Lauren Greenlief (VSGA photo)
Eight women remain on the Women’s Southern Amateur bracket after another day of play at Lockwood Folly Golf Club in Holden Beach, N.C. Lauren Greenlief, arguably the favorite in this field as a past USGA champion, is among them after winning her second-round match over Anna Morgan by a 2-and-1 margin.
Greenlief, who won the 2015 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur and has decided to reinvest in her game this season by taking a four-month leave from her job, is the No. 2 seed on the bracket. She tied Rachel Kuehn with 3-under 69 for 18 holes of stroke-play qualifying. Kuehn fell in the first round of match play.
Greenlief meets Hannah Berman, a Jacksonville State junior, in the next round.
Carol Pyon, runner-up at last week’s Georgia Women’s Match Play, defeated Kuehn. She won another match on Tuesday, this time against Chandler Rosholt.
Interestingly, Pyon will meet Megan Schofill in the next round. Schofill, a top Florida junior who is headed to Auburn in the fall, defeated Pyon the Georgia Match Play final.
Calynne Rosholt and Kennedy Swann will face off on Thursday, and so will Emma Whitaker and Paris Hilinski.
JUNE 4 RECAP
In the first match-play round of the Women’s Southern Amateur, one co-medalist fell and one advanced. At the top of the bracket, Rachel Kuehn, an incoming Wake Forest freshman, fell to Carol Pyon, 1 up. In the No. 2 spot, former U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion Lauren Greenlief prevailed.
Greenlief advanced by defeating Abby Hermann, 4 and 2. The Southern Amateur, played this week at Lockwood Folly Golf Club in Holden Beach, N.C., marks the start of a devoted golf summer for Greenlief. The 28-year-old Virginia resident told the USGA last month that she would take a four-month leave from her job to devote herself fully to the game.
The former University of Virginia walk-on is ranked just inside the top 500 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, and named goals as making the 2020 U.S. Curtis Cup team and qualifying for the Augusta National Women’s Amateur next year.
Related: Greenlief's balancing act
Greenlief’s summer will also include the North & South, the Eastern Amateur, the Ladies National Golf Association Championship (formerly the Trans-National) and the inaugural Donna Andrews Invitational in her home state.
Other notable match winners in Tuesday’s first round included recent Georgia Women’s Match Play winner Megan Schofill, Mercer’s Payton Schanen, who won the 2016 Georgia Women’s Amateur.
ABOUT THE
Women's Southern Amateur
36 holes of qualifying followed by the top 32
advancing to a match play tournament. Open and
Mid-Amateur divisions. Entry is open to female
amateur golfers who are members of the WSGA
through a WSGA
member golf club, women’s golf organization, or a
college/university in one of the fifteen southern
states or
the District of Columbia.
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