Nairn, Scotland: Jazy Roberts and Mannat Brar bowed out of The 122nd Women’s Amateur Championship with heads held high after courageous performances at Nairn.
On a bright, balmy and breezy Friday afternoon, Australian Roberts and Indian Brar both suffered narrow defeats in the Round of 16 after tightly-fought tussles.
While Roberts lost two-down to England’s Isla McDonald-O’Brien, Brar was edged out on the final green by Spain’s Paula Francisco.
Earlier in the day, both Asia-Pacific representatives had progressed from the Round of 32, Roberts overcoming Scotland’s Jennifer Saxton (4&2) and Brar seeing off Ireland’s Rebekah Gardner at the 21st hole of a tense encounter.
Thanks to her triumph over Brar, Francisco has set up an all-Spanish quarter-final showdown against Paula Martin Sampedro.
Francisco and Martin Sampedro both earned their last-eight places the hard way as they were pushed the full distance.
Francisco, the 19-year-old who finished third in last season’s Spanish Amateur Championship, mounted a spirited comeback in her morning match against the number one seed Jasmine Koo of America, overturning a four-hole deficit with just seven to play before winning on the 19th.
In her last-16 duel with Indian Brar, it was Francisco who had to fend off a fightback having been three-up through 10 holes.
A birdie from the defiant Brar on the 15th squared the match but Francisco stuck a decisive blow on the 18th with a neatly executed putt from the back of the green which led to a match-winning birdie.
Francisco and Martin Sampedro, aiming to join the likes of Carlota Ciganda and Azahara Munoz as Spanish winners of The Women’s Amateur Championship, have played together as team-mates for Spain but today’s encounter on Scottish soil will be their first against each other.
McDonald-O’Brien, with her dad, Andy, acting as caddie, will carry English hopes in the last-eight after repelling the challenge of Australian Roberts.
McDonald-O’Brien, who beat the world number seven Catherine Park 3&2 in the last-32, will now face Italy’s former World Junior Champion Caterina Don, a one-hole winner over France’s Camille Min-Gaultier.
The remaining quarter-final ties see American Farah O’Keefe, the world number eight, squaring up to Marie Eline Madsen of Denmark and US Curtis Cup player Anna Davis facing Tillie Claggett of Canada.
Claggett ended the hopes of Scotland’s Hannah Darling, a two-time semi-finalist, with a 3&2 win, while Davis beat Sweden’s Ebba Nordstedt by one hole in the last-16.
The winner of this year’s championship gains entry to the AIG Women’s Open, The Amundi Evian Championship, the US Women’s Open, the Chevron Championship and, by tradition, will earn an invitation to compete at the Augusta National Women's Amateur.
The R&A is providing live stream video coverage of today’s quarter-finals and semi-finals and tomorrow’s 36-hole final (plus highlights) on R&A TV and The R&A’s YouTube channel.
