Semifinal Matches Are Set At U.S. Girls' Junior

Fort Worth, Texas – The field of the 56th U.S. Girls Junior, being held the at the scenic 6,256-yard, par-71 Mira Vista Golf Club, was pared to four players Thursday after the completion of the third and quarterfinal rounds of match play.

Medalist Julieta Granada, 17, of Paraguay, and 16-year-old Hsiao-Ching Lu of Chinese Taipei advanced to Friday's semifinal. So did two members of the victorious 2004 USA Curtis Cup team, 17-year-olds Paula Creamer of Pleasanton, Calif., and Jane Park of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.

Hsiao-Ching Lu will be looking for revenge when she meets Jane Park in Friday's semifinal match. (Sam Greenwood/USGA)

Granada will face Creamer, the second straight year they'll meet in match play. A year ago at Brooklawn Country Club in Fairfield, Conn., Granada lost 1-up to Creamer in the quarterfinals. It's the second consecutive semifinal appearance for Creamer, who lost to In-Bee Park 3 and 2 last year. For the others, Friday marks the first time any of them have advanced so deep in the championship. All have at least made it to the quarterfinals.

“It's going to be a battle of pars and birdies,” said Creamer after defeating Selanee Henderson, 17, of Apple Valley, Calif., 3 and 2.

Said Granada, who eliminated 14-year-old Esther Choe of La Quinta, Calif., 3 up: “I'm not going to think about what happened last year. This is a new year, a new day, and I'm just going to try to give 100 percent of every shot and see what happens.”

The second match offers another chance for redemption. Earlier this year Park disposed of Lu in the first round of the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links.

Should Creamer and Park both advance to the final, it would be a rematch of the U.S. Women's Amateur semifinal from a year ago, when Park won 2 and 1.

On another sun-soaked afternoon that touched off at 96 degrees, Park and 16-year-old Morgan Pressel of Boca Raton, Fla., represented the marquee match of the day. The match, fraught with intensity, went down to the wire, with Park winning 1 up.

Two years ago at Echo Lake Country Club in Westfield, N.J., the two had met in the third round, with Park getting the upper hand in 21 holes. It was a seesaw battle Friday, with the largest margin never exceeding two holes.

On the par-5 11th , which features a split fairway, Pressel squared the match when Park lost her ball in a creek. An ensuing penalty cost Park, affording Pressel an advantage of three-putting from 10 feet. Pressel didn't need to once Park conceded after chipping into a right greenside bunker.

The match remained all square until the two traded holes on 15 and 16. Then on the 17th , another par 5, Park first had a chance at an eagle before sinking an 8-footer for birdie that forced Pressel into a must-make situation from 5 feet above the hole. Pressel missed, bent over and buried her face in anguish.

“When I left the eagle putt short, I called myself an idiot,” said Park, who defeated Lu in the first match at this year's U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links.

Park, playing in her fourth Girls' Junior, realizes Lu will be looking to exact revenge. Either way, she said everyone left has the figurative bulls-eye on their backs.

Jane Park, last year's U.S. Women's Amateur runner-up, had never advanced past the quarterfinal round at the Girls' Junior until Thursday. (Sam Greenwood/USGA)

“All of us in the final four have that title,” said Park. “I'll tell you the truth, when I was 13 … I went against Brittany Lang and I was an underdog. My cousin said, ‘You've got to take her down.' I did, but now I feel like I'm Brittany Lang.”

In the last match Friday, Lu registered a 2-and-1 victory over 14-year-old Mina Harigae of Monterey, Calif. Earlier in the day, Harigae had ousted defending champion Sukjin-Lee Wuesthoff, 5 and 4.

“I'm not disappointed as much because I tried my best,” said Wuesthoff, who was trying to join Judy Eller (1957-58) and Hollis Stacy (1969-71) as those to successfully defend. “Some days things don't work out.”

Lu played steady golf on the back nine, winning the 13th and 14th holes with birdies.

“I didn't have too many expectations even though I was a quarterfinalist last year,” said Lu. “But I thought if I tried my best, we'd see what happens.”

In Granada's case, she quietly continues her surge toward the title having never trailed in any of her matches. Against Choe, Granada took a 3-up lead at the turn while playing the front 4-under-par 31. Choe cut it to a two-hole deficit by the 14th hole, but Granada quickly gained it back with a par on No. 15.

From this point on, Granada said, “Every match it gets tougher and tougher now.”

And it can't get any tougher than having to square off again with Creamer, the nation's top junior. But that's if Creamer can get her putting solved.

She bogeyed six holes and ultimately lost four of them because of it. After 10 holes the match was squared. Creamer won No. 11, then wrested control in eventful fashion on the dogleg left par-4 13th hole.

Creamer short-putted a 4-footer for par, but it didn't matter because Henderson double-bogeyed.

“I should have won that match a lot earlier than what I did,” said Creamer. “I just could not putt this afternoon. It just wasn't there. It happens.”

The semifinal round of the 2004 U.S. Girls' Junior will be played Friday, and the 18-hole championship final is scheduled for Saturday.

The U.S. Girls' Junior is one of 13 national championships for individuals conducted annually by the United States Golf Association, 10 of which are strictly for amateurs.

Ken Klavon is the USGA Web Editor. E-mail him with questions or comments at kklavon@usga.org .

Results

Fort Worth, Texas – Results from the third and quarterfinal rounds of match play Thursday at the 2004 U.S. Girls' Junior Championship at the 6,256-yard, par-71 Mira Vista Golf Club:

Round of 16

Upper Bracket

Julieta Granada, Paraguay (138) def. Sooji Cho, Glendale, Calif. (154), 8 and 7

Esther Choe, La Quinta, Calif. (148) def. Jennie Lee, Huntington Beach, Calif. (143), 5 and 3

Paula Creamer, Pleasanton, Calif. (140) def. Grace Woo, Burbank, Calif. (145), 5 and 3

Selanee Henderson, Apple Valley, Calif. (149) def. Jennifer Hong, Windermere, Fla. (154), 3 and 2

Lower Bracket

Morgan Pressel, Boca Raton, Fla. (150) def. Maria Jose Uribe, Colombia (147), 3 and 2

Jane Park, Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. (143) def. Taylor Leon, Dallas, Texas (142), 2 and 1

Hsiao-Ching Lu, Chinese Taipei (150) def. Marika Lendl, Goshen, Conn. (154), 1 up

Mina Harigae, Monterey, Calif. (148) def. Sukjin-Lee Wuesthoff, Toms River, N.J. (142), 5 and 4

Round of 8

Upper Bracket

Granada def. Choe, 3 and 2

Creamer def. Henderson, 3 and 2

Lower Bracket

Park def. Pressel, 1 up

Lu def. Harigae, 2 and 1

Fort Worth, Texas – Pairings for the semifinal round of match play Friday at the 2004 U.S. Girls' Junior Championship at the 6,256-yard, par-71 Mira Vista Golf Club:

Round of 4

Upper Bracket

8:30 a.m.          Julieta Granada, Paraguay (138) vs. Paula Creamer, Pleasanton, Calif. (140)

Lower Bracket

8:45 p.m.          Jane Park, Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. (143) vs. Lu Hsiao-Ching, Chinese Taipei (150)

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