Women's Amateur Blog

Can the weather get any better? For a second consecutive day, Rhode Island has blessed with sunny skies, a cool breeze and comfortable temperatures minus the humidty we had to start the week. It's ideal golf conditions for the quarterfinals of the 2011 U.S. Women's Amateur.

And all four matches should be outstanding. The 12:45 p.m. match features University of Alabama All-American Brooke Pancake -- the player with the best last name -- against incoming UCLA freshman Erynne Lee, who was a semifinalist in this event three years ago and a quarterfinalist last year. At this year's U.S. Women's Open, she led the field in driving distance over the first two rounds.

Next up at 12:55 p.m., defending champion Danielle Kang of Westlake Village, Calif., meets Demi  Frances Runas, a 19-year-old from Torrance, Calif., who plays at the University of California-Davis. Runas attended the same high school as 2006 U.S. Girls' Junior champion Jenny Shin. Good karma could also be with Kang. The last time the Women's Amateur came to Rhode Island C.C. in 1987, the defending champion, Kay Cockerill, took home the title, just months before she turned pro. Kang also is turning pro after this event.

By the way, our prayers go out to Cockerill, whose father passed away yesterday in California. Cockerill flew home this morning. Steve Burkowski will take over Cockerill's duties on the broadcast.

The 1:05 p.m. match features reigning NCAA Division I champion Austin Ernst of Seneca, S.C., and LSU against Stephanie Kono of Honolulu, a member of the victorious 2010 USA Curtis Cup Team and a UCLA All-American. Interesting enough, it was Kono's Bruins who won the 2011 NCAA team title in College Station, Texas, at the same time Ernst took the individual title, the first for the Tiger women's golf program.

The final quarterfinal will pit 16-year-old Casey Danielson of Osceola, Wis., the true surprise of the championship, against 17-year-old Moriya Jutanugarn of Thailand. This has kind of a Hoosiers theme to it. Danielson comes from a town of 2,500 in northwestern Wisconsin, while Jutanugarn is one of the best juniors in the world, having already claimed low-amateur honors at last month's U.S. Women's Open at The Broadmoor. Her 15-year-old sister, Ariya, won last month's U.S. Girls' Junior at Olympia Fiels (Ill.) Country Club and last week claimed the PGA Junior Championship at Sycamore Hills G.C. in Fort Wayne, Ind., by 10 strokes. Moriya withdrew from the Girls' Junior due to an injury and instead caddied for her sister. Ariya is now serving as Moriya's caddie after being eliminated in the second round on Thursday by Lindy Duncan.

You can follow the matches on USGA.org and Golf Channel will televise the action live at 3 p.m.

Enjoy the golf. -- David Shefter

The 1953 U.S. Women’s Amateur was also played here at Rhode Island Country Club. One of the favorites was Barbara Romack of Sacramento, Calif., who had won the Canadian Women’s Open Amateur the previous week. Romack, however, had injured her left wrist in the Canadian final and wore a bandage.

The 20-year-old didn’t believe she had much chance to win the American title. NY Times golf writer, Linc Werden, knew of the injury and met Romack after the practice round. He wore a handkerchief wrapped around his left wrist, in solidarity with the Californian. Romack lasted until the fourth round, when she lost to Pat O’Sullivan, 3 and 2.

As she walked back to the clubhouse, a crowd of school-boy caddies waited behind the 18^th green, their left wrists wrapped in handkerchiefs and towels in sympathy. Romack was so touched that she went with them to the caddie shack, where she shared a soft drink and chatted.  The injury healed and Romack won the Women’s Amateur the following year.-- Rhonda Glenn      

Phyllis Wade Wylie, the oldest living member of either Curtis Cup Team, will celebrate her 100th birthday today (Aug. 12) at her home in Troon, Scotland. Wylie was a member of the 1938 team. She and her GB&I teammates Jessie Anderson, Nan Baird, Elsie Corlett, Helen Holm, Clarrie Tiernan and Mrs. J.B. Walker faced a very strong American team that included Patty Berg, Glenna Collett Vare (a member of Rhode Island Country Club), Maureen Orcutt, Estelle Lawson Page, Marion Miley, Kathryn Hemphill and Charlotte Glutting. The USA edged GB&I that year, 5½-3½. -- Rhonda Glenn

Most of the American players here at the U.S. Women's Amateur yearn to win a spot on the USA Curtis Cup team, which plays against a team from Great Britain and Ireland every two years. The 2012 match will be played at Nairn in Scotland next June. The 2012 USA Curtis Cup captain, Pat Cornett, is here this week to scout prospective American players. Cornett played on USA teams a decade apart, in 1978 and 1988. She is an oncologist and lives with her family in Mill Valley, Calif. Cornett had a meeting with members of the USGA International Team Selection Committee on Thursday morning, then went out and watched the round-of-16 matches. The champion this week, if she is American, is all but guaranteed a spot on the team, provided she remains an amateur. 

Defending champion Danielle Kang certainly would be a candidate, but she plans to turn pro after this week's competition. But other candidates will be playing on Friday, including 2010 participant Stephanie Kono. -- Rhonda Glenn  

Brooke Pancake was asked an obvious question after her second-round win Thursday at the Women's Amateur: So do people razz you about your last name?

"Oh all the time," said the affable 21-year-old from Chattanooga, Tenn., who will be a senior at the University of Alabama this fall.

So are there any favorite nicknames?

Pancake said her college teammates generally call her Brookie, IHOP or Cakes. She likes Cakes the best.

Although IHOP isn't bad.

Just wondering if she likes Waffle House.

All kidding aside, Pancake is one of those rare All-Americans who mixes great golf with solid academics. She has been an All-American all three years at Alabama -- first team this past season -- and carries a 4.13 GPA.

"It's really hard," said Pancake of keeping up with school and maintaining an elite golf game. "I just have to manage my time."

One of Pancake's college professors, David Noble, is here at Rhode Island C.C. this week watchng her play. The native New Englander also serves as Alabama's club ice hockey coach and often comes to the Northeast to recruit players. Noble taught one of Pancake's upper-level management classes this year.

"He just got done with summer [school] and decided to come up and root me on," she said.

Through two match-play rounds at the Women's Amateur, UCLA has been the clear winner. The reigning national champions had five golfers qualify for the championship and four made match play. Those four golfers -- Stephanie Kono, Tiffany Lua, Lee Lopez and Erynne Lee (who will be a freshman this fall) -- are a combined 8-0 after two rounds. Keep in mind, Brianna Do, who failed to make match play, won the Women's Amateur Public Links title in June.

The Bruins will lose at least one golfer this afternoon as Kono and Lua are facing each other for the third time in USGA competition. Kono owns a 2-0 advantage.

Lopez certainly has performed better at Rhode Island C.C. than she did at the WAPL when she fell in the first round after being one of the top seeds.

"I think I am a lot more patient this week," said the 21-year-old from Whittier, Calif., who will be a junior. "I'm out her to have a nice time this week and work on my game."

When told of her teammates' succes after round two, Lopez added: "I'm really proud of all my teammates. It's nice to have people like that to practice with."

The early morning fog has burned off and Rhode Island Country Club is splashed in sunshine for the start of the second round of match play at the 2011 U.S. Women's Amateur. The golfers could not have more ideal weather, and it should stay this way through Saturday's semifinals. There is a chance for a late shower on Sunday, but we've dodged weather bullets all week.

As for the golf, there are some delicious round-of-32 matchups. How about fourth-seeded Emma Talley, 17, of Princeton, Ky., who is headed to the University of Alabama in 2012, facing defending champion Danielle Kang, 18, of Westlake Village, Calif. Kang, who is turning pro after this championship, is bidding to become the first back-to-back Women's Amateur champion since Kelli Kuehne in 1995-96. The last Women's Amateur held at Rhode Island C.C. saw Kay Cockerill, currently of the Golf Channel, successfully defend her title. She turned pro later that fall.

Lisa McCloskey, 20, of Montgomery, Texas, the 2010 U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links champion and a two-time U.S. Women's Open qualifier, meets 16-year-old Korean-born Julie Yang of Mesa, Ariz., who recently won the Women's Trans-Mississippi title. McCloskey had an outstanding Women's Am a year ago, losing to eventual runner-up in a 20-hole third-round thriller.

Co-medalist Lydia Ko, 14, of New Zealand, the world's No. 1-ranked female amateur according to the World Amateur Golf Ranking supported by The R & A and USGA, will be tested against 21-year-old Stephanie Kono of Honolulu, Hawaii, a member of the victorious 2010 USA Curtis Cup Team and a UCLA All-American. She is the oldest remaining player. Her Bruin and 2010 Curtis Cup teammate, Tiffany Lua, 20, of Rowland Heights, Calif., meets Mackenzie Brooke Henderson of Canada. At 13, Henderson is the youngest remaining competitor.

Amy Anderson, 19, of Oxbow, N.D., the 2009 U.S. Girls' Junior champion, meets third-seeded Moriya Jutanugarn, 17, of Thailand, the low amateur at this year's U.S. Women's Open. Anderson was near the top of the leaderboard after the first round of last month's U.S. Women's Open and made the 36-hole cut.

And at the bottom of the bracket, 2011 U.S. Girls' Junior champion Ariya Jutanugarn, 15, of Thailand, faces 20-year-old Duke University standout Lindy Duncan of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., who made the cut at this year's U.S. Women's Open and was a Women's Amateur semifinalist five years ago.

As for the age breakdown, half the remaining players (16) are under the age of 18. A total of 23 are teenagers.

Kono is the only golfer who was born before 1990.

When I covered my first U.S. Women's Amateur 11 years ago, it was highly unlikely you would run into a college coach, unless, a) they were playing in the championship, or b) they were supporting one of their current players.

Fast forward to 2011 and the grounds at Rhode Island Country Club were littered with college coaches or assistants.

Perhaps it had something to do with the number of under-18 golfers in the field. A total of 49 started the competition on Monday and 23 advanced to match play. A 13-year-old Mackenzie Brooke Henderson of Canada, advanced to the second round, as did 14-year-olds Lydia Ko and Cindy Ha. Nicole Morales, a 15-year-old from South Salem, N.Y., beat 23-year-old Emma De Groot, a recent University of Tennessee-Chattanooga graduate, in 19 holes. Annie Park, a 16-year-old from Levittown, N.Y., went 24 holes to win her first-round match.

Such is the nature of today's Women's Amateur. College coaches certainly have more of a presence at the U.S. Girls' Junior, but with so many of those same players also qualifying for the Women's Amateur, they have to also come to this event.

That's certainly why UCLA had both their head coach (Carrie Forsyth) and assistant coach (Alicia Um) on site. The Bruins, who won this year's NCAA title, had five of their golfers in the field, four of which made match play. All four of those golfers: Erynne Lee, Lee Lopez, Stephanie Kono and Tiffany Lua won their first-round matches on Wednesday.

But Forsyth and Um also were scouting future talent. At least a half-dozen coaches were following Morales, who won't enter college until the fall of 2014.

Margaret Shirley, the assistant coach at Auburn, qualified for the Women's Amateur, but after missing the match-play cut, was out walking the course to scout the talent. "Got to start my regular job," said Shirley as she headed toward the first fairway.

Tennessee-Chattanooga coach Colette Murray served as the caddie for De Groot. So while she was helping the recent graduate, Murray also got an up-close look at the next generation of college players.

Emily Bastel, who played on the victorious 2002 USA Curtis Cup Team, was out scouting for the University of Florida. She was an assistant at Duke last year and now works for former Duke coach Jan Dowling at Florida. She was headed back to Gainesville after the first round.

Coaches from Georgia, Arizona, Denver, Vanderbilt, LSU and South Carolina were also seen on the grounds Wednesday.

After all, the next All-American or NCAA champion could be in this year's Women's Amateur field.