Ledwein, Other Victory Links Qualifiers Are 3 for 4 in U.S. Women's Am Round of 64

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UNIVERSITY PLACE, Wash. -- Sometimes it's kind of nice to be in a rut.

For example, Taylor Ledwein qualified for the match-play portion of the U.S. Women's Amateur by shooting a pair of even-par 73s at Chambers Bay in the two rounds of stroke play. That tied her for 26th place, and as the No. 28 seed, she made it through her first match on Wednesday with a 5&4 victory over No. 37 seed Lauren Zaretsky. Ledwein, a two-time Minnesota state high school champion from New Prague, was even par for the 14 holes she needed to dispatch Zaretsky. 

The former Bradley University star -- she capped off the regular season during her senior year by winning the Missouri Valley Conference championship and was named the MVC Player of the Year -- took a 2-up lead by winning the 499-yard, par-5 first hole and the 178-yard, par-3 third with pars. A birdie at the sixth (342 yards, par 4) got her to 3 up, and she tied the 406-yard, par-4 seventh with her first bogey of the day.

Ledwein bounced back from the bogey by winning the 525-yard, par-5 eighth with a birdie, and she won the long par-3 ninth (211 yards) with a par. That got her to 5 up when she made the turn. Her only other bogey came at the par-4 12th, but she won the par-5 13th with a par to regain her 5-up advantage. After that, all she needed to do was halve the 14th hole, which she did.

So she's now even par for the 50 holes she's played at Chambers Bay this week.

Ledwein, who was the MGA co-Women's Player of the Year in 2020 (along with Kate Smith), will play the No. 60 seed, Julia Gregg, on Thursday morning in the Round of 32.   

Gregg, who will begin her senior year at Arkansas in less than two weeks (Aug. 22), is from Farmers Branch, Texas. But she qualified for the Women's Amateur in the Twin Cities, at Victory Links in early July. Gregg is seeded No. 60, after qualifying with 149 (74-75), and she pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the first round, beating Megha Ganne in 19 holes. 

Ganne, who gained national attention by being in contention at the 2021 U.S. Women's Open deep into the fourth round, is now at Stanford, and she was the No. 5 seed this week, having shot 68 in the second round of qualifying for a 36-hole total of 139. She birdied the second hole (370 yards, par 4) Wednesday, but so did Gregg, who won the par-3 third with a par. Ganne reciprocated by winning the par-5 fourth with a birdie.

Gregg pulled ahead again by winning the fifth with a par and took advantage of another Ganne bogey at the seventh to go 2 up. Ganne cut the deficit in half by making a par at the ninth, but Gregg birdied the par-5 13th. At the 146-yard, par-3 15th, Ganne made a birdie. Back to 1 down. She nearly won the 339-yard, par-4 16th, as well. She just missed her birdie putt, and Gregg made a sensational par save.

Ganne, who played on the 2022 USA Curtis Cup team, made a clutch birdie at the 527-yard, par-5 18th to force overtime, but Gregg settled the issue with a birdie on the first extra hole (No. 1). 

That probably wasn't the biggest upset of the day, however, because the No. 1 seed, Latanna Stone, lost 2&1 to Julia Misemer. 

Misemer began her day in a playoff for the 64th -- and last  -- spot in match play. Eight women started off in the playoff late Tuesday, with four places available. Three of them made par on the first playoff hole (No. 10), and they were in. Three made par on the second hole (No. 17), before play was suspended because of darkness. The playoff was continued Wednesday morning on the 18th hole. Misemer parred it, and the other two didn't. So that got her the No. 64 seed -- and a date with Stone 

Misemer is a four-time Kansas state high school Class 6A champion who will be a freshman at Arizona this fall. But she, too, came to the Twin Cities and Victory Links to qualify for the Women's Am. There were five spots available. Grace Curran, who plays for Minnesota, was the medalist with a 68. Misemer, Ledwein, Gregg and Vanessa Borovilas all shot 2-under 69s and tied for second. So they all made it to Chambers Bay.

On Tuesday, Stone set the course record for women with a bogey-free, 8-under 65, which put her at 136 for the two days of qualifying and earned her co-medalist honors, along with Alice Ziyi Zhao, a 13-year-old from China, and Laney Frye, a soon-to-be junior at Kentucky.  But on Wednesday morning, Misemer grabbed a quick 2-up lead with birdies at the second and third holes. Stone  won the par-5 fourth with a par and the par-5 eighth with an eagle to square the match. But Misemer reclaimed the lead by winning the 11th with a par and the 239-yard, par-4 12th with an eagle 2.

Stone birdied the par-5 13th and was 3 under for the round at that point -- but she was still 1 down.

She was 2 down a few minutes later, after Misemer birdied the 418-yard, par-4 14th. Stone won the 16th with a par, but Misemer closed her out by winning the 124-yard 17th with a par. For the 17 holes she played Misemer was 4 under. Stone was 2 under.

Misemer will play the No. 33 seed, Annabel Wilson in the Round of 32. It will be the first of two matches on Thursday for those who advance. 

The other two of the three co-medalists both won. No. 2 seed Zhao, the prodigy who opened the tournamament with a 67 and followed it with a 69, was over par for the first time. She was 1 over for 15 holes, but that was good enough to win 4&3 over No. 63 Camryn Carreon.

Frye eagled the first hole and was 4 under and 2 up after four holes. But No. 62 Jennifer Rosenberg, played the next 14 holes in 2 under, and made the No. 3 seed go all the way to the 18th green to earn a place in Thursday morning's Round of 32. The match was tied after Rosenberg won the 14th hole with a par. But Frye went 1 up with a par at the 16th (339 yards), and then matched Rosenberg's birdie at the 17th and par at the 18th to eke out a 1-up victory.

Of the five Women's Am qualifiers from Victory Links, Curran was the only one that didn't advance to match play. She had a nasty stretch in the middle of her second round  and ended up with a stroke-play aggregate of 155. 

Three of the other four were seeded 59th or lower --  but they nearly all made it through the Round of 64.

The two highest seeds to lose on Wednesday -- No. 1 Stone and No. 5 Ganne -- both lost to players who came from the Victory Links Gang of Five, and Vanessa Borovilos nearly picked off No. 6 Amari Avery. Borovilas, the No. 59 seed, is a 15-year-old Canadian who won the World Junior Championship when she was 11, and she tied for fifth in the Canadian Women's Am this year. She was 2 up after three holes against Avery, a four-time USC All -American and another member of the 2022 U.S. Walker Cup team. Borovilos was still 1 up after 11 holes, but Avery played the last seven in 2 under. She won the 12th and 16 holes with birdies, and that was enough for a 1-up victory. 

As it turned out, Avery was the only player to come back from a 2-down deficit and win on Wednesday.


U.S. Women's Amateur 

At Chambers Bay

Par 73, 6,561 yards

University Place, Wash. 

Stroke play (the top 64 advance to match play Wednesday morning)

T1. Latanna Stone                         71-65--136 (-10)

T1. Alice Ziyi Zhao                          67-69--136 

T1. Laney Frye                                68-68--136

T4. Kelsey Bennett                           69-70--139

T4. Megha Ganne                            71-68--139

T4. Amari Avery                                72-67--139

T7. Maddison Hinson-Tolchard         69-71--140

T7. Taglao Jeeravivitaporn                70-70--140

T7. Catherine Rao                             73-67--140

T7. Casey Weidenfeld                       68-72--140

T26. Taylor Ledwein                        73-73--146

T53. Julia Gregg                              74-75--149

T53. Vanessa Borovilos                   74-75--149

T61. Julia Misemer                           75-75--150 (was the last player to emerge from an 8-for-4 playoff; she went bogey/par/par)

Did not advance

Grace Curran                                     74-81--155


Match play

Round of 64

(64) Julia Misemer def. (1) Latanna Stone 2&1

(8) Catherine Rao def. (57) Izzy Pellot 1 up

(4) Kelsey Bennett def. (61) Jieni Li 3&1

(60) Julia Gregg def. (5) Megha Ganne 19 holes

(28) Taylor Ledwein def. (37) Lauren Zaretsky 5&4

(2) Alice Ziyi Zhao def. (63) Camryn Carreon 4&3

(50) Aneka Seumanutafa def. (15) Jensen Castle 1 up

(58) Anna Fang def. (7) Taglao Jeeravivitaporn 3&2

(3) Laney Frye def. (62) Jennifer Rosenberg 1 up

(59) Vanessa Borovilos def. (6) Amari Avery 1 up