Elite Eight yet to be finalized as weather delays and major upsets highlight wild start of Match Play
Northfield, Ill. (July 21, 2022)
Between two late afternoon rain delays and several major upsets, chaos ensued throughout the first two rounds of match play from the beginning to the end of the day.
In the first match, number 32 seed Annabelle Pancake, Zionsville, Ind. (151) upset Medalist Sadie Engelmann, Austin, Tex. (138) 2 & 1. Engelmann had a 3-up lead through eight holes, but Pancake stormed back and won five of the next six holes. Although Engelmann won the 16th to shorten her deficit to 1-down, Pancake won the 17th to secure her spot in the afternoon’s Sweet 16.
Pancake said she knew she would enjoy her morning match against her good friend, Engelmann.
“I just kind of kept thinking, ‘Keep doing what I'm doing and plugging away,” Pancake said. “The chips fall where they may. Whoever is supposed to make it is gonna make it so I was at peace knowing that if I'm supposed to make it I will and if not, then Sadie will do a great job.”
After four days on this course, Pancake feels the players are getting more acclimated to Sunset Ridge.
“We're getting used to the green speeds, how the ball reacts out of the rough,” she said. “That is the biggest adjustment I think because the rough just grabs the club when you hit it. So I think people are starting to kind of adjust to that and just get more comfortable.”
It took 19 holes for 17-seeded Casey Weidenfeld, Pembroke Pines, Fla. (149) to defeat 16-seeded Jocelyn Bruch, Carmel, Ind. (148). However, her championship run ended in the afternoon after losing to Pancake 5 & 4.
The number 25 seed Ashley Kozlowski, Littleton, Colo. (150) defeated number 8 seed Jennifer Rosenberg, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. (146) 2 & 1 in the morning and would duel the number 9 seed Chloe Schiavone, Jacksonville, Fla. (147). Schiavone triumphed over number 24 seed Jennifer Herbst, Australia (150) 1-up in the round of 32 and then went on to beat Kozlowski 4 & 2.
“I ended up going to 18 in the first match, which I think actually helped me because I was in that pressure situation early,” Schiavone said. “Then I went, I worked on a couple things for like 15 minutes, but because there was only 30 minutes in between the two matches I actually kind of just felt like playing the 19th hole. So I thought my momentum carried.”
Caroline Smith, Inverness, Ill. (150) number 28 seed, defeated number 5 seed Sky Sudberry, The Woodlands, TX (144) after 19 holes before facing number 21 seed Jackie Lucena, Chico, Calif. (149), who defeated the number 12 seed Rebecca Skoler, Needham, Mass. (148) 2-up. Smith won over Lucena 4 & 2.
The number 2 seed Rianne Mikhaela Malixi, Philippines (140) is the highest remaining competitor in the Elite Eight after defeating number 31 seed Megan Furtney, St. Charles, Ill. (151) 2 & 1 in the morning and 18-seeded Jo Hua Hung, Taiwan (149) 3 & 2 in the afternoon. Hung was coming off a win over 15-seeded Natasha Kiel, New Hope, Penn. (148) 2 & 1.
“It’s really different because you're not trying to beat the course, you're just trying to beat your opponent,” said Malixi on the difference with match play. “I want to change my game plan for tomorrow to just play my best game out there and not think about my opponent tomorrow. I mean, I feel great. I feel confident, especially my iron play. I just need to convert some putts to really move on to the next matches.”
In the afternoon rounds, four players had officially booked their tickets to Friday’s quarterfinals when the first of two weather delays occurred at 6 p.m. Within 15 minutes after the resumption of play, another air horn announced the second delay.
Defending Champion Marissa Wenzler, Dayton, Ohio (150) the number 26 seed, won her morning match against number 7 seed Emily Lauderbach, Hartford, Wis.
Her afternoon against number 10 seed Abby Glynn, Topeka, Kan. (147), took over one and a half hours to finish the 18th hole. The two battled back-and-forth during the afternoon, with the match tied entering the final hole.
“It was tough. Any rain delay is just hard regardless of where you are on the golf course, especially because if you’re in momentum and you stop, that’s the hardest part,” Wenzler said. “When you’re waiting, a lot of it’s talking to yourself nicely and you’re trying not to beat yourself up on all the bad things you did earlier.”
Following the resumption of play after the second weather delay, all remaining groups and players were given the option to continue. If one player decided to resume, the match continued; however, if both players wanted to leave, the match would be postponed. Two of the groups stopped for the day and will resume play at 7 a.m. Friday morning. Wenzler and Glynn finished on the par 4 18th hole, with Wenzler putting for birdie and Glynn hitting her third shot from the front left greenside bunker. Wenzler nestled her first putt close enough for Glynn to concede par. Once Glynn was unable to get up-and-down for par, Wenzler secured her quarterfinal spot.
Number 6 seed Kirsten Rudgeley, Perth, Australia (145) defeated Number 27 seed Sydney Seigel, Scottsdale, Ariz. (150) after 19 holes in the morning. Number 22 seed Grace Curran, New Lennox, Ill. (150) defeated 11-seeded Meiyi Yan, Windermere, Fla. (147) 4 & 2 and faced Rudgeley for the final spot in the Elite Eight. Curran and Rudgeley were the other group to finish their match after the two delays, with Curran winning 2 & 1.
Brooke Biermann, Wildwood, Mo. (144) number 4 seed and the number 13 seed Zoe Slaughter, Houston, Tex. (148) are one of the remaining matches left, with Biermann 1-up through 13. In the morning match, Beirmann defeated number 29 seed Matilda Miels, Adelaide, Australia (150) 4 & 3 and waited over two hours before her Sweet 16 match. Slaughter, her eventual opponent, defeated 20-seeded Kelly Sim, Edgewater, N.J. (149) after going an extra 7 holes to win the match. Both players arrived early Thursday for their 8:10 a.m. and 8:20 a.m. respective start times and spent more than 12 hours total at Sunset Ridge.
In the other match that will need to be determined on Friday morning, number 3 seed Taglao Jeeravivitaporn, Thailand (143) and number 4 seed Maddison Hinson-Tolchard, Perth, Australia (148) were through 13 holes with Hinson-Tolchard 1-up. Jeeravivitaporn defeated number 30 seed Sarah Arnold, Geneva, Ill. (151) 2 & 1 in the round of 32. Hinson-Tolchard, last year’s runner-up, defeated 19-seeded Sora Kamiya, Toki, Gifu, Japan (149) after 19 holes.
The quarterfinal matches will start at 7:30 am Friday morning.
Two tournaments are held annually, the Amateur Championship has been held without interruption since 1901, not even two world wars and Covid-19 kept the tournament from being played. The Junior Championship was first held in 1920 and has been held annually with the exception of World War II and Covid-19. This year marks the 122nd playing of the Women's Western Amateur Championship at Sunset Ridge Country Club, the previous home to four previous WWGA Championships
1961 Women's Western Junior - Ann Baker
1953 Women's Western Junior - Anne Richardson
1942 Women's Western Amateur - Betty Jameson
1935 Women's Western Open - Opal Hill
Latest scores from the 32 Round Match Play can be found here.
Remaining matches begin at 7:00am while the Quarterfinals start at 7:30 am