Walker, Herr fall in a quarterfinal heartbreaker at Four-Ball

   When they look back on it years from now, Brynn Walker and Madelein Herr will realize what excellent adventures they had at the first two editions of the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship.

   It probably just felt a little painful in the moments following their heartbreaking 1-up loss on the 18^th hole at the Streamsong Resort’s Blue Course in a quarterfinal match against the Philippines pair of Pauline Del Rosario and Princess Mary Superal.

   Del Rosario, a Kansas recruit, and Superal, who plans to turn professional later this year, had won the qualifying medal with a pair of 66s over the 6,216-yard,  par-72 Tom Doak design, so Walker, a two-time PIAA Class AAA champion at Radnor, and Herr, the District One Class AAA champion from Council Rock North, knew what they were getting into.

   Walker, a North Carolina recruit, and the Penn State-bound Herr, fell behind early in the quarterfinal match as Del Rosario and Superal won the first and seventh holes with birdies to grab a 2-up lead.

   But Team WalkHerr displayed, both last year in their run to the semifinals at Bandon Dunes and again this year at Streamsong, the kind of grit you need in match play. Walker and Herr cut the deficit in half by winning the 11^th hole with a par and then won 13 and 15 with birdies. Suddenly, they were 1-up with three to play. Another berth in the semifinals was within their grasp.

   But Del Rosario and Superal evened the match with a birdie on the 16^th and won the match with a birdie at 18. It was the Filipinos who were making a date in the semifinals where they will take on Southern California 13-year-olds Angelina Kim and Brianna Navarrosa.

   Kim and Navarossa claimed a 3 and 2 victory over Katie Miller, a three-time PIAA champion at Hempfield Area in a four-year period beginning in 1999, and Kristen Obush.

   Earlier Tuesday, Walker and Herr cruised to a 3 and 2 victory over Chinese Taipei sisters Yu Chiang Hou and Yu Sang Hou in a round-of-16 match.

   Walker and Herr built a 4-up lead by winning the second, sixth, seventh and ninth holes with birdies. The Yu sisters cut into the lead by winning the 10^th and 13^th holes with birdies, but a birdie at 15 by Team WalkHerr restored a 3-up lead with three to play.

   There’s a pretty good chance Walker will be playing in the NCAA Championship with the Tar Heels at this time next year and Herr is joining a talented nucleus in Happy Valley. So they might not be back at the Four-Ball anytime soon, if ever. But they were a very big part of the first two editions of the USGA’s new baby and that will never change.

   In the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball being held simultaneously at Winged Foot Golf Club’s East Course in Mamaroneck, N.Y., the Temple and Scranton-area tandem of Brandon Matthews and Patrick Ross were also ousted in the quarterfinals, suffering a 2 and 1 setback at the hands of SMU teammates Benjamin Baxter and Andrew Buchanan.

   Matthews, who just completed one of the greatest careers in the history of Temple golf, and Ross fell behind when Baxter and Buchanan won the seventh and 10^th holes with birdies. Matthews and Ross cut the deficit in half by winning the 12^th with a birdie, but Baxter and Buchanan closed out the match by winning the 17^th with a birdie.

   Matthews and Ross had won the qualifying medal with a pair of 63s at both the 6,728-yard, par-70 East Course and the 7,033-yard, par-70 West Course, site of five U.S. Opens.

   Baxter and Buchanan will take on Patrick Christovich of New Orleans and Canadian Garrett Rank in Wednesday’s semifinals. Christovich and Rank claimed a 1-up victory over former University of Maryland teammates David Kocher and Connor Tendall.

   Earlier Tuesday, Matthews and Ross cruised to a 3 and 2 victory over Ohio State teammates Clark Engle and Will Grimmer. Matthews, winner of two of the last three Golf Association of Philadelphia Open Championships, and Ross broke open an all-square match by winning the ninth, 10^th and 12^th holes with birdies.