U.S. WOMEN’S AMATEUR

U.S. WOMEN’S AMATEUR

CHARLESTON, S.C.

NCAA champion Annie Park won two matches Thursday in the U.S. Women’s Amateur to advance to the quarterfinals.

The 18-year-old Park, the Levittown, N.Y., player coming off her freshman season at Southern California, beat Brittany Fan 2 and 1 in the morning in the second round, and edged Kelly Shon of Port Washington, N.Y., 1 up in the third round at the Country Club of Charleston.

Park was 3 down after 10 holes against Shon, then won Nos. 11-13 to square the match. Park took a 1-up lead with a par on the par-3 17th, and matched Shon with a par on par-4 18th to end the match.

“On the back nine, I started to get my momentum,” Park said “(I thought) ‘I am just going to hit good shots and get out of there.”’

Park will face Yueer Cindy Feng of Orlando, Fla. Feng beat Casie Cathrea of Livermore, Calif., 1 up.

In the other upper-bracket quarterfinal, Lauren Diaz-Yi of Thousand Oaks, Calif., will play Doris Chen of Taiwan in a rematch of Diaz-Yi’s 10-and-9 victory in June in the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links final. Diaz-Yi beat Kendall Prince of Lake Oswego, Ore., 4 and 3; and Chen topped Australia’s Minjee Lee 2 and 1.

“When we made the turn, I felt like I had finally warmed up,” In the lower bracket, Katelyn Sepmoree of Tyler, Texas, will face Alison Lee of Valencia, Calif.; and Emma Talley of Princeton, Ky., will meet Su-Hyun Oh of Australia.

Sepmoree beat Aurora Kan of Boothwyn, Pa., 1 up; Lee topped Alexandra Harkins of Crystal Lake, Ill., 3 and 2; Talley beat Mexico’s Maria Fassi 2 up; and Oh routed Cammie Gray of Northport, Ala., 5 and 4.

Associated Press