The weather reports are gettting rather boring this week. Hot, hot and more hot. Excruciatingly hot. And humid. Just walked nine holes with the lead match and I needed to get inside to the air-conditioned clubhouse. It's like walking around in a steam room. Amazingly, these girls are waging on with grit and determination.
Doris Chen easily could have made the turn three or four holes up. She has had golden chances for birdies and can't get anything to fall. She missed two birdie putts -- on holes 5 and 7 from inside 7 feet. She held a 1-up advantage at the turn. Danielle Kang finally made a birdie putt at No. 9 after putting the ball off the green at at the par-3 eighth hole.
We also could have the first female left-handed champion. Katelyn Dambaugh of Goose Creek, S.C., has a 2-up lead on Stephanie Liu. While the USGA has crowned five left-handed male champions -- the first coming at the 1988 U.S. Amateur Public Links (Ralph Howe III) -- no female lefties have won a USGA title. The late Toni Wiesner reached three USGA Senior Women's Amateur finals and came up short each time.