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LOS ANGELES — Coming into the Round of 32 at the U.S. Women’s Amateur, four of the top five seeds were still alive. After the latest round of match play, that number is down to zero.
There was carnage Thursday morning at Bel-Air Country Club, coming in the tune of the top seeds going down. It started with medalist Briana Chacon, who fell 4 and 2 to Catie Craig, a rising junior at Western Kentucky. Third-seed Gianna Clemente, who won the 2023 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball earlier this year, advanced to the semifinals of the U.S. Girls’ Junior and won last week’s Junior PGA Championship, lost 4 and 3 to Anne Chen, a senior at Duke.
U.S. Women’s Amateur: Photos
Fourth-seeded Katie Cranston also lost 2 down against 2022 U.S. Girls’ Junior winner Yana Wilson. UCLA’s own Caroline Canales, the fifth seed, fell 4 and 3 to incoming LSU freshman Taylor Riley.
Here’s the swing of Catie Craig, a rising junior at Western Kentucky who leads top-seeded Briana Chacon 2 up at the turn. #USWomensAm pic.twitter.com/FzIxgpROej
— Cameron Jourdan (@Cam_Jourdan) August 10, 2023
No. 8 Nikki Oh (1 up over Laney Frye) and No. 9 Rachel Heck (4 and 2 over Rin Yoshida) were among the low seeds who avoided going down and will face off in the Round of 16, which begins Thursday afternoon.
The highest seed remaining is No. 6 Megan Schofill, a grad student at Auburn. She was 3 down after 4 but fought back to win 3 and 2. Also moving on is No. 7 Hailey Borja, who won 1 up over Sara Im.
LSU’s Latanna Stone knocked off Wake Forest’s Rachel Kuehn, 2 and 1. Kuehn is seventh in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, the second-highest ranked player in the field behind No. 5 Anna Davis, who won 3 and 2 in the Round of 32 to advance and will face Chen.
After Thursday’s Round of 16, the quarterfinals will be set for Friday afternoon’s quarterfinals. The semifinals will be Saturday with the 36-hole final set for Sunday.
Best matchups in Round of 16
No. 8 Nikki Oh vs. No. 9 Rachel Heck, 4:10 p.m. ET
No. 29 Yana Wilson vs. No. 45 Latanna Stone, 4:20 p.m. ET