Puget Sound, Washington, United States: A common adage is that the golf ball doesn’t know the age of the person hitting it. That certainly applies to the first round of the 122nd US Women’s Amateur Championship at Chambers Bay, where Alice Zhao Ziyi, the second-youngest player in the field at 13 years, six months, shot a six-under-par 67 to take a one-stroke lead.
This is the first USGA championship for Zhao, who was born in Shenyang, China, and now lives in Irvine, California. She showed no sign of nerves, however.
Starting on number 10, Zhao carded six birdies over her first nine holes to make the turn in 30. She cooled off a bit after that with an even-par score on her inward nine but still topped a field of 156 that includes USGA champions, Curtis Cup team members and players who have competed at the highest levels of the game.
“Coming into today I didn’t really have any expectations,” said Zhao. “The course is really beautiful, and I just tried to enjoy my round and not think about shooting low. I know going into match play it is a whole different game. Even if you’re the 64 seed, you can still win. So I try not to think ahead too much.”
One stroke behind Zhao at five-under 68 is another Chinese-born Irvine resident, Angela Liu (Yilin), along with Americans Laney Frye and Casey Weidenfeld. Three more players are tied for fifth place at four-under 69: Kelsey Bennett and Maddison Hinson-Tolchard, both of Australia, and American Brooke Seay.
Bennett, runner-up in last year’s Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific, said: “Even through the practice rounds I just really enjoyed the course and felt like it set up well for my game. I hit it well off the tee, which is key around here. I did slip up and make a double on number eight but I managed to get [the strokes] back.”
Of the other Asia-Pacific representatives, Thai Taglao Jeeravivitaporn is tied eighth after a 70, followed by Chinese Taipei’s Yu Han-hsuan (tied 12th, 71); Japan’s Sera Hasegawa and world number six Tsubasa Kajitani, and Nicole Abelar of the Philippines (tied 21st, 72); Japan’s Saki Baba (tied 29th, 73); Nika Ito of Japan (tied 45th, 74); and Chinese Taipei’s Lin Hsin-tai (tied 63rd, 75).
The low 64 scorers after 36 holes will advance to match play. Those who need a low second round to give themselves a chance include Australian Justice Bosio; China’s Li Jieni; Korean Park Bo-hyun; New Zealander Fiona Xu and Tomi Arejola of the Philippines (all tied 78th, 76); China’s Guo Yixian, Rianne Mikhaela Malixi of the Philippines and Chinese Taipei’s Chen Ching-tzu (all tied 96th, 77); Malaysian Audrey Tan (tied 128th, 79) and Thai Tunrada Piddon (tied 147th, 82).
Chambers Bay, a municipal course built on the site of a former gravel quarry overlooking Puget Sound, is known for its sloping fairways and challenging green complexes. Many players are seeing it for the first time, and they emphasised the importance of hitting to the proper sides of greens and staying out of the tall, wispy fescue rough.
“Everything went pretty well, including my putting,” said Liu. “I was pretty concerned about the greens because they are very sloped, but it worked out because my approach shots were really good, so I didn’t have to worry too much.”
Frye, a University of Kentucky teammate of defending champion Jensen Castle, put in some extra work leading into the championship.
“It’s amazing. I came here Thursday so I could walk it on Friday,” she said. “I played 18 on Saturday and 18 on Sunday. I might be dragging later for it, but I love the course. I could play it a million times.”
Castle began her title defense with an even-par 73, good for a tie for 29th. Other notable players who scored par or better include a number of players who were on the 2021 and/or 2022 USA Curtis Cup teams: Rachel Kuehn (70), Megha Ganne (71), Latanna Stone (71), Amari Avery (72) and Rachel Heck (73).
Seven-time USGA champion Ellen Port, who at 60 is the second-oldest player in the field, birdied her last two holes to shoot a 74, good for a tie for 45th place.
