USA Team Selected For Women's World Amateur Team Championship


August 21, 2006
E-mail address: mediarelations@usga.org 

Far Hills, N.J. - The Women's Committee of the United States Golf Association has named Amanda Blumenherst of Scottsdale, Ariz., Kimberly Kim of Hilo, Hawaii, and Jennie Lee of Huntington Beach, Calif., to the 2006 USA Women's World Amateur team.

Amanda Blumenherst, 19, tied for low amateur honors at this year's Women's Open. (USGA Photo Archives)

The Women's World Amateur Team Championship is conducted by the International Golf Federation, which comprises national governing bodies of golf in more than 100 countries. A record 51 teams from around the world have entered the 2006 Women's World Amateur Team Championship, which will be played Oct. 18-21 at De Zalze Golf Club and Stellenbosch Golf Club in Stellenbosch, . It is played in conjunction with the World Amateur Team Championship for men, which will be played on the same courses Oct. 26-29.

Tiffany Joh of San Diego, Calif., was named first alternate and Mina Harigae of Monterey, Calif., is second alternate.

Jeannie Myers of Farmington Hills, Mich., USGA Women's Committee chairman in 2003 and 2004, will serve as the team's captain.

Blumenherst, 19, was a member of the victorious 2006 USA Curtis Cup team and earned a share of low-amateur honors at the 2006 U.S. Women's Open. She is about to begin her sophomore year at Duke University. During her freshman campaign, she earned Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year honors from both the National Golf Coaches Association (NGCA) and Atlantic Coast Conference. She was also honored with the Edith Cummings Munson Golf Award, which is given to the All-America and Scholar All-America with the highest grade-point average in Division I women's golf. During a freshman season that saw her finish second at the NCAA Division I Central Regional and ninth at the NCAA Division I Women's Championship, Blumenherst won the ACC Championship, Betsy Rawls Longhorn Invitational and the Mason Rudolph Women's, which was her first collegiate event.

Kimberly Kim, 14, was chosen based on her merit of being the youngest-ever Women's Amateur champion. (USGA Photo Archives)

Kim, 14, became the youngest U.S. Women's Amateur champion in history when she won the 2006 championship at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club earlier this month. She was also the runner-up at the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links and made the cut at the 2006 U.S. Women's Open. She is a two-time winner of the Junior World Championship, in 2000 and 2004, and became the youngest to win an AJGA championship when she won the 2004 Sun Willows Junior as a 12 year old. , who recently moved to the Phoenix area, will be a sophomore at Queen Creek High School.

Lee, 19, was a member of the victorious 2006 USA Curtis Cup team, where she went 2-0 in singles and clinched the winning point for the team with her singles victory Sunday afternoon. She advanced to the quarterfinals of both the 2005 and 2006 U.S. Women's Amateurs. She has twice played in the U.S. Women's Open, finishing 50 ^th in 2004 and missing the cut in 2006. She is about to begin her sophomore year at Duke. As a freshman, she earned honorable mention All-America honors after finishing second at the 2006 NCAA Division I Championship, which helped Duke win the team title.

Joh, 19, won the 2006 U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links Championship. Joh, who will be a sophomore at UCLA, earned NGCA first-team All-America honors after her freshman campaign. She finished third at the Pac-10 Championship and was named the Pac-10 Newcomer of the Year.

Harigae, 16, was the medalist at the 2006 U.S. Girls' Junior. She is a two-time Girls' Junior semifinalist, in 2003 and 2006, and was a quarterfinalist at the 2006 U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links. She won her first California Women's Amateur at age 11 and has gone on to win the championship three more times. She won the 2006 AJGA Heather Farr Classic and was the runner-up at the 2005 AJGA Polo Classic.

Jennie Lee was a quarterfinalist in the past two Women's Amateurs. (USGA Photo Archives)

The World Amateur Team title is determined by four days of stroke play. A country may field a team of two or three players. In each round, the total of the two lowest scores by players from each team constitutes the team score for the round. The four-day total is the team's score for the championship.

The competition has been played every two years since 1964 for the Espirito Santo Trophy. is the defending champion, having won the 2004 championship at Rio Mar Country Club in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico. The , represented by , and , finished tied for second. The last won in 1998 and has won the trophy a record 13 times since 1966.

The championship is rotated biennially among three geographic zones: Asia-Pacific, American, and European-African. The 2006 competition is hosted by the South African Golf Association and Women's Golf South Africa.

For more information, please contact the USGA at (908) 234-2300.