Notre Dame, Ind. – And you thought teenagers were supposed to sleep in on the weekends.
Not so for 18-year-old Emily Tubert of Burbank, Calif., who took control of the morning match against Lisa McCloskey, 18, of Houston, Texas, to own a 4-up advantage following the opening 18 of Saturday's scheduled 36-hole final match at the 2010 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship being contest on the par-71, 6,092-yard Warren Golf Course at Notre Dame.
Blending a perfect storm of power and precision, Tubert won seven consecutive holes from No. 6, playing that stretch in six under par, to go from 1 down to 5 up. Tubert began the scorched -earth thrust by chipping in at the par-4 sixth, pitched to 4½ feet for a conceded birdie at No. 8 and rolled in a slippery downhill 16-footer to take a 2-up lead after nine.
With the adrenaline likely cascading through her veins, the already long-hitting Tubert blistered a drive at the par-5 10th and got up and down from just off the putting surface for another win. Playing all the shots, Tubert stuffed a 5-iron to 3 feet at No. 11 and capped the birdie barrage by drilling an 8-iron to 5 feet at No. 12.
With seemingly some of the air taken out of her, McCloskey rallied back by winning Nos. 14 and 15 to close to 3-down, before Tubert answered by hitting the green in two shots at the par-5 17th, hitting a high-lofted hybrid to 18 feet beyond the hole for a 4-up lead.
Andrew Blair is the director of communications of the Virginia State Golf Association who is contributing articles at this week’s WAPL for the USGA.