Semifinal win gives Gillman a shot at a second U.S. Women's Amateur title

   It’s been 40 years since I covered the 1978 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Sunnybrook Golf Club in Whitemarsh Township just outside Philadelphia as a fledgling sports writer for the long-gone Today’s Post, a five-day-a-week sort of daily paper.

   Beth Daniel arrived at Sunnybrook trying to win the U.S. Women’s Amateur for the third time in four years, having her name etched on the Robert Cox Trophy in 1975 and 1977. It was going to be her last U.S. Women’s Amateur. She was headed for a pro career. I had an inkling that I was watching a future Hall of Fame player that week.

   Daniel’s bid was derailed in either the quarterfinals or the semifinals, can’t remember which. My memory is that she lost to Carolyn Hill, who would win the U.S. Women’s Amateur the following year.

   What I do remember is that Daniel was not happy. The match turned on a ground-under-repair dispute on one of the late holes. It was the first time I realized that how a USGA official sets up the golf course can matter.

   What I also remember, vividly, is how badly Daniel wanted that third U.S. Women’s Amateur. Nobody had won as many as three U.S. Women’s Ams since the great JoAnne Gunderson had captured the last of her five in 1968.

   Juli Inkster would come along and win three straight from 1980 to 1982 and four other players have won two since then, Kay Cockerill (1986-1987), Vicki Goetze (1989-1992), Kelli Kuehne (1995-1996) and, most recently, Danielle Kang (2010-2011). I think Daniel sensed that three would put her in a slightly different class in the history of the event.

   Alabama junior Kristen Gillman would like to add her name to that list of multiple winners and Saturday she put herself in position to do just that.

   Gillman of Austin, Texas, playing from behind for the second day in a row, won her semifinal match on the 19^th hole against Arkansas senior Kaylee Benton to reach the final of the U.S. Women’s Amateur at The Golf Club of Tennessee.

   Sunday, Gillman will take on her soon-to-be Alabama teammate Jiwon Jeon of South Korea, who defeated another Alabama standout, Lauren Stephenson, in 23 holes in the other semifinal, in the scheduled 36-hole final.

   Gillman was just 16 when she won the 2014 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Nassau Country Club on Long Island. I’m guessing that in the years since she has gained a greater appreciation for that accomplishment.

   When Hannah O’Sullivan, the 2015 winner, chose to play in the Ricoh Women’s British Open in 2016 instead of defending her U.S. Women’s Amateur title – there were a lot of difficult scheduling decisions in that Olympic year – it was Gillman who spoke at Media Day via Skype at Rolling Green Golf Club.

   Gillman has already put her name in the USGA annals with her 5-0-0 showing in the dominating 17-3 victory for the United States over Great Britain & Ireland in the Curtis Cup Match at Quaker Ridge Golf Club earlier this summer.

   Gillman is undoubtedly headed to the LPGA Tour. It is really just a question of timing as far as when she will turn professional.

   The 20-year-old Gillman, No. 6 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), earned a shot at a second U.S. Women’s Amateur title with another display of patience and poise under pressure against Benton.

   It was the 21-year-old Benton grabbing the early lead by winning the first hole with a par and the third hole with a birdie. And, as Gillman did in her quarterfinal victory over 15-year-old phenom Lucy Li in Friday’s quarterfinals, she chipped away at Benton’s lead.

   Gillman won the seventh with a birdie and the 10^th with a par to draw even with Benton. But Benton regained a 1-up advantage by taking the 11^th with a birdie. Six tense halves followed and Benton arrived at the 18^th tee with that 1-up advantage intact.

   They both made a bit of a mess of the 18^th, Benton finding the water hazard with her tee shot and Gillman’s second shot ending up in the water. But Gillman sent the match to the 19^th hole by draining a clutch 20-footer for bogey and then Benton three-putted the par-3 10^th and Gilman was in the final.

   It looked like Stephenson, No. 5 in the Women’s WAGR, would join her Alabama teammate in the final when she dropped a 10-foot birdie putt at the par-5 17^th hole to take a 1-up lead on Jeon, who is joining the Alabama program after two strong seasons with junior college powerhouse Daytona State College.

   But Jeon, No. 10 in the Women’s WAGR, poured in a tough, downhill 15-foot birdie putt of her own on the 18th to send the match to extra holes. And Jeon finally prevailed when she birdied the par-5 11^th hole, the third time the pair had played the hole.

   It was the longest semifinal match in U.S. Women’s Amateur history. Stephenson already owns the distinction of playing in the longest scheduled 18-hole match in her heartbreaking loss in 30 holes to Chia Yen Wu of Chinese Taipei in last year’s quarterfinals at San Diego Country Club.

   Stephenson can tell you how hard it is to win a U.S. Women’s Amateur. Her teammate Gillman will have a chance to do it a second time Sunday.