at 4-under 140 was Australian Gabriela Ruffels, a junior at Southern California who is coming off a victory over fellow Aussie Doey Choi to capture the title in the Women’s North & South Amateur Championship at the No. 2 Course at the Pinehurst Resort in Pinehurst, N.C.

   Looks like if they both win their first-round matches, Ruffels and Choi will get a rematch in the second round at Old Waverly. Go figure.

   Ruffels, who led the Trojans to the team title in the Pac-12 Championship and helped them qualify for match play in the NCAA Championship at The Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Ark., added a 4-under 68 to her opening-round 72.

   Vanderbilt junior Morgan Baxendale of Windermere, Fla. carded a 1-under 71 after opening with a 69 to get it to 4-under. Baxendale helped the Commodores capture the team title in the Auburn Regional in the spring.

   Rounding out the trio at 140 was 16-year-old Annabell Fuller of England, who posted a 3-under 69 after opening with a 71.

   Fuller was just 15 a year ago when she found herself taking on Kristen Gillman, who would go on to win her second U.S. Women’s Amateur crown at the Country Club of Tennessee, in the Sunday singles of United States runaway in the Curtis Cup Match at Quaker Ridge Golf Club in Scarsdale, N.Y. Fuller dropped a 5 and 4 decision, but she’s been in a big match-play situation in an almost impossible spot.

   Megha Ganne, a 15-year-old from Holmdel, N.J., earned a spot in the match-play bracket as she carded a second straight 73 for a 2-over 146 total. Ganne, who competed in the Drive, Chip & Putt National Finals for a fourth time at Augusta National Golf Club the Sunday of Masters week, was the co-medalist in the same U.S. Women’s Amateur qualifier at Raritan Valley Country Club in Bridgewater, N.J. from which Walker emerged.

   The cutoff for match play came at 3-over 147 and 64 players exactly filled the match-play bracket at that number or better.

   That left Caroline Wrigley, who captured the PIAA Class AAA title as a senior at North Allegheny last fall, one shot short of making match play. Wrigley, who will join the Furman program in a couple of weeks, added a 1-over 73 to her opening-round 75 for a 4-over 148 total.

   Wrigley, who added a Pennsylvania Junior Girls’ crown at Hershey Country Club’s East Course this summer to her scholastic state title, was eliminated in a 13-for-2 playoff for match play at last month’s U.S. Girls’ Junior at SentryWorld.

   Like Wrigley, Archmere Academy senior Phoebe Brinker teed it up in both the U.S. Girls’ Junior at SentryWorld and at this week’s U.S. Women’s Amateur. After struggling to an opening-round 81, Brinker carded a 75 Tuesday for a 156 total.

   Brinker, who will join the powerhouse Duke program in the summer of 2020, reached match play at SentryWorld and lost in the second round. The niece of the PGA of America’s first female president, Suzy Whaley, Brinker had a strong showing in the Girls Junior PGA Championship, finishing in a tie for 13^th at the Keney Park Golf Course in Windsor, Conn.

   Gianna Clemente, an 11-year-old from Warren, Ohio, failed to make match play in her first U.S. Women’s Amateur appearance as she added an 80 to her opening-round 81. The third-youngest player to qualify for a U.S. Women’s Amateur, Clemente finished in a tie for fifth in the Pennsylvania Junior Girls at Hershey earlier this summer.

   Seton Hall junior Mia Kness, the 2016 PIAA Class AAA champion as a senior at Peters Township, was two shots behind Clemente at 163 after adding an 82 to her opening-round 81.