Bandon, Oregon, United States: Asia-Pacific standouts Arianna Lau, Eila Galitsky and Ella Scaysbrook have continued their brilliant runs at the 125th US Women’s Amateur.
Hong Kong’s Lau, Thai Galitsky and Australian Scaysbrook made light of strong winds at Bandon Dunes to book their places in the quarter-finals with high-class performances. All three players won two matches on Thursday to confirm their spots in the last eight.
Having eliminated top seed and defending champion Rianne Malixi of the Philippines in the Round of 64 on Wednesday, Lau was in imperious form on Thursday. In the Round of 32 she brushed aside the challenge of Emilia (Migliaccio) Doran 4&2. Doran was the lone mid-amateur to qualify for match play at Bandon Dunes and is also working as an on-course reporter at the championship. A few hours after being eliminated by Lau, Doran was interviewing the Hong Kong player near the 14th green as part of the Golf Channel broadcast.
In her afternoon match, 17-year-old Lau, a two-time winner of the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC) Junior Girls’ title, swept past Carolina Lopez-Chacarra, winning 5&4 against the Spaniard who is 15th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), 35 places above her.
It was the second time this year that incoming Northwestern University freshman Lau has got the better of Chacarra. In January’s Patsy Hankins Trophy in the United Arab Emirates, Lau and Korean Jeong Min-seo defeated Chacarra and Austrian Emma Bunch 2&1 in the opening-day foursomes, setting the Asia-Pacific team on track for a commanding victory against their European rivals in the Solheim Cup-style event.
“I knew par was a good score because it's very hard to make birdies in the wind,” said Lau. “I was just hoping to get a spot in match play. I just really cherish this opportunity to play such a good event and just learn, just play, perform well. I'm really excited.”
Lau is the first number 64 seed to reach the quarter-finals since Kandi Kessler in 1984, a year before the USGA went to true seeding based on stroke play scores. That year, Kessler did not have the highest stroke play score among the 64 qualifiers.
A 64 seed has never won a USGA title; Alexandra Frazier (2010 US Senior Women’s Amateur) and Aliea Clark (2021 US Women’s Mid-Amateur) each lost in championship matches.
Galitsky was also a member of this year's winning APGC Patsy Hankins Trophy team, stamping her mark with a singles success against England’s Lottie Woad, then number one in the WAGR and now playing on the LPGA Tour with a maiden professional win already under her belt.
On Thursday at Bandon Dunes, Galitsky beat fellow-Thai Pimchompoo ‘Pinky’ Chaisilprungruang 3&2 in the Round of 32 and then outlasted American Natalie Yen in a tense Round of 16 clash, ending the hopes of the Oregonian winning a second USGA title in 2025. Yen, an incoming Texas A&M freshman who claimed the US Women’s Amateur Four-Ball in May with fellow Oregonian Asia Young, battled the long-hitting number three seed to the final hole. After Yen made her putt for four on the par-five 18th, Galitsky answered from five feet to secure the one-up win.
For her part, Scaysbrook, 110th in the WAGR, produced two outstanding performances, despatching Americans Avery Weed (Round of 32) and WAGR number 10 Jasmine Koo (Round of 16) both by 4&3 margins.
Scaysbrook is bidding to become the second 63 seed to win the US Women’s Amateur after Jensen Castle achieved the feat in 2021 at Westchester Country Club, in Rye, New York. Two other 63 seeds have won USGA titles: Clay Ogden (2005 US Amateur Public Links) and Steven Fox (2012 US Amateur).
In Friday’s quarter-finals, Lau will take on Brooke Biermann, who edged past Chinese Taipei’s Cindy Hsu Huai-chien on the 19th hole in the Round of 16. Biermann missed a two-foot putt on 18 to close out Hsu. But the 2025 Michigan State graduate mentally recovered to triumph on the 19th hole, making a much more difficult seven-footer for a match-winning par.
In the Round of 32, Hsu, another Patsy Hankins Trophy participant, had defeated China's Xu Ying 2&1.
Galitsky, winner of the 2023 Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific and currently seventh in the WAGR, will face 11th ranked Megha Ganne, while Scaysbrook is up against Canadian Taylor Kehoe who pipped American Rayee Feng at the 23rd hole of an epic Round of 16 match. Feng eliminated Australian Jazy Roberts, one-up, in the Round of 32.
Should Galitsky and Scaysbrook both win on Friday they would come up against each other in Saturday’s semi-final.
If Lau progresses, she would clash with the winner of the fourth quarter-final, an all-American affair between WAGR number one Kiara Romero and left-handed Lyla Louderbaugh.