Lau's Hopes Blown Away in Stiff Scottish Breezes

Muirfield, Scotland: Arianna Lau saw a four-hole lead evaporate as her hopes of reaching the quarter-finals at the 123rd Women’s Amateur Championship were blown away at Muirfield.

Having breezed past England’s Isla McDonald-O’Brien 2&1 in the Round of 32 on Thursday morning, Lau was in positive mood as she teed-off against Belgium’s Savannah De Bock in the afternoon.

With her opponent struggling at the outset, the Hong Kong, China standout raced into a four-up lead through six holes. But with the wind picking up, the fog rolling in and temperatures dropping on the East Lothian coast, the momentum changed quickly when Lau lost the seventh and eighth, halving her advantage.

From that point, De Bock seized the initiative, eventually eking out a 2&1 win that saw her progress to the last eight.

De Bock said: “I think we were both surprised by the wind. I struggled quite a bit at the start, then I got a little better. It was a tough match (against Arianna) and not in the way we like it. It was just very challenging for both of us.

“I was four-down and I was like: ‘Now let's get back because that's not acceptable’. I was just so mad. Unfortunately, that led to more bad shots. In the end I figured that it was time to put my mind towards playing golf and stop being mad. So that's what I did and it ended up being fine.”

On what proved to be a disappointing day for the Asia-Pacific qualifiers, the three Australians who made it through the stroke play segment were all eliminated in the Round of 32.

While Grace Rho was outplayed, going down 4&3 to American Morgan Ketchum, Jazy Roberts and Kirra St-Laurent both suffered the anguish of losing out in extra-time after courageous performances.

Roberts, who was the leading Australian performer last year when she reached the third round, was edged out at the 19th hole by England’s Lauren Crump.

St-Laurent, meanwhile, came close to pulling off one of the biggest upsets of the week against American Farah O’Keefe, third in the World Amateur Golf Ranking.

St-Laurent, a student at Southern Methodist University, was all square through 18 holes with O’Keefe. The duo then halved three holes in a row before O’Keefe prevailed with a birdie at the 22nd hole.

The winner of this year’s Women's Amateur championship gains entry to the AIG Women’s Open at Royal Lytham & St Annes, the US Women’s Open presented by Ally, The Amundi Evian Championship, 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 coverage of the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final (plus highlights) on R&A TV and The R&A’s YouTube channel.