Li's Run at U.S. Women's Am Ends in Round of 16
Katie Li hitting an approach shot during the Round of 64. Photo: USGA/Darren Carroll
UPDATE (August 12, 2022) -- While Katie Li of Basking Ridge earned an impressive 7-and-5 victory on Thursday morning in the Round of 32 at the U.S. Women's Amateur, her run at Chambers Bay came to an end in the afternoon with a 3-and-2 defeat in the Round of 16.
Related: U.S. Women's Amateur Home | Scoring
Li, who won a match in the U.S. Girls' Junior earlier last month, was off early at Chambers Bay with her Round of 32 match interrupted by a 2-plus hour fog delay. However, once the matches resumed, Li went on a tear. Overall, Li won four straight holes two separate times (Nos. 4-7, 10-13) to runaway with a 7-and-5 victory over Han Hsuan Yu of Chinese Taipei.
The verbal Duke commit then met up with rising UCLA senior Annabel Wilson of Ireland. Wilson took control early with birdies on the par-5 first and fourth holes, while also earning a win on the par-4 fifth to go 3-up. Li showed no quit though, battling back with wins on Nos. 7, 9, and 12 to tie the match. However, Wilson showed how quickly match play can change as she won the next three holes and a tie on the par-4 16th brought Li's run to an end.
UPDATE (August 11, 2022) -- Katie Li of Basking Ridge, N.J., is the lone Met Area player remaining in the U.S. Women's Amateur after earning a convincing win in the Round of 64, Wednesday, at Chambers Bay. A trio of players also had matches that came down to the wire, but went in their opponents' favor.
Related: U.S. Women's Amateur Home | Scoring
Li, the No. 49 seed, only surrendered one hole in her. match against No. 16 seed Angela Liu of Irvine, Calif. The Duke verbal commit won three of the first five holes, two with birdies, to take a quick lead. After another birdie on the par-5 eighth, Li carried a 3-up lead into the final nine. Wins on Nos. 11-12 pushed her lead to five holes. After tying the par-5 13th with birdies, matching fours led to the 5-and-4 victory of Li. Li will square off against No. 17 seed Han Hsuan Yu of Chinese Taipei at 10:10 a.m., Eastern.
No. 5 seed Megha Ganne of Holmdel, N.J., battled throughout her match against Julia Gregg of Farmers Branch, Texas. Gregg won three of the first seven holes to take a 2-up advantage. While Ganne pulled the match back to tied on three occasions, including with a bridie on the par-5 18th, Gregg remained strong against the Curtis Cup standout and made birdie on the par-5 first to win in 19 holes.
Jennifer Rosenberg of Laurel Hollow, N.Y., and 2021 U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur runner-up Aliea Clark of New York City also had tight matches coming down the stretch, but came up just short. Rosenberg faced a 2-hole deficit through nine holes, but wins on Nos. 10 and 14 tied the match. However, Laney Frye of Nicholasville, Ky., who was one of three co-medalists following the 36-holes of stroke play, won the par-4 16th with par. Birdie-twos from both players on the 17th and par-fives on the 18th made it a 1-up win for Frye. Clark found herself in a four-hole deficit to Leigh Chien of Irvine, Calif., through 10 holes, but immediately began to climb back with a birdie-three on the 11th. Wins with birdies on Nos. 14, 15 and 18 tied the match to force extras, but Chien made birdie to close out the match in 19 holes.
While Ami Gianchandani of Watchung, N.J., made eagle on the opening hole, Brooke Seay of San Diego, Calif., took charge from there. The member of the Stanford women's golf team won seven holes between Nos. 3 and 13 en route to the 6-and-5 victory.
Meanwhile, No. 18 seed Leigha Devine of Windsor, Colo., a rising senior at Rutgers University, won her opening match, defeating Lynn Lim of Gallatin, Tenn., by a 2-and-1 margin. Only five holes were tied in the match, but Devine won seven to Lim's five to earn the victory.
UPDATE (August 10, 2022) -- Following two rounds of stroke play qualifying at Chambers Bay, five Met Area players advanced to match play for the 122nd U.S. Women's Amateur. Megha Ganne of Holmdel, N.J., Aliea Clark of New York City, Katie Li of Basking Ridge, N.J., and Ami Gianchandani of Watchung, N.J., all cleanly advanced, while Jennifer Rosenberg of Laurel Hollow, N.Y., emerged from an 8-for-4 playoff to earn her spot as well.
Related: U.S. Women's Amateur Home | Scoring
After a 2-under 71 in the opening round, Ganne turned in another sub-par score, shooting 5-under 68 to climb the leaderboard and finish stroke play tied for fourth. Ganne, who made a run to the semifinals in 2019 and was low amateur in the 2021 U.S. Women's Open, took the No. 5 seed via a random draw and willl take on Julia Gregg of Farmers Branch, Texas in the Round of 64, teeing off at 2:00 p.m., Eastern.
The 26-year-old Clark stands as the only mid-amateur player to make match play. Clark was the runner-up in last year's U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur. The UCLA graduate is currently halfway through a graduate program at NYU. Clark opened stroke play with a 2-over 75 before bouncing back with a 1-under 72 in the second round, which included an eagle on the par-5 fourth hole. "“I hit it super thin," explained Clark to the USGA. "The thing runs all the way up the hill and it comes back and it looks pretty good, and I was like, no, and then it went in the hole. Everyone was clapping and I was just mortified, like I just shanked a 52-degree wedge into the hole." Clark finished tied 34th and garners the No. 35 seed for match play, opening up against No. 30 seed Leigh Chien of Irvine, Calif., at 4:10 p.m.
Meanwhile, 17-year-old Li is continuing her run of impressive play after advancing to match play and winning a match in the U.S. Girls' Junior last month. Li opened with an even-par 73 before securing her match play spot with a 2-over 75. Li took the No. 49 seed for match play and will face No. 6 seed Angela Liu of Irvine, Calif., in the Round of 64.
Gianchandani turned in a pair of 1-over 74s en route to punching her ticket to match play. Her second round was a tale of two nines, starting on the 10th and turning in 6-over 42. However, an eagle ont he par-5 first sparked a clean second nine in which she also made three birdies for a 5-under 37. After narrowly missing the cut at the U.S. Women's Open earlier this year, Gianchandani aims to make a run in what's her 10th USGA championship. She starts match play against Brooke Sea of San Diego, Calif., teeing off at 4:30 p.m.
Rosenberg posted a 1-under 72 in round one, while a closing 5-over 78 landed her in an 8-for-4 playoff to advance to match play. The past Long Island Women's Amateur Stroke Play champion made par on the par-4 10th to secure her spot in match play. She takes the No. 62 seed into the Round of 64 and will face No. 3 seed Laney Frye of Nicholasville, Ky., at 4:00 p.m.
Alice Hodge of Larchmont, N.Y., was also part of the playoff following rounds of 77-73, but a double bogey on the first playoff hole eliminated her from advancing.
Chambers Bay is hosting its fourth USGA championship, last hosting the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball in 2021.
ELMSFORD, N.Y. (August 8, 2022) -- A year after taking place at Westchester Country Club, the U.S. Women's Amateur this year is on the West Coast as the game's best from around the world convene at Chambers Bay in University Place, Wisc., for the championship's 122nd playing.
Related: U.S. Women's Amateur Home | Scoring
The Met Area has a strong contingent of competitors in the field, led by Megha Ganne of Holmdel, N.J. The 18-year-old enters the championship ranked No. 27 in the Women's World Amateur Golf Ranking and is no doubt looking to put together another deep run in the championship, as she did to the semifinal round in 2019.
Meanwhile, 2019 U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur champion Ina Kim-Schaad and 2021 U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur runner-up Aliea Clark, both of New York City, aim to build on their successes and make a splash in the bracket as well.
Yale teammates Ami Gianchandani of Watchung, N.J., and Kaitlyn Lee of Scarsdale, N.Y., are both in the field, qualifying from separate locations this summer. Gianchandani, the 2021-22 Ivy League Player of the Year, had a strong showing at the U.S. Women's Open at Pine Needles, missing the cut by a single stroke and is competing in her 10th USGA championship. Former Long Island Women's Amateur Stroke Play champion Jennifer Rosenberg of Laurel Hollow, N.Y., is also in the field, having qualified alongside Gianchandani at Crestmont Country Club. Rosenberg recently finished her collegiate career at UNC Charlotte following her time at Tulane University.
Alice Hodge of Larchmont, N.Y., will make her first appearance in the U.S. Women's Amateur after an impressive sophomore campaign at Florida State, where she helped the Seminoles advance to the match play portion of the NCAA Championships for the first time in program history. The list of collegiate standounds representing the Met Area continues with Kelly Sim of Edgewater, N.J. Sim helped lead her Northwestern squad to a win in the Women's B1G Match Play Championship this season, winning all three of her matchups in the event.
Sixteen-year-old Katie Li of Basking Ridge, N.J., is aiming to carry momentum from last month's U.S. Girls' Junior, where she advanced to the Round of 32 at The Club of Olde Stone in Bowling Green, Ky.
The 156-player field will compete over two days of stroke play to see which 64 advance to match play for the remainder of the championship. This is the fourth USGA championship played at Chambers Bay, with the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball taking place last year.
| Player | City | Rd. 1 (All times ET) | Rd. 2 |
| Aliea Clark | New York, N.Y. | 11:17 a.m. | 1:17 p.m.* |
| Megha Ganne | Holmdel, N.J. | 11:39 a.m. | 1:39 p.m.* |
| Ami Gianchandani | Watchung, N.J. | 10:33 a.m. | 12:33 p.m.* |
| Alice Hodge | Larchmont, N.Y. | 3:22 p.m.* | 7:22 a.m. |
| Ina Kim-Schaad | New York, N.Y. | 10:33 a.m. | 12:33 p.m.* |
| Kaitlyn Lee | Scarsdale, N.Y. | 4:50 p.m.* | 8:50 a.m. |
| Katie Li | Basking Ridge, N.J. | 10:44 a.m.* | 12:44 p.m. |
| Jennifer Rosenberg | Laurel Hollow, N.Y. | 4:39 p.m.* | 8:39 a.m. |
| Kelly Sim | Edgewater, N.J. | 3:44 p.m.* | 7:44 a.m. |