Notre Dame, Ind. – Three 2010 USA Curtis Cup players showed why they were selected as they advanced to the third round of match play on Thursday in the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship at the 6,092-yard, par-71 Warren Golf Course at Notre Dame.
Cydney Clanton, 20, of Concord, N.C., Kimberly Kim, 18, of Hilo, Hawaii, and Stephanie Kono, 20,of Honolulu, Hawaii won their second-round matches. The fourth USA Curtis Cup player in the field this week, Tiffany Lua of Rowland Heights, Calif., lost in the first round on Wednesday to Victoria Fallgren.
Kono had the toughest encounter when she edged Candace Schepperle of Birmingham, Ala., on the 23rd hole. While Kono never trailed, she bogeyed the 13th and 14th holes to lose a 3-up advantage. Schepperle squared the match with a birdie at the par-5 17th. After routine pars at the 18th, they went extra holes. Finally, on the 23rd hole, the par-5 fifth, Kono prevailed with a par.
It was the second grueling match for Kono, an All-American performer the past two years at UCLA. Her first-round encounter with Seohee Moon of Mukilteo, Wash., ended at No. 18, 1 up.
Kono will meet fellow UCLA Bruin Brianna Do of Vietnam in the third round Thursday afternoon.
Also in the second round, Kim ousted Gyeol Park of Korea, 4 and 3. Kim, the WAPL runner-up in 2006 and 2009 and the 2006 Women’s Amateur champion, has competed on the last two victorious USA Curtis Cup teams, in 2008 and 2010. Kim squandered a 2-up lead with a par and a bogey on the eighth and ninth holes, while Park went birdie-par. Kim then won the 10th, 12th, 14th and 15th with pars to end the match.
Clanton raced to a 3-up lead over Kelli Oride of Lihue, Hawaii after four holes. A par won the 10th hole for Clanton and she was 4 up. When she won the 15th with a birdie, the match was over, 5 and 3.
Local favorite Becca Huffer, a student at the University of Notre Dame, lasted 20 holes against No. 2 seed Martina Gavier of Argentina before she lost to Gavier’s birdie.
I knew all along I was going to win the match, said Gavier as she rushed to the practice tee before this afternoon’s third-round match. I just stayed patient and I’m glad it worked out.
Other third-round matches on Thursday feature Gavier playing Caroline Powers of Bowling Green, Ohio, and Kim facing Victoria Sungmin Park of Irvine, Calif. Clanton also has a difficult assignment against 14-year-old Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand, the stroke-play medalist.
Rhonda Glenn is a manager of communications for the USGA. E-mail her with questions or comments at rglenn@usga.org.