No Lead -- or Seed -- Is Safe on Day 2 of Matches at U.S. Women's Amateur

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LOS ANGELES -- Eight of the top 10 seeds and four of the top five at the U.S. Women's Amateur Championship made it through the Round of 64 on Wednesday. As a general rule, the second round (Round of 32) is the one where more of the high seeds start getting picked off, and that was the case on Thursday at Bel-Air Country Club. None of the top five seeds got through the Round of 32.

The No. 1 seed, Briana Chacon, who set a tournament record by shooting 131 (66-65) in stroke-play qualifying, barely survived her Round of 64 match. She won it on the 19th hole. But she didn't make it to the 17th tee Thursday morning, as the soon-to-be fifth-year senior at the University of Oregon lost 4&2 to the No. 32 seed, Catie Craig, who will be a junior at Western Kentucky this fall. 

Andrea Lignell, the Swede who claimed the No. 2 seed with a 133 in qualifying, was already gone. She was the one top-5 seed who lost in the first round, 4&3 to No. 63 Charlotte Canntonis. Cantonnis then lost 3&2 to No. 34 Lauren Lehigh on Thursday morning, and Nos. 3, 4 and 5 were also dismissed. The most notable of those departures might have been Gianna Clemente's. She's only 15 years old, but she's had a very successful summer. Clemente made it to the semifinals of the U.S. Girls Junior in July and won the PGA's nantional junior tournament by three strokes last week. She was third in the stroke-play qualifying at Bel-Air CC, with 69-65--134, and she beat the 2021 U.S. Women's Am champion, Jensen Castle, 4&3 in the Round of 64. But she was beaten 4&3 Thursday morning by No. 30 Anne Chen.

No. 4 Katie Cranston, a Canadian, was 5 under par for her last three holes in qualifying -- eagle, eagle, birdie -- and she won 3&2 in the Round of 64. But she lost 3&2 to No. 29 Yana Wilson in her second match. Wilson, 17,  is another junior with impressive credentials. She won the U.S. Girls Junior crown in 2022 and was the medalist in qualifying at the Girls Junior this year. And it appeared that Wilson was going to cruise through the Round of 16 when she won four consecutive holes and went 5 up after sevenagainst No. 45 Latanna Stone.

Stone, a grad student at LSU, was still 4 down after 12 holes. She won the par-3 13th with a par and the par-5 14th and par-4 15th with birdies, which reduced the deficit she faced to 1 down, and she evened the match by winning the 393-yard, par-4 18th with a par. The first extra hole was No. 1, a 490-yard par 5. Wilson,who has committed to Oregon for 2024, was well short of the green in two and made a par. Stone was on the green in two and left her eagle putt a mere 18 inches from the cup. Some people were slightly surprised that Wilson didn't concede the birdie putt, but she turned out to be right in her refusal to concede -- because Stone missed the putt. 

Srone and her putter redeemed themselves on the second extra hole (No. 2, 389 yards, par 4), however, when she made and 25-footer for birdie to win the match.

There was a lot of drama late in the Round of 16 matches Thursday afternoon -- three of the eight went extra holes, and another one was decided on the 18th hole -- but none had a more dramatic 18th hole than than the match between No. 6 Megan Schofill and the No. 32 seed, Australian Caitlin Pierce. Schofill came to the 18th 1 up, but she flared her drive to the right and wound up with a horrible lie. Barely able to see her ball, even while standing right above it, she had to hack it back into the fairway, and still had more than 130 yards lfet for her third shot. She managed to make a 15-foot putt for a sensational par, but Pierce made a 12-footer for birdie.

With that, Pierce sent the match into overtime, but Schofill won it on the first extra hole. She hit a gorgeous second shot to the green on the par 5, and after Pierce three-putted for a bogey, Schofill made a 5-footer for her birdie.

Schofill will be playing for Auburn as a grad student during the 2023-24 college season, and her quarterfinal opponent on Friday morning will be the Tigers' prize recruit for 2023 -- Anna Davis, the No. 46 seed. Davis is only 17, but she's No. 5 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, and she already has a Wikipedia page. She won the Augusta National Women's Amateur in 2022, finishing one shot ahead of Ingrid Lindblad -- and Latanna Stone. Davis was second in the U.S. Girls Junior stroke-play qualifying this summer and made it to the Round of 16 before she was beaten by Clemente. 

Davis, whose twin brother, Billy, made it to the semifinals of the U.S. Boys Junior Championship this summer -- and is caddying for Anna this week -- avenged that loss to Clemente on Thursday, after a fashion. She beat Anne Chen in the. Round of 16 -- after Chen beat Clemente in the Round of 32.

In addition to Schofill, there are two other top-10 seeds still alive Thursday evening. No. 7 Hailey Borja, soon to be a fifth-year senior at Michigan, won 1 up in the Round of 64, over No. 58 seed Megan Meng, and 1 up again over No. 39 Sara Im in the Round of 32. In the Round of 16, she was 4 up after seven holes against No. 55 Bailey Shoemaker, but Shoemaker cut that lead to 2 up by making birdies at the 390-yard, par-4 11th hole and the 264-yard, par-4 12th. Borja went 3 up with a par at the par-5 14th, then made X and lost the par-4 15th hole, but she closed Shoemaker out, 3&2, by winning the 155-yard, par-3 16th with a par.

There was one Round of 16 match pitting two players with top-10 seeds, and No. 9 Rachel Heck won it, 4&3 over No. 8 Nikki Oh. Heck, who won the NCAA individual championship in 2021, her freshman year at Stanford, was 1 under through 11 holes, and 5 up on Oh. She lost the short, par-4 12th to Oh's birdie, and she bogeyed the par-3 13th and the par-4 15th. But Oh bogyed them, too.  
 


U.S. Women's Amateur Championship

At Bel-Air Country Club 

Par 70, 6,155 yards

Los Angeles

Stroke Play results (the top 64 finishers in stroke play will begin the match-play part of the tournament Wednesday morning)

1. Briana Chacon, Whittier, Calif.                66-65--131
 
2. Andrea Lignell, Sweden                           68-65--133

3. Gianna Clemente, Estero, Fla.                69-65--134

4. Katie Cranston, Canada                          67-68--135

T5. Caroline Canales, Calabasas, Calif.      66-70--136

T5. Hailey Borja, Lake Forest, Calif.            68-68--136

T5. Megan Schofill, Monticello, Fla.             70-66--136

T8. Rachel Heck, Memphis, Tenn.               70-67--137

T8. Nikki Oh, Torrance, Calif.                      69-68--137

T8. Malia Nam, Kailua, Hawaii                    68-69--137

Cut -- 144 (There was a 10-way tie at 144; so there will be a 10-for-9 playoff Wednesday morning.)

Bella McCauley, Inver Grove Heights       72-74--146

Grace Curran, New Lennox, Ill.                 73-74--147

Emma Groom, Eden Prairie                       73-75--148

Emma Carpenter, Dekalb, Ill.                      76-73--149

Megan Furtney, St. Charles, Ill.                  77-78--155

Natalie Young, Rapid City, S.D.                  88-87--175


Match Play

Round of 64

No. 1 Chacon def. No. 64 Olivia Duan 19 holes

No. 63 Charlotte Canntonis def. No. 2 Lignell 4&3

No. 3 Clemente def. No. 62 Jensen Castle 4&3

No. 4 Cranston def. No. 61 Brooke Rivers 3&2

No. 5 Canales def. No. 60 Bentley Cotton 1 up

No. 6 Schofill def. No. 59 Jackie Ragowicz 7&6

No. 7 Borja def. No. 58 Megan Meng 1 up

No. 8 Oh def. No. 57 Ching-Tzu Chen 2&1

No. 9 Heck def. No. 56 Sera Hasegawa 21 holes

No. 55 Bailey Shoemaker def. No. 10 Nam  1 up

Round of 32

No. 32 Catie Craig def. No. 1 Chacon 4&2

No. 34 Lauren Leihigh def. No. 63 Cantonis 3&2

No. 30 Anne Chen def. No. 3 Clemente 4&3

No. 29 Yana Wilson def. No. 4 Cranston 2 up

No. 37 Taylor Riley def. No. 5 Canales 4&3

No. 6 Schofill def. No. 27 Kelly Xu 3&2

No. 7 Borja def. No. 39 Sara Im 1 up

No. 8 Oh def. No. 40 Laney Frye 1 up

No. 9 Heck def. No. 24 Rin Yoshida 4&2

No. 55 Shoemaker def. No. 23 Rianne Malixi 19 holes 

Round of 16

No. 16 Catherine Rao def. No. 32 Craig 19 holes 

No. 18 Kyra Ly def. No. 34 Lehigh 1 up

No. 46 Anna Davis def. No. 30 Chen 4&3

No. 45 Latanna Stone def. No. 29 Wilson 20 holes 

Np. 53 Thienna Huynh def. No. 37 Riley 4&3

No. 6 Schofill def. No. 54 Caitlin Pierce 19 holes 

No. 7 Borja def. No. 55 Shoemaker 3&2

No. 9 Heck def. No. 8 Oh 4&3


Quartrerfinals (Friday afternoon)

All times are PDT

2:10 p.m. -- No. 16 Rao vs. No. 9 Heck

2:20 p.m. -- No. 45 Stone vs. No. 53 Huynh

2:30 p.m. -- No. 18 Ly vs. No. 7 Borja

2:40 p.m. -- No. 46 Davis vs. No. 6 Schofill