Bandon, Ore. – Brianna Do of Vietnam, and Marissa Dodd of Allen, Texas, will meet in Saturday’s 36-hole championship final of the 2011 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links, being conducted at the 6,098-yard, par-71 Old Macdonald layout at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort.
Do, 21, advanced with a 2-and-1 victory over Annie Park, 16, of Levittown, N.Y., who earlier defeated stroke-play medalist Cheyenne Woods in the quarterfinal round. Dodd defeated Do’s UCLA teammate Tiffany Lua, 20, of Rowland Heights, Calif., by the same 2-and-1 margin.
Both players will be competing in their first USGA championship final and have received full exemptions into the 2011 U.S. Women’s Amateur.
Do, who was born in southern California but is representing her parents’ home country of Vietnam this week, capitalized on Park’s early bogeys on the first and second holes to grab a quick 2-up lead.
Fighting a brutal afternoon wind that whipped across Old Macdonald at nearly 30 miles per hour, Do was able to hold the lead until the par-4 10th hole, when her bogey took the match back to all square. However, Do’s key 15-foot birdie on the par-4 14th gave her the lead for good.
The wind picked up [this afternoon] and it was a lot more difficult, said Do, who was named to the All-Pacific-10 Conference second team in 2010. I had way more birdies in the morning than I had this round. We were halving holes with bogeys, but this morning I had to halve a hole with birdies and pars to stay in it. It was kind of a different course out here with the wind.
Do dispatched fellow UCLA Bruin Stephanie Kono, 20, of Honolulu, Hawaii, by a 2-up margin in the morning’s quarterfinal round.
Kono’s a great player and I knew she was going to be a tough match, said Do, who defeated Kono, a 2010 USA Curtis Cup Team member, in the third round of last year’s Women’s Amateur Public Links. I’m happy I won, but at the same time I wish we both could have moved on.
Dodd, whose only previous match-play experience was a first-round loss at the 2010 U.S. Girls’ Junior, trailed early in her match with Lua, a member of the winning 2010 USA Curtis Cup Team who was competing in her 20th USGA individual championship.
My swing was a little off going into the first two holes, said Dodd, who has committed to play for Wake Forest University in the fall. I think things first started to turn around on the third hole. I almost drove the green with a hybrid, so that kind of got my juices flowing a little bit.
About the sixth or seventh hole, I started to get really confident and in a groove. I just felt like I started playing back to my game.
Dodd certainly made the match interesting when her approach shot to the par-4 10th hole flew 100 yards beyond the hole location and onto the fifth green. However, Dodd did not let the adversity affect her play, despite losing the hole.
I’ve got a real attitude of letting things roll off my back and forgetting about the previous shot, said Dodd, who earlier put that attitude to good use after nearly losing a 5-up lead in her third-round 2-up win over Prima Thammaraks.
Dodd reached the semifinals by defeating Scotland’s Sally Watson, 1 up, while Lua rolled through her semifinal match, needing only 12 holes to defeat Brittany Altomare, 20, of Shrewsbury, Mass., 7 and 6.
Until Friday morning Woods, a senior at Wake Forest, had experienced few problems along the Scottish-inspired links at Bandon Trails and Old Macdonald. Calling Friday’s match the worst golf she’d played all summer, Woods pointed to her ongoing swing struggles as her ultimate downfall.
I just wasn’t really feeling my swing, said Woods, the niece of nine-time USGA champion Tiger Woods. I wasn’t hitting it well this morning, so when I was out of the course, I was trying to find that one swing thought that would click and make me feel comfortable about there. But I never really was comfortable.
The 2011 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links, which is being conducted concurrently at Bandon Dunes with the U.S. Amateur Public Links, concludes with the 36-hole championship final on Saturday at Old Macdonald.
The U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links is one of 13 championships conducted annually by the United States Golf Association, 10 of which are strictly for amateurs.
Christina Lance is a coordinator of championship communications for the USGA. Email questions or comments to clance@usga.org.
Results
Bandon, Ore. – Results from Friday’s quarterfinal round of match play at the 2011 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links, conducted at 6,098-yard, par-71 Old Macdonald at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort:
Upper Bracket
Annie Park, Levittown, N.Y. (158) def.Cheyenne Woods, Phoenix, Ariz. (141), 3 and 2
Brianna Do, Viet Nam (155) def. Stephanie Kono, Honolulu, Hawaii (152), 2 up
Lower Bracket
Marissa Dodd, Allen, Texas (154) def. Sally Watson, Scotland (148), 1 up
Tiffany Lua, Rowland Heights, Calif. (154) def. Brittany Altomare, Shrewsbury, Mass. (148), 7 and 6
Results
Bandon, Ore. – Results from Friday’s semifinal round of match play at the 2011 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links, conducted at 6,098-yard, par-71 Old Macdonald at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort:
Upper Bracket
Brianna Do, Vietnam (155) def. Annie Park, Levittown, N.Y. (158), 2 and 1
Lower Bracket
Marissa Dodd, Allen, Texas (154) def. Tiffany Lua, Rowland Heights, Calif. (154), 2 and 1
Pairings
Bandon, Ore. – Pairings for Saturday’s final round of match play at the 2011 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links, conducted at 6,098-yard, par-71 Old Macdonald at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort:
7 a.m. and 12 p.m.: Brianna Do, Vietnam (155) vs. Marissa Dodd, Allen, Texas (154)