Two rounds of stroke play weren’t enough to decide the match-play bracket for the 2024 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla.
The action on Wednesday teed off with a 20-for-10 playoff, the largest in U.S. Women’s Amateur history, which lasted just two holes but did extend two hours. Only one of the playoff winners – University of Southern California’s rising sophomore Bailey Shoemaker – advanced from the opening Round of 64 to Thursday’s Round 32.
“It doesn't even feel like it was today. That was crazy,” said Shoemaker of the playoff after her 1-up win over No. 3 seed Zoe Antoinette Campos. “It was my first ever USGA playoff. Obviously I was disappointed to even be in it, but it was a grind. I knew that if I just make the par game like we do at school, just whoever makes the most pars will win.”
The players weren’t just battling a field full of the world’s best amateurs on a major-championship host course – Southern HIlls has played host to eight majors including three U.S. Opens (1958, 1977, 2001) – but also the elements. Winds were low and temperatures were high as the heat hit triple digits for the third straight day, which made for the first of a few challenging days of match play.
“It was just really hot,” said Shomaker, who had to wake up at 5 a.m. for the playoff and then wait until 1:20 p.m. for her Round of 64 match. “I think everybody knew we were going to be dead by the afternoon. It was so hot out there. It was tough. But it was just kind of survival of the fittest.”
While world rankings and seeds are usually thrown out the window when the championship moves to match play, it was a good day to be a top seed as the first round was largely all chalk as the higher seeds advanced in 24 of the 32 matches.
One of the higher seeds that didn’t advance, however, was defending champion Megan Schofill. A quarterfinalist the last two years, Catherine Rao came back from 2 down through 12 holes to defeat the Auburn graduate, 2 up. A rising junior at Princeton, Rao’s comeback was aided by an eagle on the par-5 13th followed by three consecutive birdies on Nos. 14-16.
“Since stroke play I've been kind of struggling. Haven't been making many putts but been playing well, so it was just a matter of time until putts started dropping,” said Rao. “I think honestly hole 11 was a bigger turnaround for me, just after the train wreck that happened on 10. It was nice to just stick one close, make a putt.”
“I was one of probably the lowest ranked players in the field in my first U.S. Am,” she added. “It's one of those things where I'm trying to focus on myself, focus on my own game, and I know if I play a good round of golf that I'm going to play good.”
One of the stories of the championship so far is Gabby Woods, who won the 2024 NCAA Division II Individual National Championship as a senior at the University of Findlay this spring. The Sabina, Ohio, native played a tightly-contested match against Shoemaker’s USC teammate, Catherine Park, that never saw a player get further ahead than 1 up. Woods held the lead just twice when she birdied the par-4 12th hole and again when she made par on the difficult 18th to win.
“It was a great match, honestly. Normally when you're playing on a day like this you've got to win with birdies. I would give some, she would give some. We both drove it in a few places that were hard to get up-and-down for par,” said Woods. “But even at that time it was a great match. You still have to work for whatever you had. But [Park is] a very talented player. It was a great opportunity to play with her and see what other people play for and what they play with.”
Sabina, Ohio, is a village between Columbus and Cincinnati with a population of less than 3,000. While she has big-tournament experience with her national championship victory, Woods has enjoyed flying under the radar this week.
“Obviously being a national champion, that gives you a big confidence boost that you can do it. It especially helps with those little putts out there,” said Woods. “It's kind of good to be -- nobody really knows about you. Nobody is really expecting a whole lot except for me and my caddie, so it's kind of nice.”
The biggest wins of the day came from Florida grad Maisie Filler and Texas rising sophomore Farrah O’Keefe, who both won their matches, 7 and 6. Former Wake Forest standout Rachel Kuehn had a 7-and-5 win of her own, while just 10 matches reached the 18th hole.
Other notable players to advance to the Round of 32 were Adela Cernousek (2024 NCAA D-I national champion), Gianna Clemente (2023 Girl’s Junior PGA winner), Anna Davis (2022 Augusta National Women’s Amateur champion), Rianne Malixi (2024 U.S. Girls’ Junior champion), Kiara Romero (2023 U.S. Girls’ Junior champion) and Asterisk Talley (2024 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball champion).
WHAT’S NEXT
Match play continues on Thursday with the Round of 32 and Round of 16, beginning at 8:15 a.m. EDT. The Round-of-16 matches are scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. Peacock will air live coverage from 3-6 p.m. Admission is free, and the public is encouraged to attend.
NOTABLE
- For the 13th straight year, the U.S. Women’s Amateur will not see a back-to-back champion. Defending champion Megan Schofill, who shot rounds of 70-74 in stroke play to earn the No. 14 seed, was upset by Catherine Rao, 2 and 1
- Sixteen players reached match play for the second consecutive year: Gianna Clemente, Anna Davis, Laney Frye, Sara Im, Lauren Kim, Rachel Kuehn, Katie Li, Rianne Malixi, Julia Misemer, Catherine Rao, Kiara Romero, Amanda Sambach, Megan Schofill, Bailey Shoemaker, Latanna Stone and Kelly Xu. Ten of them advanced.
- Emilia Migliaccio was eliminated on the second hole of the 20-for-10 playoff Wednesday morning. In the afternoon, she joined the broadcast crew as a walking reporter for the Golf Channel coverage.
- With her 2 and 1 win over Amanda Sambach, Asterisk Talley’s 2024 USGA match play record moves to 11-1. She won the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship with partner Sarah Lim in April, before finishing as runner-up in the U.S. Girls’ Junior in July.
- The University of Texas is well-represented in the Round of 32, with Angela Heo, Huai-Chien Hsu, Lauren Kim and Farah O’Keefe all advancing to Thursday. Arkansas and USC are both sending two players into the Round of 32.
- It is the first time since 1994 that no Round of 64 matches went to extra holes. Ten matches reached the 18th hole.
QUOTABLE
“I feel like I've been rolling the ball well, and I really didn't make anything until the last three holes, which came in clutch. But yeah, it was a good par.” – Anna Morgan on winning three of her last four holes to advance with a 1-up victory
“I kind of just grinded … I never felt hopeless. I never felt like I was going to lose out there.” – Jasmine Koo on flipping a 1-down deficit with three holes to play into a 2-up win
“Honestly, from where I'm from, getting a chance to just play Southern Hills Country Club again is unbelievable. To get to play six rounds here is great. I love it out there.” – Gabby Woods on advancing to the Round of 32
“I think I've always loved competition, and I think that's the thing that really drives me. I like playing aggressive. During stroke play you see a couple of pins where you're like, ‘I don't want to go at that, I might go in the bunker and make triple right there.’ You don't have the same consequences out here with match play. It's easier for me, and I play much better than when I just take it one hole at a time. That's match play.” – Catherine Raoon her love of match play
“Basically all year I've been playing match play. It's been back-to-back-to-back of just match play. I feel like I'm getting more comfortable this year. I'm getting better at it. I feel like I'm getting more confident as the weeks go by, as the tournaments go by. It just kind of helps to get some experience before you play a tournament like this, and I feel like I've been getting a lot of help, so it's been great.” – Asterisk Talley on her 11th USGA match play victory of the year
“Well, she's a UCLA Bruin grad, so she wasn't really sure she wanted to win quite frankly.” - Bailey Shoemaker, jokingly, on her caddie and USC assistant coach Beth Wu
“This is a hard course. The pins were really tough out there. They were so hard. I was kind of shocked. I was like, dang, and some of them weren't sticking as they were yesterday, and they were rolling. But yeah, tough pins. The greens are tough. You have to try to keep it in the fairway on this course.” – Latanna Stone on the challenge provided by Southern Hills
“I'm just doing my thing, stay calm, and trying to take the pressure off. To me it doesn't really matter whether I'm playing against the past champion or someone that I don't even know.” - Catherine Rao on playing the defending champion
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