Tag: Kaitlyn Papp

Texas’ Kaitlyn Papp withdraws from ANWA following positive COVID-19 test

Texas senior Kaitlyn Papp withdrew from the Augusta National Women’s Amateur following a positive COVID-19 test.

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Kaitlyn Papp received her first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine on Monday evening and thought the aches and chills she started to feel the next day were side effects.

On Wednesday morning, Papp started to get nervous after she took a COVID-19 test and the symptoms persisted. Later that evening, Papp’s test came back positive. On Friday, the Texas senior announced her withdrawal from the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.

“I think I was just in complete shock,” said Papp, who tied for fifth at the 2019 ANWA after rounds of 72-69-74.

Papp, No. 9 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, is now in isolation in Austin, studying for her Organizational Behavior class. She expects to be cleared in time to compete in the Big 12 Championships next month.

“I’m thankful for the experience I had two years ago,” said Papp, “being able to play Augusta in the final round and finishing in the top five.

“I just try to keep remembering there’s a lot bigger problems in the world and people have died from this virus. I’m fortunate to be OK and not suffering like many people have.”

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Last weekend, Papp and her teammates competed in the Mountain View Collegiate in Tucson, Arizona. Two other Texas players are in the ANWA field: Agathe Laisne and Hailee Cooper.

The second edition of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur begins on Wednesday.

Papp tied for ninth at last year’s U.S. Women’s Open in Houston and punched her ticket for the 2021 edition at Olympic. She hasn’t yet decided when she’ll turn professional, but does have plans to attend LPGA Q-School. Both the Curtis Cup and World Amateur Team Championships will be staged later this year.

“I know things happen for a reason,” said Papp, “and I know I’ll have big things in the future as well.”

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An ANWA invitation is iconic: For Kate Smith it’s a framer and for Kaitlyn Papp, a keepsake

You know it’s official when you get the invite in the mail.

Kate Smith’s spirits were low on Nov. 15 as she started the drive home from a tournament in Waco, Texas, where she felt like she’d “played terribly.” On the way home, she got an email from Augusta National indicating she was in consideration for the 2021 Augusta National Women’s Amateur.

Is there a quicker mood-lifter?

“I don’t really feel like Augusta National material right now,” Smith remembered thinking to herself, “but that would be nice.”

Two months later, the iconic ANWA invitation was laying on her doorstep back home in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota. Smith spent the early part of this week quarantining at the University of Nebraska so she could be cleared to start the spring season.

Smith got the email from UPS that the package was there and sent her mom straight home from work (no trip to the grocery store) to check it out – meanwhile “hoping someone didn’t, like, buy me a t-shirt.”

More: Kate Smith has embarked on a golf course logo refresh project

Marjery Smith confirmed it was the coveted invitation without breaking the seal.

“She paid an arm and a leg to overnight it,” Kate Smith said. “It was so cool to have it in my hands. I think I’ve teared up multiple times.”

The past few months have brought so many firsts for Smith in her fifth year at Nebraska. She’ll be the first Husker to compete at the ANWA. Knowing that players who accepted entry into the 2020 ANWA – which ultimately was canceled because of COVID – would be invited again for 2021, she tried not to get her hopes up or pay too much attention to the World Amateur Golf Ranking, on which a large percentage of the 72 invitations are based.

A handful of players in that 2020 field have since turned professional, leaving limited spots for new invitees like Smith.

Smith remembers exactly the exactly the spot where she was sitting – studying – on April 4, 2018, when Augusta National Chairman Fred Ridley announced the creation of the ANWA. She told her whole family about it, knowing she’d only have a few more years of amateur golf.

“It meant more to me than I thought, sub-consciously,” she said. “I think I put the pedal to the metal in my competition schedule and practice schedule.”

Eventually, that iconic invitation will be a framer. For now, it’s a motivator.

“I think for the next couple months it’s going to be on my bedside or right front and center in my apartment,” she said. “What more motivation to work hard than seeing that every morning?”

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Kaitlyn Papp also knows it’s something you keep in a safe place. Her invitation to the inaugural 2019 ANWA has been squirreled away into a golf mementos box her mom Julie keeps.

Last year, Papp was among the small number of players who had a choice between playing the ANWA and playing the ANA Inspiration in Rancho Mirage, California. Papp, who finished fifth at the inaugural ANWA, chose the LPGA major.

Papp, who made big headlines in December with a top-10 finish at the U.S. Women’s Open, has secured a return trip for 2021. She still remembers the feeling of knowing she’d play ANWA for the first time.

“My family and I definitely got the chills when the first invite came in the mail just because it was a new experience for everyone, the inaugural event in 2019,” she said. “It was just a huge honor to be among the first women competing at Augusta National.”

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Papp brought home several mementos from Augusta in 2019 that haven’t quite made their way to the memory box. Every time she opens her closet, she sees a t-shirt and a pullover with the ANWA logo. Sometimes she just scrolls through pictures from that week on her phone. Her favorite is a video – she’s not sure where it came from – of the shot she hit into No. 12, complete with shot-tracer and all. She made par on that hole on her way to a final-round 74 at Augusta National. Papp particularly likes to watch the reaction of her dad Tony, who was caddying for her that day.

As a returner, put Papp on the short list of favorites.

“I think the biggest advantage is already playing both of those courses multiple times so I kind of know what to expect and what to work on leading up to the tournament,” Papp said when asked where she might have an edge in April. “Just knowing that really it’s a pretty big cut before the final round so you just have to try to play steady golf and just not make too many mistakes out there so you keep yourself in contention and are playing Augusta in the final round.”

Here are a few more players who displayed ANWA invitations on social media late this week:

Addie Baggarly is a senior at the University of Florida, and will also be a new addition to the 2021 field.

Ashley Gilliam, who plays for Mississippi State, contributes to the Tennessee presence.

After a standout fall season, Brooke Matthews has also played her way in as a first-time ANWA participant.

Lily May Humphreys, a Great Britain and Ireland Curtis Cupper, returns in 2021.

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With a top-10 finish, Kaitlyn Papp earns low-am honors and a U.S. Women’s Open return

Kaitlyn Papp finished inside the top 10 at the U.S. Women’s Open to wrap up low-amateur honors.

In the final hours of a Monday finish at the U.S. Women’s Open, it looked as if an amateur might take home the title. At one point, recent Texas graduate Kaitlyn Papp was staring down a birdie putt to get within a single shot of the lead at Champions Golf Club in Houston.

Papp’s perennial presence near the top of the leaderboard assured that amateurs were always in the conversation on a week when 24 of them were among the 156-woman field. She is one of just two amateurs in the past 10 years to have been in the top 10 after each of the last three rounds at the U.S. Women’s Open. Hye-Jin Choi accomplished that in 2017.

A double-bogey at No. 11, followed by bogeys at Nos. 13 and 14, may have ended Papp’s title pursuit, but her closing 74 still locked in low-amateur honors for the native Texan and landed her in a tie for ninth. That top-10 finish guarantees her a spot in next year’s championship, which will be in June at The Olympic Club in San Francisco.

“I learned that I can pretty much handle whatever conditions come our way,” Papp said of contending at a major. “We experienced perfect weather, we experienced kind of difficult weather this week. I think I just learned that I’m pretty mentally tough out there.”

Papp, a 22-year-old Austin native who got her degree in physical culture and sports in three and a half years at the University of Texas, was one of seven Texans in the field. Even though that group owns a combined three major titles, Papp logged the only top-10 finish among them.

U.S. Women’s Open: Scores | Photos | Winner’s bag | Money

Like many players, she appeared in a stocking cap – burnt orange, her school colors – and layered clothing on Monday as a cold snap dropped the temperature into the 50s. She was prepared for the wind, though Monday produced little.

“I think it’s an advantage because year-round, it’s pretty much windy, the majority of the year,” Papp said before the championship when asked how local knowledge might come in to play. “I’m kind of used to playing in the wind. Whenever I see in the forecast it’s a north wind, I know it’s going to be cold.”

That was Monday.

Rounds of 71-68-74 were enough to get Papp into the second-to-last group for the final round, alongside world No. 1 Jin Young Ko. She was high enough on the leaderboard that she didn’t hit a shot in competition on Sunday, when most of the round was delayed because of thunderstorms.

“Initially my goal here was just to make the cut, and I ended up playing really great golf and found myself somewhat in contention this weekend,” Papp said. “I mean, I was just thrilled just to be in that group.”

Papp appeared to have low-amateur honors all but locked up until Gabi Ruffels, the 2019 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion, got on a run with birdies at Nos. 11, 13 and 14. When Ruffels bogeyed the 17th hole, however, she dropped back to 5 over, two behind Papp and in a share of 13th.

Maja Stark, a Swede who plays for Oklahoma State, joined her there.

Among the three other amateurs who made the cut, Arizona State’s Linn Grant finished T-23 at 7 over, Ingrid Lindblad was T-30 at 8 over and Pauline Roussin-Bouchard was T-46 at 11 over.

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Texas amateur Kaitlyn Papp hangs tough at U.S. Women’s Open, trails by four

Texas Longhorns senior Kaitlyn Papp is hanging tough at the U.S. Women’s Open.

HOUSTON – Kaitlyn Papp first picked up a golf club, a cut-down putter, on the island of Okinawa where her dad, Tony, was stationed as a Navy Medical Service Corps officer.

“We would practice putting next to the flight line,” said Tony. “The green perched up nice and high and we could look out and watch the jets come in and come out.”

The Papps lived in Japan from 2003 to 2007. They could’ve never dreamed back then that Kaitlyn, now 22, would grow up to play alongside one of Japan’s biggest sports stars – Hinako Shibuno – in the final group at a major championship.

But there she was on Saturday at the 75th U.S. Women’s Open, holding tough in what amounted to a survival contest at muddy Cypress Creek. The Texas Longhorn had expected as much coming into the week and believes it favors her chances.

U.S. Women’s Open: Leaderboard | Photos

Kaitlyn Papp (left) congratulates Hinako Shibuno following the conclusion of the third round of the U.S. Women’s Open at Champions Golf Club. (Photo: Erik Williams-USA TODAY Sports)

“I think so because when the conditions get tough,” said Papp, “you really have to be mentally strong and you can’t let yourself complain, no matter how bad it is.”

Only one amateur has ever won the U.S. Women’s Open, and that was Frenchwoman Catherine Lacoste in 1967. Papp trails Shibuno, the 2019 AIG Women’s British Open winner, by four strokes after a couple of late bogeys dropped her into a share of fifth.

Tony grew up playing soccer and became a place-kicker on the football team at Lenoir–Rhyne University. He picked up golf as a teenager as a way to de-stress. It was a bit of an accident, he said, that Kaitlyn wound up becoming high-level amateur player.

From Japan, the Papps moved to Camp Lejeune, a Marine Corps Base near Wilmington, North Carolina. That’s where Kaitlyn received her first PGA instruction from retired sergeant major Grant Beck. She started competing in U.S. Kids events and her passion for the game grew from there. In 2010, the family moved to San Antonio.

Tony retired from the Navy after 20 years and now works as an occupational therapist at a hand therapy practice in Austin. Kaitlyn went to high school at Lake Travis with LPGA player Kristen Gillman, and holds the University of Texas school record for career stroke average at 71.91. She was the Big 12 Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year in 2018 and wrapped up a degree in Physical Culture & Sports in 3 ½ years. On Friday night, Papp turned in her final term paper. She missed the deadline and attached a note of apology.

Earlier this week, Papp found out that she’d been accepted into grad school at Texas for the sports management program.

Texas associate head coach Kate Golden, an LPGA winner who competed on the tour for nearly 20 years, is on Papp’s bag this week preaching patience. Papp’s boyfriend, Jake Budde, sister Katherine and parents (Tony and Julie) round out her onsite crew at Champions Golf Club.

Papp downplayed any pressure she might have felt on the weekend of a major, noting the amount of support she felt from the houses along the golf course, given that there’s no general admission this week.

“I definitely felt kind of a hometown crowd,” said Papp. “There’s a lot of Longhorns in the houses. Everyone is in their backyards watching, and I had my family out, so I didn’t really feel pressure. It just kind of felt like home.”

Top Amateur Finishes in U.S. Women’s Open History

Finish Player
1 Catherine Lacoste (1967)
2 Betsy Rawls (1950)
2 Barbara McIntire (1956)
2 Jenny Chuasiriporn (1998)
2 Hye-Jin Choi (2017)
T-2 Nancy Lopez (1975)
T-2 Polly Riley (1947)
T-2 Morgan Pressel (2005)
T-2 Brittany Lang (2005)
T-2 Sally Sessions (1947)

 

Amateurs Linn Grant, Kaitlyn Papp in final group Saturday at 75th U.S. Women’s Open

Only one woman has ever won the U.S. Women’s Open as an amateur, and that was France’s Catherine Lacoste in 1967. Could another join her?

HOUSTON – Two years ago, Linn Grant found herself in the penultimate group of the U.S. Women’s Open on Saturday as an amateur. The young Swede pulled it left off the first tee at soggy Shoal Creek and knocked it back in the fairway. Her father, John, walked over to a sprinkler head and peered down at the 89. He thought it looked shorter than that, but the yardage book also had a notation of 89. Total yardage was 112 yards. Linn flushed a wedge that landed 20 yards over the green.

Turns out the 89 was really a 68. The indicator lined had blurred out in the mud.

“I didn’t really recover from that,” said Linn of the crushing blow. “I don’t think he did, either.”

The now 21-year-old Linn and her dad get a second crack at it this weekend in Houston, where the Arizona State sophomore sits alone in second place at the Women’s Open, three shots back of leader Hinako Shibuno.

USWO: Leaderboard | Photos

Kaitlyn Papp, a 22-year-old Texas native who has Longhorn coach, Kate Golden on the bag, holds a share of third.

Two more Swedish players, Ingrid Lindblad (T-14) and Maja Stark (T-20) are within striking distance. South Carolina’s Pauline Roussin-Bouchard (T-20) and Gabriela Ruffels of USC (T-29) round out the six amateurs who head to the weekend in Houston.

With no qualifying this year, the top amateurs in the world were guaranteed a start in the year’s final major. Of the 24 amateurs in this year’s field, 18 are ranked in the top 20.

Only one woman has ever won the U.S. Women’s Open as an amateur, and that was France’s Catherine Lacoste in 1967.

“Linn likes records,” said Swedish national coach Fredrik Wetterstrand.

The drive into Champions Golf Club features a number of familiar-sounding roads. There’s Muirfield Village Drive, Shinnecock Hills Drive and Cherry Hills Road, the latter of which harkens back memories of amateurs Morgan Pressel and Brittany Lang finishing runner-up to surprise winner Birdie Kim at the 2005 U.S. Women’s Open.

The 75th U.S. Women’s Open certainly has a Cherry Hills vibe – minus the electric galleries – with the number of amateurs currently in contention.

“I think the biggest difference for amateur golf to professional golf is scoring,” said Champions member Stacy Lewis, whose husband Gerrod Chadwell coaches the women’s golf program at Houston. “Amateurs are used to grinding for pars and maybe even par wins a tournament.

“I think amateurs struggle more, or at least I did when I went and played a professional tournament when 25 under was winning, and that’s not your mindset.”

Two years ago, Wetterstrand said, Grant said “someone is going to win this tournament, why shouldn’t it be me?”

Grant held a share of fourth at the midway point at Shoal Creek but ultimately wound up in a share of 57th.

“She wants to take revenge this time,” Wetterstrand said.

Grant won the 2017 British Amateur Stroke Play at North Berwick 49 years after her grandfather, James Grant, won the Scottish Boys Championship on the same course. James left Scotland to become a golf instructor in Sweden. John Grant played well enough to earn a scholarship to West Florida and played professionally for a bit.

“I know if you look at her Wikipedia site, it says I’m a (teaching) pro,” said John. “I’m not. There is another John Grant who is a pro at that golf club.”

John, for the record, is a financial advisor.

Not many players have tour winners on their bag, but in Golden, Papp has a woman who shot 63 in the final round of the State Farm Classic to beat Annika Sorenstam by a shot.

“I’ve talked to (Kaitlyn) about staying patient,” said Golden, “and she’s actually done it.”

After shooting even par on the front nine at Cypress Creek, Papp birdied three of her last five holes to leap into third place, including a chip-in on the 17th. This marks the first time she’s made the cut in a major. Seven Texans teed it up this week and so far Austin’s Papp is low Texan.

Papp’s afternoon plans include a final term paper for her undergraduate degree. On Thursday, Papp found out that she’d gotten into grad school at Texas for the sports management program.

Certainly not the typical routine of a Women’s Open contender.

If there was ever going to be a time an amateur broke through again at this championship, 2020 might be it, with no grandstands and no fans. No $1 million check on the line either.

“I’ve been in contention this year and it’s so much different,” said Lewis. “It’s so much easier. Normally at these U.S. Opens you’ve got the 18th hole, massive grandstands. Down the first tee, it’s lined with people.”

The final group on Saturday will feature two amateurs and Shibuno, an effervescent pro who stunned the world last year by winning the AIG Women’s British Open in her major championship debut.

It’s 2020. At this point, nothing would be a surprise.

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U.S. Women’s Open is a home game and a reunion for Longhorns Kaitlyn Papp, Agathe Laisne

Kaitlyn Papp and Agathe Laisne, teammates at the University of Texas, are among 24 amateurs in the U.S. Women’s Open field.

Like every other part of 2020, Kaitlyn Papp’s preparation for the U.S. Women’s Open included something non-traditional: a graduation ceremony. Not surprisingly, she didn’t walk. Instead, the Texan pulled up a Zoom link and watched the ceremony from home. She already received a cap and gown from the university and everything.

Papp finished off her degree in physical culture and sports from the University of Texas in three and a half years, a notable feat for the two-time First-Team All-American who owns two individual titles as a Longhorn.

This week, Papp is making the second U.S. Women’s Open start of her career, after playing the 2019 USWO at the Country Club of Charleston. She played her way into that event, but this year, her selection was at the mercy of the World Amateur Golf Rankings.

USWO: Photos | Tee times | TV info | First-timers | Memories

The rankings, she knows, are updated every Wednesday morning. On Nov. 4, she woke up and checked them first thing. She needed to be inside the top 20, and she was No. 19 – safely in.

“I was definitely eye-balling it most of the summer and the fall because you can’t really control the rankings,” she said. “You just try to play as well as you and play in the tournaments. It was definitely a little nerve-wracking the last couple weeks because at the time I was kind of on the bubble for making it.”

It has been difficult to find events to compete in this year. Papp, who plans to return for another semester of college golf in the spring, finished in the top 25 at the Texas Women’s Open and made match play at the U.S. Women’s Amateur. She also competed in the ANA Inspiration, teed it up twice with her Texas team and, on a lark, took a road trip to Louisiana with her dad to play the Atchafalaya Challenge, a Women’s All-Pro Tour event in Louisiana.

“It was probably like a seven-hour drive from Austin to there,” she said. “…Just decided to play and not have expectations and just use it as a warm-up for the U.S. Open. I played really well out there so it was a good confidence booster.”

Papp played a U.S. Women’s Amateur qualifier at Champions before she ever arrived in college. She hasn’t seen much of the place otherwise.

There are other Texas connections, though, in the form of people. Papp will have Texas assistant coach Kate Golden on the bag in Houston. Golden, a former Longhorn, played 18 years on the LPGA and competed in more than 30 major championships.

Papp was a high school teammate of LPGA sophomore Kristen Gillman. The Austin natives still play together when they’re at home – often competing in friendly matches with just pride on the line (no trash talking) or maybe lunch. Gillman was exempt in the field as a top-75 player in the Rolex Rankings.

Papp is one of 24 amateurs in the field, 20 of whom were selected based on their World Ranking. Teammate Agathe Laisne made that list as the No. 12-ranked amateur in the world.

The USWO was a bit of a reunion for Papp and Laisne, who has a third teammate, Hailee Cooper (with whom Papp teamed to win the 2016 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball) on the bag.

Laisne went home to France in March when COVID lockdowns began, and this is her first time back.

“I went home, I was quarantined for two months,” she said. “Didn’t do golf, just studying and being with my family. It was hard because I live in a small apartment. It was different, no golf for two months.”

Since late July however, however, Laisne has made several competitive starts around Europe. It hasn’t been all that warm lately where Laisne is competing, and if temperatures dip in Texas – or if the wind kicks up – Laisne figures she might be at an advantage.

“I guess I always kind of knew I was good in the wind, but I realized more when I was in Texas because it’s always windy, and I would always play a little bit better with the field when it was windier and rainy,” she said.

Laisne was ranked around No. 50 in the WAGR mid-summer when Texas head coach Ryan Murphy put the U.S. Women’s Open idea in her head. She hadn’t been thinking about it much, but Murphy thought if Laisne could get a win in Europe, it might boost her high enough to get the exemption.

It worked. Laisne won two Ladies European Tour Access Events – the Lavaux Ladies Open and the Santander Golf Tour Lauro – and was third at the European Ladies’ Amateur. She was even penalized at the latter for pulling a yardage marker out of the ground – a violation under COVID rules.

Laisne reports her wedge game is strong and that she got on a run of good putting back home. Good timing for this big finale to a stop-and-start year.

“I just will play my best,” she said, “and try to have fun.”

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ANA Inspiration’s amateur invites include two USGA champions, No. 1-ranked junior

Five amateurs have chosen to compete in the ANA Inspiration the first week of April, which overlaps the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.

The top female amateurs face a difficult decision when it comes to the first week of April. Many will play the second annual Augusta National Women’s Amateur, but the opposite event offers a career opportunity, too.

Ultimately, five amateurs have committed to play the ANA Inspiration, the first LPGA major of the season, on a sponsor exemption.

The tournament traditionally invites a handful of amateurs to compete in the event, and announced that lineup on Wednesday. Rose Zhang (Stanford commit), Kaitlyn Papp (Texas), Gabriela Ruffels (Southern California), Olivia Mehaffey (Arizona State) and Angelina Ye (Stanford) will all compete April 2-5 at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California, among a strong LPGA field.

One more amateur will have the opportunity to play her way into the field the weekend before the event at the ANA Junior Inspiration, an AJGA sanctioned 54-hole invitational with a 48-woman field.

“This is one of our favorite traditions at ANA Inspiration,” said Shigeru Hattori, ANA Senior Vice President of the Americas. “The tradition is crucial to growing the sport and fostering the dreams of young female golfers around the world. We’re proud to help each amateur invitee’s dream take flight as they play with the ladies of the LPGA Tour this April.”

Zhang, ranked No. 1 in the Golfweek Junior Rankings, is the only junior in the event so far. Zhang won the ANA Junior Inspiration in 2018, qualifying for the 2018 ANA Inspiration, where she made the cut and finished a credible T-60.

Ruffels is the reigning U.S. Amateur champion and a junior at USC. Ye, a freshman at Stanford is also a USGA champion, having won the U.S. Girls’ Junior in July. Olivia Mehaffey, a senior at Arizona State, has twice represented Great Britain and Ireland at the Curtis Cup. Papp, the final amateur, is ranked No. 13 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking and last year finished fifth at the ANWA.

All five women were eligible for the ANWA based on either world ranking or another exemption category.

“I am so happy to receive an invitation to play in the 2020 ANA Inspiration. I didn’t hesitate for a second as I really wanted to test my game with the professionals,” said Zhang. “My experience in the 2018 ANA Inspiration was absolutely amazing and I can’t wait to have a second chance after everything I learned when I played in 2018.”

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