Wie, Defending Champion Park Advance

At U.S. Girls’ Junior

 

Fairfield, Conn. – Michelle Wie, 13, of Honolulu, Hawaii, fought off a gritty performance by Blair Ressler, 16, of Bellingham, Wash., to win 3 and 2 and advance to the second round of match play at the 2003 U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship. Wie, the 2003 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links champion, will be joined in the second round by defending champion In-Bee Park, 15, of Eustis, Fla., who dispatched Lala Anai, 15, of Lexington, Mass., 6 and 5, at the 6,303-yard, par-71 Brooklawn Country Club. First round play ended with the final two matches unable to finish due to darkness. The previous 30 matches were completed.

 

Play was discontinued at 8:45 p.m. with Laura Luethke, 16 of Clovis, Calif., and Mandy Fricton, 17, of Merritt Island, Fla., all square after 18 holes. Tiffany Chudy, 17, of Miramar, Fla., led Alexandra Bodemann, 14, of Palm City, Fla., 1-up heading into the 18th hole. Both matches will resume Thursday at 7:20 a.m., prior to the start of the second round of match play at 7:30 a.m.

 

Wie jumped out to an early lead with birdies at the 181-yard, par-3 second hole; at the 420-yard, par-4 fourth; and at the par-5, 448-yard eighth. But Ressler, who plays left-handed, hung tough, matching Wie shot for shot with pars over the next five holes before applying the pressure with an 8-iron approach to within a foot at the 405-yard 14th. Wie conceded Ressler’s birdie putt, and when she missed her 20-foot birdie attempt, the match was back to 2-up in Wie’s favor.

 

Ressler has been guided throughout the championship by her caddie, sister Lauren, who herself competed in three U.S. Girls’ Junior Championships. She extended the match with a par at the 128-yard 15th, but a missed 8-foot putt for par to halve the 320-yard 16th shut the door on Ressler’s hopes for an upset.

 

“It was a good day for her,” said Wie. “She was hitting every shot perfectly. But I think I played great today and I’ve been hitting a lot of shots close to the hole all week.”

 

Wie, who made the cut at the 2003 U.S. Women’s Open at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club and is hoping to become the first competitor to win both the U.S. Girls’ Junior and U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links in the same season, said she draws on both experiences to help in her matches this week at Brooklawn Country Club.

 

“I like to bring back good memories,” said Wie. “Like making a putt when I was supposed to (at the Public Links). It gives me a lot of confidence going into the putt. Also, Pumpkin Ridge was really narrow, so this course seems really wide to me.”

 

In the second round, Wie will face Blair Lamb, 16, of Flat Rock, N.C., who won in 19 holes over Rebecca Kuhn, 17, of Miami, Fla.

 

In-Bee Park, who was the medalist by a stroke over Wie and Sukjin-Lee Wuesthoff, 16, of Toms River, N.J., found herself down early in her first round match with Lala Anai, whose miraculous 3-wood recovery shot to within three-feet in the playoff earned her the last spot in the match play field. But the Korean-born Park stormed back, winning seven straight holes, beginning with the par-5 eighth, to cap off a memorable day.

 

Following a self-described “crazy” morning round that included six birdies and five bogeys, Park once again displayed the consistency and power that led her to the title in 2002. After she bogeyed the 161-yard, par-3 fifth to give Anai a 1-up lead, the defending champion shot even-par over the remaining eight holes of play, hitting fairways and greens with machine-like regularity while her opponent struggled.

 

Park, the first player to be the win medalist honors in consecutive years since Brandie Burton did it three times from 1987 to ’89, will next play Marina Choi, a 17-year old from Los Angeles, Calif., who closed out her first round opponent, Kelly Jacques, 17, of Longmont, Colo., 5 and 4.

 

Also advancing to the second round of stroke play was 15-year-old Morgan Pressel, a two-time U.S. Women’s Open contestant from Boca Raton, Fla., who won 5 and 4 over Theresa Paik, 17, of Silver Spring, Md. Fellow U.S. Women’s Open competitors Jane Park, 16, of La Crescenta, Calif., and Paula Creamer, 16, of Pleasanton, Calif., also advanced to the second round of match play.

 

The U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship is one of 13 championships conducted annually by the United States Golf Association, 10 of which are strictly for amateurs. The U.S. Girls’ Junior is open to female amateur golfers who have not reached their 18 th birthday prior to the end of the championship and have a USGA Handicap Index of 18.4 or better.

 

 

Fairfield, Conn. – Results of today’s first round of match play from the 2003 U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship at the 6,303-yard, par-71 Brooklawn Country Club:

  

Upper Bracket:

In-Bee Park, Eustis, Fla. (140) def. Lala Anai, Lexington, Mass. (160), 6 and 5

Marina Choi, Los Angeles, Calif. (155) def. Kelly Jacques, Longmont, Colo. (155), 5 and 4

Naree Song, Korea (149) def. Megan Grehan, Mamaroneck, N.Y. (158), 3 and 2

Whitney Wade, Glasgow, Ky. (149) def. Marika Lendl, Goshen, Conn. (158), 5 and 4

Amanda Blumenherst, Scottsdale, Ariz. (147) def. Kristine Cook, Fishers, Ind. (159), 6 and 5

Laura Caniff, Russell, Ky. (156) def. Catherine Matranga, Fort Worth, Texas (153), 3 and 2

Catalina Marin, Colombia (147) def. Lorie Warren, Hendersonville, Tenn. (159), 8 and 6

Hsiao-Ching Lu, Chinese Taipei (153) def. Angela Park, Brazil (157), 3 and 1

Paula Creamer, Pleasanton, Calif. (142) def. Jenna Winokur, Wall Township, N.J. (159), 3 and 1

Valerie Tan, Malaysia (154) def. Jenna Pearson, Wheaton, Ill. (156), 4 and 2

Amie Cochran, Torrance, Calif. (148) def. Jennifer Hong, Windermere, Fla. (158), 6 and 4

Amanda Wilson, Hilo, Hawaii (151) def. Kimberly Donovan, Hopkinton, Mass. (157), 1 up

Julieta Granada, Paraguay (145) def. Mercede Lupinacci, Sandy, Utah (159), 5 and 4

Nicole Hage, Coral Springs, Fla. (156) def. Jessica Potter, Canada (154), 5 and 4

Catherina Wang, Sarasota, Fla. (158) def. Mallory Hetzel, Summerville, S.C. (148), 2 and 1

Grace Woo, Burbank, Calif. (151) def. Kim Shin, Shoreline, Wash. (157), 2 and 1

  

Lower Bracket:

Michelle Wie, Honolulu, Hawaii (141) def. Blair Ressler, Bellingham, Wash. (159), 3 and 2

Blair Lamb, Flat Rock, N.C. (155) def. Rebecca Kuhn, Miami, Fla. (154), 19 Holes   

Stephanie Kono, Honolulu, Hawaii (149) def. Sommer Scholl, Riverside, Calif. (158), 6 and 5

Morgan Pressel, Boca Raton, Fla. (150) def. Theresa Paik, Silver Spring, Md. (158), 5 and 4

Brittany Lang, McKinney, Texas (147) def. Jacqui Concolino, Orlando, Fla. (159), 2 and 1

Ashley Freeman, Belleville, Ill. (156) def. Sydney Burlison, Salinas, Calif. (153), 1 up

Mina Harigae, Monterey, Calif. (148) def. Taryn Durham, Glasgow, Ky. (158), 4 and 3

Ki-Shui Liao, Alameda, Calif. (152) def. Ashley Bickerton, Canada (157), 1 up

Sukjin-Lee Wuesthoff, Toms River, N.J. (141) def. Sara Hurwitch, Potomac Falls, Va. (159), 5 and 4

Songyi Yi, San Diego, Calif. (154) def. Lauren Mielbrecht, Gulf Stream, Fla. (155), 1 up

Jane Park, Oak Valley, Calif. (148) def. Tessa Teachman, Webster, N.Y. (158), 6 and 5

Juli Wightman, Chicopee, Mass. (150) def. Laura Mengelkamp, Dover, Pa. (158), 3 and 2

Esther Choe, La Quinta, Calif. (146) def. Carling Coffing, Middletown, Ohio (159), 5 and 4

Kelley Louth, Victoria, Texas (154) def. Michaela Cavener, Ponca City, Okla. (156), 2 up

Laura Luethke, Clovis, Calif. (148), vs. Mandy Fricton, Merritt Island, Fla., (158) (discontinued)

Tiffany Chudy, Miramar, Fla. (157) vs.Alexandra Bodemann, Palm City, Fla. (152) (discontinued)

 

Fairfield, Conn. – Pairings for Thursday’s second round of match play at the 2003 U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship, played at the 6,303-yard, par-71 Brooklawn Country Club (all times are Eastern):

 

Upper Bracket:

7:30 am    In-Bee Park, Eustis, Fla. (140) vs. Marina Choi, Los Angeles, Calif. (155)

7:38 am    Naree Song, Korea (149) vs. Whitney Wade, Glasgow, Ky. (149)

7:46 am    Amanda Blumenherst, Scottsdale, Ariz. (147) vs. Laura Caniff, Russell, Ky. (156)

7:54 am    Catalina Marin, Colombia (147) vs. Hsiao-Ching Lu, Chinese Taipei (153)

8:02 am    Paula Creamer, Pleasanton, Calif. (142) vs. Valerie Tan, Malaysia (154)

8:10 am    Amie Cochran, Torrance, Calif. (148) vs. Amanda Wilson, Hilo, Hawaii (151)

8:18 am    Julieta Granada, Paraguay (145) vs. Nicole Hage, Coral Springs, Fla. (156)

8:26 am    Catherina Wang, Sarasota, Fla. (158) vs. Grace Woo, Burbank, Calif. (151)

  

Lower Bracket:

8:34 am    Michelle Wie, Honolulu, Hawaii (141) vs. Blair Lamb, Flat Rock, N.C. (155)

8:42 am    Stephanie Kono, Honolulu, Hawaii (149) vs. Morgan Pressel, Boca Raton, Fla. (150)

8:50 am    Brittany Lang, McKinney, Texas (147) vs. Ashley Freeman, Belleville, Ill. (156)

8:58 am    Mina Harigae, Monterey, Calif. (148) vs. Ki-Shui Liao, Alameda, Calif. (152)

9:06 am    Sukjin-Lee Wuesthoff, Toms River, N.J. (141) vs. Songyi Yi, San Diego, Calif. (154)

9:14 am    Jane Park, Oak Valley, Calif. (148) vs. Juli Wightman, Chicopee, Mass. (150)

9:22 am    Esther Choe, La Quinta, Calif. (146) vs. Kelley Louth, Victoria, Texas (154)

9:30 am   Winners of Luethke (148)/Fricton (158) vs. Chudy (157)/Bodemann (152)