Women's Amateur Blog

Two more matches have gone beyond the regulation 18 holes. Doris Chen, the 2010 U.S. Girls' Junior champion, just fell to Mexico's Gabriela Lopez on the 20th hole.

And the 2011 Girls' Junior champion, Ariya Jutanugarn, just defeated Germany's Sophia Popov on the 19th hole with a birdie-3. Popov, a University of Southern California sophomore, recently played in the Women's British Open at Carnoustie.

All told, we had eight extra-hole matches in the first round and 19 of the 32 matches went at least 18 holes. That tells you how competitive this championship has become.

Could this be a harbinger of future rounds?

With 27 of the 32 first-round matches in the books, five have gone beyond 18 holes, including two by a pair of UCLA All-Americans who played for the victorious 2010 USA Curtis Cup Team. Stephanie Kono and Tiffany Lua both needed late rallies to post wins on Wednesday at Rhode Island C.C. Kono, playing in her 21st USGA championship, went 19 holes to oust Madeleine Sheils of Boise, Idaho, while Lua needed 20 holes to turn away Princeton University sophomore Kelly Shon of Port Washington, N.Y.

Kono set up a second-round match with 14-year-old co-medalist Lydia Ko of New Zealand, who is the No. 1-ranked female amateur according to the World Amateur Golf Ranking supported by The R & A and USGA. Lua will face the championship's youngest remaining contestant, Mackenzie Brooke Henderson of Canada. It was Henderson's older sister, Brittany, who opened the door for a playoff late Tuesday for the final match-play spot. A bogey at her 36th hole forced a 5-for-1 playoff that Elyse Smidinger eventually won on the second hole and used to upset the other co-medalist, 17-year-old Jihee Kim of Korea.

The longest match of the day was won by 16-year-old Annie Park of Levittown, N.Y., who went 24 holes before eliminating the oldest match-play qualifier, 23-year-old Calle Nielson of Nashville, Tenn.

Stephanie Kim of Phoenix, Ariz., also went 19 holes to beat 2010 Great Britain and Ireland Curtis Cup participant Pamela Pretswell of Scotland.

GB&I's third player in the draw, Sally Watson of Scotland and a senior at Stanford University, fell to reigning NCAA Division I champion Austin Ernst of Seneca, S.C., 1 down.

Defending champion Danielle Kang posted a 3-and-2 win over Talia Campbell of Dallas to set up a challenging second-round match against No. 4 seed Emma Talley of Princeton, Ky. The 17-year-old, who has committed to attend Alabama in the fall of 2012, posted a 5-and-3 win over Shu-Yin Liu of Chinese Taipei. The 23-year-old Liu, who attends Tulsa, had the words "Scooby Liu" inscribed on her golf bag.

So far it's been a great day for American players at the Women's Amateur. Elyse Smidinger of Crofton, Md., had the biggest victory, taking out stroke-play co-medalist and No. 1 seed Jihee Kim of Korea, 2 and 1. Brooke Pancake of Chattanooga, Tenn., defeated Australian Breanna Elliott, 1 up, and then Nicole Morales, 15, of South Salem, N.Y., rallied from two holes down with two to play to beat the other Aussie in the match-play draw, Emma De Groot, in 19 holes. Morales made three consecutive birdies from No. 16 and then won the 19th hole with a par when De Groot lipped out a 6-footer.

Tiffany Lim, who made the 36-hole cut at the 2010 U.S. Women's Open, then defeated Xi Yu Lin of the People's Republic of China, 1 up.

Canada's Christina Wong is the only international golfer to so far advance. She defeated Courtney Gunter, 4 and 3.

The fun is ready to begin at the 2011 U.S. Women's Amateur at Rhode Island Country Club. Match play commences at 9 a.m. with co-medalist Jihee Kim of Korea facing 5-for-1 playoff survivor Elyse Smidinger of Crofton, Md. Both are 17 years of age.

The morning clouds have burned off and the 100-year-old Donald Ross layout is basking in sunshine. We've truly dodged some weather bullets so far. On Monday, we only had two weather delays totaling 75 minutes and the round was completed before darkness set in. On Tuesday, the weather again turned dicey in the afteernoon, but the final stroke-play round was completed, as was the playoff before darkness fell and another rainstorm doused the region.

The forecasters are calling for a chance of afternoon thunderstorms today, but hopefully we can complete the first round of match play before any weather comes through.

Just finished a breakdown of the 64-player field and the average age has dropped from 19.5 to 18.5.

 The youngest remaining player is 13-year-old Mariel Galdiano, the Pearl City, Hawaii, resident who qualified for this year's U.S. Women's Open. Galdiano faces Erynne Lee, 18, of Silverdale, Wash., at 9:50 a.m. Lee was a semifinalist at the 2008 U.S. Women's Amateur and was one of the tri-medalists last year at Charlotte Country Club, where she advanced to the quarterfinals. She is headed to UCLA in the fall.

The oldest remaining player is 23-year-old Calle Nielson of Nashville, Tenn.  She is seven days older than Shu-Lin Liu of Chinese Taipei. Nielson opens against 16-year-old Annie Park of Levittown, N.Y.

Besides the USA, 13 other countries are represented. They are Korea, Australia, Canada, People's Republic of China, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, Argentina, England, Philippines, New Zealand, Scotland, Mexico and Germany. There are 39 players from the United States. Canada is next with five golfers, followed by Thailand and the Philippines with three apiece.

There are a couple of intriguing first-round matchups. In a battle of northern New Jersey, 21-year-old Marina Alex, a Vanderbilt University standout, faces 14-year-old Cindy Ha, who will celebrate her 15th birthday on Friday. Alex is from Wayne and Ha from Demarest. That match commences at 10:50 a.m.

Two girls from the Philippines also square off at 1:30 p.m. That match features 20-year-old Chihiro Ikeda against 17-year-old Sarah Ababa.

Reigning NCAA Division I champion Austin Ernst of Seneca, S.C., faces two-time Great Britain and Ireland Curtis Cup participant Sally Watson of Scotland at 12:40 p.m.

Should be an excellent day of golf.

A breakdown of ages: 

A breakdown of players by country: 

Elysse Smidinger, 17, of Crofton, Md., survived the 5-for-1 playoff by making a 4 at the par-4 16th hole, the second playoff hole. Emily Collins of Colleyville, Texas, and Kendall Prince of Lake Oswego, Ore., each made 5s. Smidinger, who will be a senior at Arundel High this fall, will face co-medalist Jihee Kim, 17, of Korea in the first match on Wednesday at 9 a.m. EDT.

This is Smidinger's second USGA event. She missed the match-play cut at the 2010 U.S. Girls' Junior.

In 2009, she won the Maryland State Golf Association Girls' Junior and was runner-up at the 2009 MSGA Women's Amateur.

She is a former gymnast who once won the Level 6 Maryland State Championship.  

We are down to three players for the last match-play spot. Elyse Smidinger of Crofton, Md., Emily Collins of Colleyville, Texas, and Kendall Prince of Lake Oswego, Ore., all made pars on the 380-yard, par-4 15th hole. Haley Stephens of Greer, S.C., did not record a score and Brittany Henderson of Canada, who bogeyed her final hole of regulation to get into the playoff, made a 5.

The players have moved on to the 395-yard, par-4 16th hole. This likely will be the last hole of the day if a survivor isn't decided here. Daylight is rapidly fading here at Rhode Island Country Club.

A bogey by Brittany Henderson at her 36th hole, the par-4 ninth, gave new life to four other golfers hoping to play in the first round of match play on Wednesday. Henderson, along with Kendall Prince, Elyse Smidinger, Haley Stephens and Emily Collins all finished at 7-over 149. They will begin at hole No. 15 and play 16, 17 and 18 until there is one survivor. That golfer will either face Jihee Kim or Lydia Ko, depending on how the computer splits up the co-medalists in the draw.

Six USGA champions failed to qualify, including the last two U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links champions, Brianna Do (2011) and Emily Tubert (2010). Also failing to advance were three-time U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur champion Meghan Stasi, 2009 U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur champion Martha Leach, 2010 USGA Senior Women's Amateur champion Mina Hardin and 2009 Senior Women's Amateur champion Sherry Herman.

Other notables who didn't advance were Marissa Dodd (2011 WAPL runner-up), 2011 U.S. Girls' Junior runner-up Dottie Ardina, 2010 Women's Mid-Am runner-up Carol Robertson, 2010 U.S. Women's Amateur tri-medalist Rachel Rohanna, 2008 U.S. Girls' Junior runner-up Karen Chung and 2010 Senior Women's Amateur runner-up Alexandra Frazier.

None of the 11 mid-amateurs (25 and over) survived the cut. Last year, only Stasi made the cut among the mid-amateurs in the field.

All five players from the most recent Curtis Cup Match did advance. They include Stephanie Kono and Tiffany Lua from the USA, and Sally Watson, Pamela Pretswell and Holly Clyburn from the Great Britain and Ireland side.

USGA champions Ariya Jutanugarn (2011 Girls' Junior), Kristen Park (2007 Girls' Junior), Doris Chen (2010 Girls' Junior), Amy Anderson (2009 Girls' Junior) and defending Women's Amateur champion Danielle Kang all advanced as well.

We'll update the playoff as we get results.

Korea's Jihee Kim carded a 1-under 70 on Tuesday and stands at 6-under 136, which ties her with 14-year-old Lydia Ko of New Zealand for medalist honors at the 2011 U.S. Women's Amateur at Rhode Island C.C. Kim, who shot a 66 in Monday's first round, said she struggled with her putter on Tuesday, registering 31 putts compared to 26 on Monday. This is Kim's first match-play competition, while Ko claimed the New Zealand Amateur title in April after winning the 72-hole medal. Ko is the No. 1-ranked amateur in the world, according to World Amateur Golf Ranking that is supported by The R&A and USGA. Kim, who is the No. 98-ranked female in the world, did shoot a 63 in last fall's Women's World Amateur Team Championship in leading Korea to a remarkable 17-stroke win over the USA in Argentina. She is coming off a T-21 effort at last month's Callaway Junior World event at Torrey Pines in San Diego.

It's cut day at the 111th U.S. Women's  Amateur, which always means a few anxious moments for those players on the match-play bubble. At least the competitors are being greeted with sunshine and the forecast for today is much better than on Monday when the afternoon wave of 78 golfers endured a pair of delays totaling 75 minutes. Our on-site meteorologist, Jake Swick, said clouds and wind should increase this afternoon with most of the showers predicted for the region to stay to our west through the early afternoon. There is a chance we could see a shower or possible thunderstorm after 5 p.m., but the best chance for showers will come between 8 p.m. tonight and 8 a.m. on Wednesday. Let's hope that is the case.

As for the play, Jihee Kim of Korea made a strong opening statement to be medalist with a 5-under 66. But she goes off in the afternoon on Tuesday and won't have the same favorable weather conditions she enjoyed on Monday morning when there was virtually no wind.

We'll know more about the cutline as players begin posting scores later today.

One player, Asia Adell of Fresno, Calif., withdrew last night.