KARUIZAWA, Japan– Brooke Mackenzie Henderson and Brittany Marchand combined for 9-under-par 135 in the third round as Canada held off defending champion Republic of Korea and maintained a two-stroke lead through 54 holes at the 2014 Women’s World Amateur Team Championship at Karuizawa 72 Golf East.
“We had some super-solid play out there,” said Canadian captain Liz Hoffman. “But, we left a few shots out there. We were focused and had a strong start.”
Henderson, 16, No. 2 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking™ (WWAGR), fired a 6-under-par 66 and Marchand, 22, added a 69 to give the Canadians a three-round total of 23-under-par 409, second-best in history. Augusta James shot a non-counting 72.
“It is awesome to play with such skilled players who push you to the next level,” said Henderson, who won a Canadian women’s professional event in 2012 at age 14 and earned 2014 U.S. Women’s Open low-amateur honors. “We are excited to be in the position we are in at such a great golf course in Japan.”
The round was suspended because of dangerous weather at 3:27 p.m. with only Canada, Japan and Korea still on the course. Play resumed at 5:16 p.m., following a delay of one hour and 39 minutes.
“There was some great competition out there,” Marchand said of playing with the Koreans and Japanese. “We pushed them and they pushed us.”
Two-time defending champion Korea received a 66 from Hye-Jin Choi and a 68 from Gyeol Park to pass Japan and finish in second position at 21-under 411.
Even with a completely new squad from the 2010 and 2012 winners, Korea is attempting to become the first team to capture three consecutive Espirito Santo Trophy competitions since the USA in 1980, 1982 and 1984.
“We tried hard and we putted better today and our irons were very good,” said Korean captain Se-Hoon Chang. “It will be really interesting tomorrow. This event has such good players. We hope to defend the trophy, but you never know.”
Korea’s third-round 134 ties for the lowest in WWATC annals and was matched by Australia.
The Australians climbed to fourth place at 16-under 416 fueled by Minjee Lee’s bogey-free 8-under-par 64, which is the 2014 WWATC’s lowest individual score and the second-best in history. Teammate Su Oh posted a 70.
Host Japan is third, six strokes behind Canada at 415. Spain is fifth at 417 and Denmark and the USA are tied for sixth after 8-under rounds of 136 at 418. Germany and Sweden share eighth place at 419 and England and Mexico are tied for 10th at 420.
“I holed more putts today than I did the last two days,” said Lee, who tied for 22nd at the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open and is the 2012 U.S. Girls’ Junior champion. “I wasn’t hitting it close but if it was inside 15 feet, I usually made it.”
“She was superb but you could see it coming,” said Australian captain Matt Cutler of Lee, who is No. 1 in the WWAGR™ and the winner of the 2014 Mark H. McCormack Medal. “It’s an amazing round. She was flawless today.”
Cutler was realistic about his team’s chances of overtaking the leaders.
“Our target is to go lower than we did today. We don’t want to put a number on it,” said Cutler. “Whoever is going to win is going to be playing well.”
“Our goal today was to go as low as possible,” said Lee, “Tomorrow, we will just have to play our best to see if we can catch up. That’s all we can do.”
The USA had its best round of the championship thus far on Friday, posting a team score of 8-under 136, with both Alison Lee and Emma Talley carding scores of 4-under 68. Reigning U.S. Women’s Amateur champion Kristen Gillman was solid, as well, turning in a non-counting 2-under 70. The USA will begin Saturday’s final round nine strokes behind Canada.
“I just made some putts today. I still hit the ball well but today I made some putts. That’s golf,” said Talley, the 2013 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion, who improved her score for the second straight day after opening with 77. “It’s never over until it’s over but it’s still not easy. It’s obvious we have to go low and finish strong. If we don’t, at least we made a good run at it.”
Alison Lee’s 68 on Friday was her third straight under-par round of the championship.
The Women’s World Amateur Team Championship is a biennial international amateur competition conducted by the International Golf Federation (IGF), which comprises 137 national governing bodies in 131 countries. The competition, which is being held for the 26th time, is rotated among three geographic zones: Asia-Pacific, Americas and Europe-Africa.
This year’s event is hosted by the Japan Golf Association. The teams play for the Espirito Santo Trophy. The IGF is the international federation for golf for the International Olympic Committee and will conduct the Olympic golf competition in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. In each round, the total of the two lowest scores from each team constitutes the team score for the round. The four-day (72-hole) total is the team’s score for the championship.
Poland’s Nastasia Kossacky scored a hole-in-one on the 138-yard seventh hole on the Iriyama Course en route to a 4-under-par 68.
For the final round, the top half of team scoring will play the Iriyama Course and the other half will play Oshitate.
KARUIZAWA, Japan (5 Sept.) -- Results of Friday’s third round of the 2014 Women’s World Amateur Team Championship played at the par 72, 6,309-yard/5,765-meter Oshitate Course (OC) and the par 72, 6,311-yard/5,768-meter Iriyama Course (IC) at Karuizawa 72 Golf East.
1. Canada (CAN) - 135 OC-139 IC-135 OC--409
Brooke Mackenzie Henderson 66-69-66--201
Brittany Marchand 71-70-69--210
Augusta James 69-76-72--217
2. Republic of Korea (KOR) - 137 IC-140 OC-134 OC--411
So-Young Lee 67-69-70--206
Hye-Jin Choi 70-71-66--207
Gyeol Park 75-75-68--218
3. Japan (JPN) - 144 IC-132 OC-139 OC--415
Minami Katsu 74-65-69--208
Yumi Matsubara 70-69-70--209
Eri Okayama 78-67-70--215
4. Australia (AUS) - 144 IC-138 OC-134 OC--416
Minjee Lee 73-70-64--207
Su Oh 71-68-70--209
Shelly Shin 74-70-72--216
5. Spain (ESP) - 142 IC-136 OC-139 OC--417
Noemi Jimenez Martin 70-66-70--206
Marta Sanz Barrio 72-71-69--212
Luna Sobron Galmes 76-70-74--220
T6. Denmark (DEN) - 143 IC-139 OC-136 OC--418
Emily Kristine Pedersen 75-67-69--211
Nanna Koerstz Madsen 69-72-70--211
Caroline Nistrup 74-74-67--215
T6. United States of America (USA) - 142 OC-140 IC-136 OC--418
Alison Lee 68-70-68--206
Kristen Gillman 74-70-70--214
Emma Talley 77-72-68--217
T8. Germany (GER) - 143 IC-136 OC-140 OC--419
Olivia Cowan 71-67-71--209
Laura Funfstuck 72-69-69--210
Antonia Scherer 78-73-76--227
T8. Sweden (SWE) - 143 OC-135 IC-141 OC--419
Linnea Strom 71-67-71--209
Madelene Sagstrom 72-68-70--210
Louise Ridderstrom 73-75-77--225
T10. England (ENG) - 147 IC-134 OC-139 OC--420
Bronte Law 71-65-67--203
Hayley Davis 76-69-72--217
Gabriella Cowley 76-75-77--228
T10. Mexico (MEX) - 142 IC-139 OC-139 OC--420
Maria Gabriela Lopez Butron 69-68-69--206
Ana Paula Valdes 75-71-70--216
Marijosse Navarro Miguez 73-72-74--219
12. Philippines (PHI) - 143 OC-143 IC-135 OC--421
Princess Superal 71-72-68--211
Clare Amelia Legaspi 72-72-67--211
Pauline Del Rosario 74-71-75--220
T13. India (IND) - 141 IC-140 OC-143 OC--424
Gurbani Singh 72-70-70--212
Aditi Ashok 69-70-73--212
Astha Madan 75-76-76--227
T13. Italy (ITA) - 141 OC-147 IC-136 OC--424
Virginia Elena Carta 69-74-68--211
Roberta Liti 74-73-68--215
Laura Lonardi 72-74-74--220
T15. France (FRA) - 140 IC-142 OC-143 OC--425
Celine Boutier 71-70-70--211
Mathilda Cappeliez 69-74-73--216
Manon Gidali 73-72-74--219
T15. People's Republic of China (CHN) - 146 IC-140 OC-139 OC--425
Yuting Shi 70-69-69--208
XinYing Wang 77-71-70--218
Ziqi Ye 76-71-72--219
17. Netherlands (NED) - 143 IC-145 OC-138 OC--426
Anne Van Dam 68-69-67--204
Dewi Weber 75-76-71--222
Romy Meekers 76-78-71--225
18. Finland (FIN) - 145 IC-144 OC-139 OC--428
Oona Vartiainen 68-70-72--210
Emily Penttila 82-74-68--224
Mitilda Castren 77-79-71--227
19. Norway (NOR) - 148 OC-143 IC-138 OC--429
Tonje Daffinrud 72-70-66--208
Mariell Bruun 77-73-72--222
Nicoline Skaug 76-79-78--233
T20. Austria (AUT) - 146 OC-142 IC-145 OC--433
Lea Zeitler 70-69-73--212
Leonie Bettel 77-73-72--222
Nadine Dreher 76-78-74--228
T20. Chinese Taipei (TPE) - 146 OC-148 IC-139 IC--433
Ssu-Chia Cheng 72-71-68--211
Jo-Hua Hung 74-77-71--222
Chi-Hui Chen 82-83-78--243
22. Wales (WAL) - 146 IC-144 OC-145 OC--435
Chloe Williams 71-74-70--215
Rebecca Helen Harries 79-70-77--226
Katie Bradbury 75-77-75--227
T23. Argentina (ARG) - 145 IC-146 OC-145 OC--436
Magdalena Simmermacher 71-75-70--216
Manuela Carbajo Re 74-71-75--220
Delfina Acosta 74-75-75--224
T23. Thailand (THA) - 152 IC-145 OC-139 IC--436
Suthavee Chanachai 74-73-70--217
Pannarat Thanapolboonyaras 79-72-69--220
Pajaree Anannarukarn 78-73-74--225
T25. Belgium (BEL) - 147 OC-145 IC-145 OC--437
Manon De Roey 70-72-72--214
Leslie Cloots 79-73-74--226
Fanny Cnops 77-78-73--228
T25. Colombia (COL) - 147 IC-142 OC-148 OC--437
Laura Sojo 72-71-74--217
Laura Camila Blanco 77-71-74--222
Maria Hoyos 75-77-76--228
T25. Ireland (IRL) - 141 OC-150 IC-146 OC--437
Paula Grant 70-75-73--218
Maria Dunne 71-75-78--224
Mary Doyle 80-76-73--229
T28. Puerto Rico (PUR) - 147 IC-146 OC-145 IC--438
Maria F. Torres 74-73-72--219
Paola Robles 73-78-73--224
Valeria S. Pacheco 78-73-78--229
T28. South Africa (RSA) - 142 OC-144 IC-152 OC--438
Michaela Fletcher 69-73-77--219
Monja Richards 76-71-75--222
Cara Bella Gorlei 73-73-78--224
T30. Hong Kong, China (HKG) - 146 OC-151 IC-143 IC--440
Tiffany Chan 71-77-72--220
Kitty Tam 76-74-71--221
Isabella Leung 75-77-75--227
T30. Iceland (ISL) - 149 IC-147 OC-144 IC--440
Gudrun Bjorgvinsdottir 75-72-73--220
Olafia Thorunn Kristinsdottir 74-75-71--220
Sunna Vidisdottir 75-81-78--234
T30. Slovenia (SLO) - 148 IC-146 OC-146 IC--440
Katja Pogacar 71-74-70--215
Ana Belac 77-72-76--225
Ursa Oreheu 81-75-81--237
33. New Zealand (NZL) - 154 IC-138 OC-149 OC--441
Munchin Keh 76-68-76--220
Julianne Alvarez 78-70-73--221
Zoe-Beth Brake 79-76-77--232
34. Singapore (SIN) - 150 IC-146 OC-147 IC--443
Sock Hwee Koh 75-68-75--218
Jo Ee Kok 75-78-78--231
Amanda Tan 78-82-72--232
35. Switzerland (SUI) - 146 OC-149 IC-150 IC--445
Albane Valenzuela 75-72-73--220
Kim Metraux 71-78-77--226
Morgane Metraux 76-77-79--232
T36. Poland (POL) - 148 OC-154 IC-148 IC--450
Nastasia Kossacky 73-76-68--217
Dominika Gradecka 75-78-80--233
Dorota Zalewska 82-82-80--244
T36. Russian Federation (RUS) - 149 OC-153 IC-148 IC--450
Sofya Anokhina 74-80-73--227
Ksenia Eremina 75-75-82--232
Angelina Monakhova 80-78-75--233
38. Czech Republic (CZE) - 150 IC-154 OC-149 IC--453
Hana Ryskova 74-76-76--226
Barbora Bakova 76-78-78--232
Karolina Vlckova 80-80-73--233
39. Brazil (BRA) - 150 OC-151 IC-153 IC--454
Luiza Altmann 75-74-77--226
Luciane Lee 75-77-76--228
Clara Teixeira 75-80-80--235
40. Guatemala (GUA) - 151 OC-149 IC-155 IC--455
Lucia Polo 71-73-74--218
Pilar Echeverria 80-76-81--237
Beatriz Arenas 84-95-88--267
41. Scotland (SCO) - 154 IC-151 OC-152 IC--457
Gemma Dryburgh 75-76-73--224
Gabrielle Macdonald 79-75-79--233
Eilidh Briggs 80-NC-NC--NC
42. Venezuela (VEN) - 153 OC-153 IC-155 IC--461
Maria Andreina Merchan 75-76-75--226
Ariadna Fonseca 78-78-80--236
Nicole Ferre 81-77-80--238
43. Slovakia (SVK) - 151 OC-153 IC-159 IC--463
Natalia Heckova 74-76-78--228
Lea Klimentova 81-77-81--239
Aneta Abrahamova 77-83-81--241
44. Turkey (TUR) - 155 OC-157 IC-155 IC--467
Elcin Ulu 78-79-76--233
Damla Bilgic 77-78-82--237
Sena Ersoy 84-79-79--242
45. Portugal (POR) - 167 OC-154 IC-157 IC--478
Susana Mendes Ribeiro 80-83-79--242
Leonor Bessa 88-78-78--244
Ines Barbosa 87-76-84--247
46. Bolivia (BOL) - 162 OC-165 IC-163 IC--490
Tamara Paz 81-83-81--245
Michelle Ledermann 81-82-82--245
47. Guam (GUM) - 164 OC-168 IC-160 IC--492
Kristin Oberiano 82-82-78--242
Nalathai Vongjalorn 82-86-82--250
Rachael Peterson 91-88-86--265
48. Serbia (SRB) - 171 OC-174 IC-176 IC--521
Ariana Savic 79-88-85--252
Tamara Palkovljevic 92-86-91--269
49. Gabon (GAB) - 183 OC-198 IC-181 IC--562
Lea Ndjobouela 87-91-85--263
Corine Beyeme 96-107-96--299
50. Ukraine (UKR) - 185 OC-196 IC-183 IC--564
Galyna Zagorodnia 87-91-92--270
Mariia Pedenko 98-106-91--295
Valeriia Sapronova 103-105-105--313