Players got a little bit of everything from the weather Wednesday. Early-morning clouds gave way to plenty of midday sun with some afternoon showers, as well. However, that rain didn’t damper any of the excitement from the Round of 64 in match play, with plenty of matches going to extra holes and upsets across the board.
Kiara Romero, the 12th seed who three weeks ago won the U.S. Girls’ Junior, is one of the big names heading home early after falling to Thienna Huyhn. However, only two of the top 10 seeds were knocked out, and plenty of stars remain in Hollywood.
Here’s everything you need to know from the Round of 64 at the 2023 U.S. Women’s Amateur, including best Round of 32 matchups and TV information for Thursday.
LOS ANGELES — Briana Chacon did something Tuesday morning that no golfer in the history of the U.S. Women’s Amateur has ever accomplished.
She finished stroke play at 9-under 131, a gross scoring record in the championship. In the 122 editions of the event before this year, no golfer has ever shot better than 133 in the 36-hole stroke-play format. During the 2023 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Bel-Air Country Club, Chacon rewrote the record books.
Chacon, a fifth-year player at Oregon, will be the top seed in match play, which begins Wednesday morning. Ole Miss fifth-year Andrea Lignell had a chance to tie Chacon with a par on the 18th hole, but she made double bogey after hitting her tee shot in a fairway bunker. Lignell was 7 under before the blunder, but she carded a 5-under 65 on Tuesday.
“I didn’t really play in too many events this summer,” Chacon said of her prep for the U.S. Women’s Am. “But I worked really hard on my putting the past few months. That’s always been my missing piece. I got a coach, worked really hard and it paid off.”
Chacon shot 5-under 65 on Tuesday morning to follow up with her opening 4-under 66 Monday, when she shared the lead with fellow Californian Caroline Canales, who is playing a true home game this week. Canales, who tied for fifth in stroke play at 4-under 136, plays collegiately at UCLA.
“I think the greens are faster than normal,” said Canales, who mentioned she plays the course about twice a week during the season. “I didn’t expect them to be this fast. On the flip side, I do think they’ve cut the rough a bit, which evens it out.”
Lignell will be No. 2 seed come match play, but her and Chacon will have to wait to see their opponents.
Briana Chacon shares a laugh with her caddie Greg Puga after hitting her tee shot on hole 18 during the second round of the 2023 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles, Calif. on Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2023. (James Gilbert/USGA)
Come Wednesday morning, there will be a 10-for-9 playoff for the final match play spots. Charlotte Cantonis birdied her final hole, meaning 65 players were inside the cut line and forcing a playoff.
The playoff will begin at 7 a.m. Wednesday on No. 10, the 205-yard par-3 over a canyon. The scoring average on the hole this week is 3.35.
Gianna Clemente, who won the Junior PGA Championship last week in Arkansas, continued her strong play with a 5-under 65 performance Tuesday afternoon, giving her the third seed for match play. At last month’s U.S. Girls’ Junior, Clemente was the 18th seed and made the semifinals, losing to eventual champion Kiara Romero, an incoming freshman at Oregon.
Clemente said she’s not worried about burning out with her recent busy stretch and is looking forward to match play.
“I love playing competitive golf and never get sick of it,” Clemente said. “I knew I had a busy schedule coming into the summer, but it has been really fun to travel to a lot of new places, and I’ve got a lot of golf left in me.”
Romero and Clemente were paired together the first two rounds, with Romero also making match play after shooting 2-under 138. 2021 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion Jensen Castle, a fifth-year at Kentucky, will be a part of the playoff.
It’s time for one of the premier women’s amateur championships.
The 2023 U.S. Women’s Amateur begins Monday at Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles, as the field of 156 players will vie for their chance to capture the oldest trophy in women’s amateur golf, the Robert Cox Trophy.
This will be the 123rd U.S. Women’s Amateur, which began in 1895. There were a record 1,679 entries accepted for the championship.
Although the top three players in the World Amateur Golf Ranking aren’t in the field, including defending champion Saki Baba, there’s no shortage of star power who will be teeing it up near Beverly Hills.
Here’s a look at 10 players to watch at the 2023 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Bel-Air Country Club.
With the championship field set, the race for the ANNIKA Award is starting to heat up. A handful of players have made their case throughout the season as front-runners for the ANNIKA Award, which honors the player of the year in women’s college golf, as selected by college golfers, coaches and members of the college golf media.
Zhang has won the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, two USGA championships and the individual NCAA title.
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Rose Zhang has completed the amateur grand slam.
The world’s No. 1 amateur didn’t have her best stuff on Saturday at Augusta National Golf Club but somehow found a way to hold on for the win at the 2023 Augusta National Women’s Amateur despite a serious challenge from Jenny Bae.
Zhang entered the final round with a commanding five-shot lead but struggled early and often during the final round. Stanford’s star sophomore made double bogey on the first hole and sprayed her way around the course before signing for a 4-over 76.
“Being able to play competitively at Augusta National is certainly different from any other venue that I’ve played in. It’s funny because the last four times that I played here, I remember my scores being nowhere near under par,” said Zhang, one of three ANWA four-timers and the only one to make the cut in all four starts. “I really, really do love this golf course. Sometimes it’s just interesting that I never really get my A game when I’m out here. When I was out at (Champions Retreat) it felt so easy to me. Everything just came to me. I was making putts. I was hitting greens. But when you’re out here, one mistake, like I said before, is magnified.”
Those internal struggles opened the door for Bae, who was six shots behind Zhang at the start of the day. The Georgia fifth year was feeling the love from the patrons, and after a three-hour weather delay came out swinging. She made birdies on Nos. 9, 13 and 17 and avoided a bogey down the stretch to force a playoff with Zhang at 9 under.
“I don’t think I’ve ever felt happier on a golf course that much in my life,” Bae said of her clutch birdie on the 17th. “I saw it and I marked it and I hit it. I mean, I’ve never heard such big like yelling on a golf course. It just felt amazing.”
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On the first playoff hole, both players found the fairway off the 18th tee, but Bae had the distinct advantage on the green after Zhang’s approach shot caught a slope and failed to reach the back pin. Bae’s birdie came up short and Zhang was able to lag putt her first and save par to extend the playoff to its second hole, No. 10.
Both players once again found the fairway off the tee, but this time it was Zhang with the advantage on the green after Bae blew her approach way to the left underneath a tree in the pine straw. It took two shots for Bae to find the green, and when it was Zhang’s turn to play, she hit the pin with her putt and tapped in for par and the win.
— Augusta National Women's Amateur (@anwagolf) April 1, 2023
“I felt confident. But I think I just tugged it a little bit, and it went past the green into the bushes in the back,” said Bae of her approach. “I mean, I tried, but Rose, she had a fantastic day. Hat’s off to her.”
Zhang previously won the 2020 U.S. Women’s Amateur, 2021 U.S. Girls’ Junior and 2022 NCAA individual national championship, and her win down Magnolia Lane will cement her legacy as one of, if not the, best amateur golfers of all time.
EVANS, Ga. — Rose Zhang said her father, Haibin, feverishly swept away the pine needles that were in the line of her 50-foot birdie putt on the 14th hole Wednesday at Champions Retreat.
“He was doing it like a maniac,” said Zhang, “and I was low-key kind of telling him to calm down in terms of trying to help me get the little stuff out of the way.”
Top-ranked Zhang drained the putt and later thanked dad for the assist. It was one of six birdies on the day for Zhang, who posted a record 6-under 66 at Champions Retreat, besting the previous record of 68 carded by 2019 champion Jennifer Kupcho and Zoe Campos in the opening round in the inaugural event. Zhang birdied all four par 5s and leads Ole Miss senior Andrea Lignell by one stroke.
“With the round being so soft and being muddy,” said Zhang, “I can’t really expect anything more out of my game today.”
A dozen players broke par on a sun-splashed day in Evans, Georgia, where more than five inches of rain fell earlier in the week, forcing officials to put preferred lies into play. Unfortunately for 2022 champion Anna Davis, she was issued a four-stroke penalty after the round for twice picking up her ball in the rough on the first hole. The Model Local Rule stipulated that the ball could only be picked up in areas cut to fairway height or less.
Davis, who was informed of the potential penalty on the fourth tee, proceeded to double that hole and then made bogey on the fifth. She made four birdies coming in, however, to still give herself a shot at making the cut. The top 30 players and ties after 36 holes advance to the final round at Augusta National. Davis sits at 4-over 76, with her five on the opening hole changing to a nine after the round.
“I had a good round if you don’t count the first hole,” said Davis, who seemed to be in fine spirits after the round when talking to the media, all things considered.
The cut line right now falls at 2 over.
Sweden’s Lignell rode a hot putter to 67, crediting her fine play this college season to a “putting project” she put into place, concentrating on the greens for an hour or so each practice. She won her first two college titles last fall. Three weeks ago, she put a new putter in the bag, too.
“I expected to score maybe around par,” said Lignell, a biomedical engineering major. “It’s so much fun. It’s unbelievable.”
Zhang, 19, has won everything that matters in the amateur game except the ANWA. She joins Pat Hurst and Tiger Woods as the only players to win the U.S. Amateur, U.S. Junior and NCAA Championship.
Zhang, a winner of nine college events in two years at Stanford, said her father will be on the bag Thursday but that she might switch to an Augusta National caddie for the final round. When asked how dad has improved as a caddie over the years, Zhang said he’s definitely mellowed out and that she doesn’t have to guide him around like she once did.
“He’s still very much a very energy high kind of person,” she said, “and I think that matches really well with my nonchalant self when I’m on the golf course.”
Check out who’s in the running for women’s college golfer of the year.
With every passing week, the women’s college golf season creeps closer to the NCAA Championships at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona.
The ANNIKA Award announced Thursday its first spring watch list, featuring 15 of the best women’s college golfers this season. Rose Zhang, who captured the award as a freshman last season, is again having a stellar sophomore campaign, but there are plenty of others who are trying to claim the crown.
The ANNIKA Award honors the player of the year in college women’s golf, as selected by college golfers, coaches and members of the college golf media. The players are listed alphabetically. Players on the ANNIKA Award Watch List were selected by a panel of Golfweek and Golf Channel reporters.
Check out who’s in the running for women’s college golfer of the year.
As the fall season winds to a close, it’s time to recognize players who set themselves apart as frontrunners in women’s college golf over the past two and a half months.
Rose Zhang, who won the award as a freshman at Stanford last season, is off to an excellent start this year, but plenty of others are making their case early, like Andrea Lignell at Ole Miss, among many others.
The ANNIKA Award honors the player of the year in college women’s golf, as selected by college golfers, coaches and members of the college golf media. The players are listed alphabetically. Players on the ANNIKA Award Watch List were selected by a panel of Golfweek and Golf Channel reporters.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – There’s nothing like rivalries in college sports.
And after the second round of the 2022 Blessings Collegiate Invitational, two in-state foes have positioned themselves atop the leaderboard heading for a final-round battle come Wednesday.
Ole Miss and Mississippi State are at the top, and each program has different things on the line come Wednesday. For Ole Miss, it would be a big win for a program trying to find its way back to the top after winning the first national championship in any women’s sport in school history in 2021. For Mississippi State, it would be the second victory this fall for the Bulldogs while trying to prove they’re one of the best teams in the country.
“It’s exciting to have opportunities to have success,” Mississippi State coach Charlie Ewing said. “It sounds really easy, but they’re going to have to go out there and compete hard.”
The Bulldogs trail by two shots after the first 36 holes at The Blessings Golf Club. Mississippi State led after the opening round, shooting 1 under, but a second round of 18 over has the Bulldogs, ranked eighth in the Golfweek Sagarin rankings, chasing Ole Miss heading into Wednesday.
Not only is Ole Miss leading the team competition, senior Andrea Lignell is on top of the individual competition. Lignell, a senior, shot 3-under 69 on Tuesday and is at 4 under for the tournament. She leads Mississippi State’s Julia Lopez Ramirez by two shots.
She finishes three-under on the day, four-under on the week and in first place headed into Wednesday's final round of the Blessings!#HottyToddypic.twitter.com/fIl6HTZTCU
Lignell said a big turning point was when the men’s team came and followed the women’s team for the final six holes.
“It was absolutely amazing. I absolutely loved it,” Lignell said. “We came out watch them yesterday, the last four holes. It’s just so nice they’re just cheering us on, and I love it. It’s great.”
The Blessings Collegiate Invitational has a different format, with 11 men’s and women’s teams coming together and playing at the same time. In addition to that, all five players for each team play together at the same time instead of facing those from other schools.
In the team competition, second-ranked Texas A&M is in the mix, too. The Aggies sit at 18 over, with Clemson and UCLA tied for fourth at 23 over.
Individually, chasing Lignell and Lopez Ramirez are California’s Annika Borrelli at 1 over. There’s a three-way tie for fourth between Clemson’s Chloe holder, Texas A&M’s Jennie Park and Arkansas’ Miriam Ayora at 2 over. Park, who is fourth in the Golfweek Sagarin individual rankings, has finished in the top five in her first two tournaments.
