Medalist Anderson Continues Cinderella Run With Quarterfinal Win Over Tanco

Cangrejo, Chen, past U.S. Women's Amateur champion Kim also advance to semifinals

By David Shefter, USGA

Bedminster, N.J. – Warming up on the practice range Friday morning, Amy Anderson didn’t feel right. Perhaps it was a bit of nerves or just a hitch in her swing.

Medalist Amy Anderson turned her quarterfinal match against Victoria Tanco around by winning holes eight and nine. (John Mummert/USGA)

But when the 17-year-old Oxbow, N.D., resident arrived on the first tee at Trump National Golf Club’s New Course for her U.S. Girls’ Junior quarterfinal match with Victoria Tanco, she had no idea where that first drive might go.

Not exactly the kind of confidence one needs to beat the 2008 American Junior Golf Association Player of the Year, a young 15-year-old phenomenon who has already qualified for two U.S. Women’s Opens and made match play at last year’s U.S. Women’s Amateur.

Somehow, Anderson, the stroke-play qualifying medalist, worked out the kinks. A few hours later, she wrapped up a 2-and-1 victory, sending her to a Friday afternoon semifinal matchup with 16-year-old Luz Alejandra Cangrejo of Colombia. Cangrejo eliminated 17-year-old Kimberly Kaufman of Clark, S.D., 4 and 3, ending the bid for an all-Dakotas semi.

In the other two quarterfinal matchups, past U.S. Women’s Amateur champion Kimberly Kim, 17, of Hilo, Hawaii, eliminated Jennifer Johnson, 17, of La Quinta, Calif., and Chinese Taipei-born Doris Chen, 16, of Bradenton, Fla., ousted 13-year-old Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand, 3 and 2. Jutanugarn defeated defending champion Alexis Thompson Thursday afternoon.

“I tried to be confident,” said a beaming Anderson, who has taken the role of Cinderella this week despite being the top seed. “I knew I had fixed my putting from yesterday and I was kind of relying on that. I have strong faith in the Lord and I really believed he carried me through today.”

Few, if any, people knew of Anderson prior to this week. Her competitive golf season in North Dakota lasts about three months and the only national events she competes in are the U.S. Girls’ Junior and PGA Junior Championship, which will be played next week in Ohio. At home, she rarely plays an 18-hole round, preferring instead to practice.

“I know I don’t get to spend the same amount of time as the other girls,” said Anderson, who is headed to North Dakota State in the fall, where she’ll play on the school’s Division I women’s golf team. “[But] I work hard at it in the summer. It’s my full-time job in the summer.

“The nice thing is I don’t get burned out. I’m fired up when mid-summer comes. I am excited to play.”

	Luz Alejandra Cangrejo was solid in posting a 4-and-3 quarterfinal victory over Kimberly Kaufman on Friday. (John Mummert/USGA)

Anderson is bidding to become the first medalist to win the Girls’ Junior since Julieta Granada in 2004. She also would be the fourth golfer from North Dakota to claim a USGA championship, following Beverly Hanson (1950 U.S. Women’s Amateur), Michael Podolak (1984 U.S. Mid-Amateur) and Shane McManemy (1996 U.S. Junior Amateur).

Trailing by a hole going to No. 8, Anderson won two consecutive holes, including a conceded 2-foot birdie putt at the par-4 ninth when she stuffed a 7-iron approach from 143 yards. She never relinquished the lead, although Tanco let her off the hook at No. 12 when she three-putted. Anderson won holes 14 and 15 for a 3-up lead and two holes later, she took the match.

“I try not to think about the player’s accomplishments,” said Anderson, who knew Tanco owned a decorated résumé that included a victory at this year’s Rolex Tournament of Champions in Missouri three weeks ago. “I know I have nothing to compare to that. I just went out there and played my game.”

Cangrejo, who won the Colombian Women’s Amateur three years ago at 13, seized control of the match on the second nine, winning holes 10, 12 and 13 for a 4-up lead. But it was her short game on hole Nos. 4-7 that maintained her early momentum as she got up and down for par on all four holes, including a win on the fifth for a 1-up lead.

Even a three-putt bogey at the par-5 eighth and a poor greenside pitch on nine didn’t hurt Cangrejo, a Duke University verbal commitment for the Class of 2010. Kaufman missed par putts of 6 and 5 feet, respectively, to win those holes.

“That was an important moment of the round for my confidence,” said Cangrejo, bidding to become the third South American winner of this championship following Chile’s Nicole Perrot (2001) and Paraguay’s Granada (2004). “I’ve worked really hard for this. I think that’s the results of what I’ve been practicing.”

Her caddie, Clinton, N.J., resident Nick Post, said he’s been impressed with Cangrejo’s course management, even though she only got to play 13 holes on the New Course during Saturday’s scheduled practice round.

Cangrejo said her mental game is what’s been the biggest improvement from 2008, when she lost in the first round of the Girls’ Junior to eventual champion Thompson.

Last week, she skipped the McDonald’s Betsy Rawls Girls Championship in Malvern, Pa., to compete in a U.S. Women’s Amateur sectional qualifier. She failed to qualify, but could gain a spot by beating Anderson in the semifinals.

“That’s my motivation,” she said. “It totally is.”

Kim, competing in her sixth and final Girls’ Junior, and Johnson had a back-and-forth affair that was finally decided at the par-3 14th hole. Johnson hit two balls into the water and conceded Kim’s birdie putt. Kim maintained the 1-up advantage over the next four holes.

Kim, who at 14 became the youngest Women’s Amateur champion (2006), is now a win away from making the final match in three different USGA amateur competitions. Besides the Women’s Amateur triumph, she was the runner-up at the 2006 and 2009 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links. She also was a member of the victorious 2008 USA Curtis Cup team.

Chen played the equivalent of 1-over-par golf, with the usual match-play concessions, in beating Jutanugarn. The match was all square through eight when Chen took holes nine and 11 with pars for a 2-up lead. She closed out Jutanugarn with a winning bogey at No. 16.

David Shefter is a USGA Digital Media staff writer. E-mail him with questions or comments at dshefter@usga.org.