Two final players were added to the U.S. Women’s Amateur field on Wednesday at the conclusion of the Ladies National Golf Association Amateur Championship. Mark down Marissa Wenzler and Kennedy Pedigo – co-runners-up at this week’s event – and the field is now complete.
The U.S. Golf Association reduced the championship field from 156 players to 132 players this year in light of the coronavirus. It’s a field based entirely on exemption categories, which is something totally new for the USGA and this championship.
Tee times and pairings for stroke-play qualifying at Woodmont Country Club in Rockville, Maryland, are listed below, but here are the five groups we’re most interested in:
Aneka Seumanutafa, Lauren Greenlief, Virunpat Olankitchunchai
Call these women the locals. Seumanutafa, an Ohio State junior, is the only Maryland resident in field, though Thailand’s Olankitkunchai, as a senior at the University of Maryland, has made it her adopted home state. Lauren Greenlief, the 2015 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion lives just 40 minutes away in Ashburn, Virginia.
Gabriela Ruffels, Rachel Kuehn, Brigitte Thibault
This trio should strike terror in the hearts of any other competitor who might happen to find herself on the opposite side of the eventual match-play bracket. All three are proven match-play competitors, with Ruffels the defending champion (also the winner of the 2019 North & South Women’s Amateur), Kuehn having just won the North & South Women’s Amateur and the LNGA Amateur and Thibault just days removed from the Women’s Western Amateur title.
Emilia Migliaccio, Lei Ye, Julia Potter-Bobb
This group owns some USGA hardward already. A clever pairing by the USGA here puts together Wake Forest’s Migliaccio, the top-ranked American in the World Amateur Golf Ranking at No. 4 (also the top-ranked player in this field), alongside Ye, the 2019 U.S. Girls’ Junior champion, and Potter-Bobb, who won the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur in 2013 and 2016. Consider these women the top of each age group, junior to mid-amateur.
Gina Kim, Rose Zhang, Megha Ganne
Rising stars abound here. Gina Kim will be a junior at Duke, but had a big early summer in 2019 by helping Duke to the NCAA title then earning low-amateur honors with a T-12 at the U.S. Women’s Open just a few weeks later. Ganne returns from a semifinal run at the 2019 U.S. Women’s Amateur and Zhang played her way to the quarterfinals of the 2019 U.S. Junior. The latter players are headed to Stanford in 2022 and 2021, respectively.
Meghan Stasi, Kaitlyn Papp, Erica Shepherd
These three need no introduction considering all have won USGA championships. Staci, a four-time U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion, is playing the Women’s Am for the 14th time this week. Papp teamed with Hailee Cooper to win the 2016 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball and Shepherd is a two-time winner: at the 2017 U.S. Girls’ Junior and with Megan Furtney at the 2019 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball.
Tee times and pairings
Monday (Aug. 3), No. 1 / Tuesday (Aug. 4), No. 1
All times Eastern
7 a.m. / 11 a.m. – Aneka Seumanutafa, Lauren Greenlief, Virunpat Olankitkunchai
7:10 a.m. / 11:10 a.m. – Hanna Alberto, Ela Anacona, Jackie Rogowicz
7:21 a.m. / 11:21 a.m. – Ashley Kim, Chanikan Yongyuan, Addie Baggarly
7:31 a.m. / 11:31 a.m. – Caroline Canales, Raquel Olmos Ros, Riley Smyth
7:42 a.m. / 11:42 a.m. – Gabriela Ruffels, Rachel Kuehn, Brigitte Thibault
7:52 a.m. / 11:52 a.m. – Ami Gianchandani, Valery Plata, Anika Varma
8:03 a.m. / 12:03 p.m. – Catherine Park, Louise Yu, Brianna Navarrosa
8:13 a.m. / 12:13 p.m. – Nicole Whiston, Maria Fernanda Escauriza, Allysha Mae Mateo
8:24 a.m. / 12:24 p.m. – Emilia Migliaccio, Lei Ye, Julia Potter-Bobb
8:34 a.m. / 12:34 p.m. – Micheala Williams, Brooke Riley, Celeste Dao
8:45 a.m. / 12:45 p.m. – Therese Warner, Natasha Andrea Oon, Julia Johnson
8:55 a.m. / 12:55 p.m. – Kelsey Chugg, Katherine Smith, Renate Grimstad
9:05 a.m. / 1:05 p.m. – Rose Zhang, Gina Kim, Megha Ganne
9:16 a.m. / 1:16 p.m. – Isabella Fierro, Clara Manzalini, Paris Hilinski
9:26 a.m. / 1:26 p.m. – Giovanna Fernandez, Jacqueline Putrino, Lauren Cox
9:37 a.m. / 1:37 p.m. – Sera Tadokoro, Kelly Xu, Pilar Echeverria
9:47 a.m. / 1:47 p.m. – Meghan Stasi, Kaitlyn Papp, Erica Shepherd
9:58 a.m. / 1:58 p.m. – Ellie Slama, Valeria Mendizabal, Kirsty Hodgkins
10:08 a.m. / 2:08 p.m. – Kenzie Wright, Haylin Harris, Jasmine Ly
10:19 a.m. / 2:19 p.m. – Mychael O’Berry, Ivy Shepherd, Malia Nam
10:29 a.m. / 2:29 p.m. – Grace Summerhays, Amari Avery, Sofia Garcia
10:40 a.m. / 2:40 p.m. – Anna Morgan, Lauren Hartlage, Kelly Sim
11 a.m. / 7 a.m. – Megan Furtney, Lauren Beaudreau, Brynn Walker
11:10 a.m. / 7:10 a.m. – Lois Kaye Go, Jackie Lucena, Morgan Baxendale
11:21 a.m. / 7:21 a.m. – Teresa Toscano Borrero, Julia Gregg, Sophia Bae
11:31 a.m. / 7:31 a.m. – Julia Becker, Libby Winans, Karen Fredgaard
11:42 a.m. / 7:42 a.m. – Maria Bohorquez, Zoe Antoinette Campos, Cecilie Finne-Ipsen
11:52 a.m. / 7:52 a.m. – Jillian Bourdage, Allisen Corpuz, Alexa Pano
12:03 p.m. / 8:03 a.m. – Hailey Borja, Shannon Johnson, Jensen Castle
12:13 p.m. / 8:13 a.m. – Marissa Kirkwood, Christine Wang, Amanda Sambach
12:24 p.m. / 8:24 a.m. – Emily Hawkins, Marta Perez Sanmartin, Vanessa Knecht
12:34 p.m. / 8:34 a.m. – Phoebe Brinker, Kaitlin Milligan, Mika Jin
12:45 p.m. / 8:45 a.m. – Siyun Liu, Bohyun Park, Marissa Wenzler
12:55 p.m. / 8:55 a.m. – Briana Chacon, Pimnipa Panthong, Bentley Cotton
1:05 p.m. / 9:05 a.m. – Reagan Zibilski, Kajal Mistry, Kennedy Pedigo
1:16 p.m. / 9:16 a.m. – Ashley Gilliam, Cory Lopez, Megan Schofill
1:26 p.m. / 9:26 a.m. – Sadie Englemann, Siarra Stout, Auston Kim
1:37 p.m. / 9:37 a.m. – Rachel Heck, Emily Mahar, Kennedy Swann
1:47 p.m. / 9:47 a.m. – Brooke Seay, Tyler Akabane, Alyaa Abdulghany
1:58 p.m. / 9:58 a.m. – Katherine Zhu, Katie Chipman, Michaela Morard
2:08 p.m. / 10:08 a.m. – Ellen Port, Angela (Yilin) Liu, Talia Campbell
2:19 p.m. / 10:19 a.m. – Yurika Tanida, Courtney Dow, Aline Krauter
2:29 p.m. / 10:29 a.m. – Kaleigh Telfer, Hailee Cooper, Siripatsorn Patchana
2:40 p.m. / 10:40 a.m. – Gurleen Kaur, Anne Chen, Brooke Matthews
How to Watch
Wednesday, Aug. 5
Round of 64 matches: 4-7 p.m., Golf Channel
Thursday, Aug. 6
Round of 16 matches: 4-7 p.m., Golf Channel
Friday Aug. 7
Quarterfinal matches: 1-4 p.m., Golf Channel
Saturday, Aug. 8
Semifinal matches: 11 a.m.-2 p.m., Golf Channel
Sunday, Aug. 9
Championship match (afternoon 18): 1-4 p.m., Golf Channel
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