Semi-Finalist Saki Savouring American Adventure

Puget Sound, Washington, United States: After arriving in the US in May, 17-year-old Japanese Saki Baba has shown an affinity for American golf.

She made the cut in the US Women’s Open (tied 49th), was stroke play medallist and reached the Round of 32 at the US Girls’ Junior and now is into the final four of the US Women’s Amateur at Chambers Bay.

“Being able to play in the States is so different from what I’ve been playing, so that’s what made me happy,” said Baba, the first player from Japan to reach the semi-finals since Michiko Hattori in 1988.

During Friday’s quarter-final, Baba shone brightly to defeat 21-year-old American Lauren Lehigh, 4&3.

After the players tied the first five holes, Baba made four straight birdies – including a chip-in on the seventh – to pull away from Lehigh. Her lead reached five-up after a highlight-reel approach on the 281-yard par-four 12th, where she spun a wedge from 118 yards into the hole for an eagle.

“Lauren’s drive went to a really good position,” said Baba through a translator. “I just had to make that birdie. That’s where I aimed it, and I didn’t expect it to go in.”

Baba’s opponent in Saturday’s semi-final round will be fellow 17-year-old Bailey Shoemaker, who defeated fellow-American Leigh Chien, 5&3.

Like Baba, Shoemaker tied for 49th at the US Women’s Open, and just three weeks ago made a run to the quarter-finals of the US Girls’ Junior. In April, she was runner-up with partner Kaitlyn Schroeder in the US Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship in Puerto Rico.

While she didn’t have her best stuff on Friday, making only one birdie compared with the eight-under golf she played in defeating future USC teammate Amari Avery in the Round of 16, the high school senior used crisp ball-striking and timely putting to defeat Chien.

“Pars are your friend, especially on a day like this with tough conditions,” said Shoemaker. “The wind was up and the greens were faster, too. It was good to be able to just get by. I’m still confident.”

In the first quarter-final match, Annabel Wilson of Ireland was seeking to continue her winning formula: birdie the par-five first hole and build an insurmountable lead, this time against American Catherine Rao.

Wilson did win the first hole, with a par, but Rao got it back at the third hole and the two were tied for most of the match until Wilson was able to win holes 15, 16 and 17 to clinch the 3&1 victory.

“It’s the first time I’ve ever played this course in the wind, and it really picked up on the back nine,” said Wilson, a 21-year-old UCLA senior. “It becomes a completely different strategy. I had to adapt, and I did that well out there.”

The match between American Brianna Navarrosa and Canadian Monet Chun was tight throughout and included some memorable late fireworks. The players were tied when they reached the par-three 17th hole, where Chun struck the shot of the championship by holing a delicate bunker shot for birdie to take a one-up lead heading to 18. Navarrosa poured in a gutsy birdie putt to win that hole and extend the match.

The players moved on to play the par-four 10th (19th hole of the match), and Navarrosa found trouble off the tee while Chun striped a drive and hit an approach to the middle of the green to seal the victory.

“That was a pretty exciting last couple holes there, and it was definitely intense,” said Chun, who won the Canadian Women’s Amateur this summer. Chun will play Wilson in the first semi-final match on Saturday.