Tag: U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship

Teams to watch at the USGA Women’s Amateur Four-Ball include Stanford mid-ams, pair of 14-year-olds and a bomber who nearly advanced through U.S. Open local qualifying

Match play begins on Monday with the Round of 32.

History was made at the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball as seven teams shared medalist honors at stroke-play qualifying. That’s the most for any USGA championship, surpassing the six players who medaled at the 2007 U.S. Mid-Amateur at Bandon Dunes.

During an unseasonably warm and windy day at The Home Course in DuPont, Washington, the seven sides finished at 11-under 133 to top a crowded leaderboard. A total of 32 teams advanced to match play, with an 8-for-5 playoff moving into a Monday finish.

Defending champs Thienna Huynh, 19, of Lilburn, Georgia, and Sara Im, 18, of Duluth, Georgia, carried their momentum into 2023 as they shared medalist honors thanks to a nine-hole record of 30 on the front nine.

Thienna Huynh and Sara Im at the medalist ceremony during the the second round of the 2023 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball at The Home Course in DuPont, Wash. on Sunday, May 14, 2023. (Kathryn Riley/USGA)

Match play begins on Monday with the Round of 32. With the NCAA Championship being held this week in Arizona, few college players were able to qualify for the event due to scheduling. That leaves a number of hotshot teen tandems in the field. In fact, there were 18 players in the field this week between the ages of 12 and 15.

Two teams of 14-year-olds advanced.

Here are five more teams to watch heading into match play:

Thienna Huynh, Sara Im never trail in final match to win U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship in Puerto Rico

“Can you believe that we’re USGA champions?”

Kaitlyn Schroeder and Bailey Shoemaker carried their quest for a U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball to the final hole on Sunday at the Grand Reserve Golf Club in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico, but came up just short.

Thienna Huynh and Sara Im defeated Schroeder and Shoemaker 1-up in the championship match despite a pair of late rallies. Schroeder, who will enroll at Alabama next year and Shoemaker, who has committed to USC, won the 16th hole when Shoemaker nearly aced it. But Huynh and Im halved the next two holes for the title.

“It obviously means a lot,” said Huynh. “It’s so surreal. (My mom) said on 18 green, ‘Can you believe that we’re USGA champions?’”

It was Schroeder’s second brush with going deep in a USGA national championship. She got to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Junior Girls last year before losing to Paula Miranda.

The duo was 31-under through their first four matches, counting concessions, and averaged seven birdies per round until the championship, when they combined for four.

“I don’t think there’s one highlight that stands out, just the clutch putts to win holes, to halve holes, to win matches,” Schroeder said. “It all just fits together as a great week and an experience that we will never forget.”

Schroeder also had her father, Scott, the University of North Florida golf coach, caddying for her throughout the tournament, UNF gave him permission to miss the first round of the Atlantic Sun tournament on Sunday in Athens, Georgia, where his team forged a 10-shot lead over Lipscomb.

Schroeder and Shoemaker won a morning semifinal match 2 and 1 over Amelia Guo and Grace Jin, while Huynh and Im beat Kary Hollenbaugh and Anna Ritter, 4 and 3.

Schroeder clinched the match when she hold out from a greenside bunker at the par-3 16th hole. She and Shoemaker were 8-under on 17 holes, with an eagle.

However, Im chipped in the first hole of the championship match and she and Huynh never trailed.

After Huynh-Im, the No. 7 seeds from stroke play, birdied the par-5 15th, Shoemaker delivered the most dramatic shot of the championship as she nearly aced the 135-yard 16th. The ball lipped out and the birdie was conceded. Huynh or Im were now just 1 up with two to play.

But they parred the last two holes to stay ahead.

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