C-INSON,
Kan. -- L
w amateurs at the U.S.
Women's Open have
eldom
wo
the title. The lone exception to that is Catherine
Lacoste, who won in 1967.HUTC-INSON,Kan. -- Lw amateurs at the U.S.Women's Open have
eldom
wo the title. The lone exception to that is Catherine
Lacoste, who won in 1967.
Before and after 1967, a number of amateurs have come close -- Sally Sessions and Polly Riley in 1947, Betsy Rawls in 1950, Barbara McIntire in 1956, Nancy Lopez in 1975 and Jenny Chuasiriporn in 1998. But none ever won.
In the 57th U.S. Women¹s Open at Prairie Dunes Golf Club, two out of 14 amateurs made the cut -- Angela Jerman of the United States and Aree Song Wongluekiet, from Korea. Neither player was ever in the hunt for the championship, but both played well enough to tie for 51st and low amateur.
"It would mean a lot, all the best amateurs were here this week," said the 16-year-old Wongluekiet of tying for the low amateur. "My best nines were probably the last nine yesterday and the nine this morning. I felt really comfortable over the shots."
Wongluekiet shot a 1-under-par 69 on that combination of the third round back nine and the final round front nine. Her scores for the championship were 71-76-74-73 294, 14 over par.
Jerman, 22, is older than her fellow amateur Wongluekiet, preparing to complete her final semester at the University of Georgia. She is looking toward the Curtis Cup and Women¹s Amateur before she tries the LPGA Tour Q-School, and a life in professional golf.
"After I made the cut, that was definitely one of my goals to be low amateur," said Jerman after shooting 74 in the final round. "I can¹t control what anybody else did. Today I played pretty good, I had a couple of shots on the back nine get away from me, but overall I feel good about my game."
Jerman was in the dark as she played the last couple of holes. She believed she needed to birdie the 17th or 18th hole to have a chance at tying Wongluekiet. It was only when she reached the scorers tent did she learn that she was tied with Wongluekiet.
"I was trying to chip it in," said Jerman of her shot on the 18th green for birdie. "Unfortunately I didn’t get it as crisp a chip as I wanted to."
Always learning, Jerman will take what she gained at this year’s Open and use it in her golfing endeavors in the future.
"Confidence," said Jerman. "I had a good year in college, that really helped out knowing that I played with some of the girls out here on Tour. I keep track, I know this is what I want to do for a living."
Meg Mallon, the 1991 U.S. Women¹s Open champion, played with Jerman in the third round and Wongluekiet on the final day.
"Angela is a very solid player," said Mallon. "I really liked her game a lot. She¹s smart, she¹s going to do really well out here I think, because I think she’s got all the factors to play. So she’s a good kid, got a good family to."
On Wongluekeit, Mallon focuses on her youth when describing the 16-year-old prodigy.
"There a little difference," said Mallon of the two amateurs. "Aree probably carries the ball more, a little bit stronger, but Angela has got great control of her swing. She’s always in play, a good solid putter. I think she has all the factors.
"Aree is still a kid; Angela is almost a college graduate, so they are very much different in that respect. Angela is very mature -- marketing major. She is a very impressive person. Aree's got a lot of just young kinks to work out, but she’s going to be a real strong player, there’s no doubt about it, she’s got all the tools, just fine tuning."
Mallon envisions one day when the two Wongluekiet sisters -- Aree and twin sister Naree -- will have great success on the LPGA Tour.
"I was watching the Williams sisters in the doubles and I thought well now it’s going to be the Song sisters," she said. "The Song sisters may be doing the same thing in 10 years, which would be kind of fun to watch."
Alex Miceli is a freelance writer whose work has appeared previously on www.uswomensopen.com.