DALLAS -- More than 20 competitors in the 2014 Women's State Amateur are currently playing collegiate golf. Presently there's no match play component to NCAA Women's Golf, which makes the format of this week's championship at Bent Tree Country Club a rare experience. It's also beneficial for the collegians in the field, as the NCAA Women's Championship will switch to match play in 2015.
"I love playing match play, but I hardly ever get to do it," said fourth-seeded Portland Rosen from Houston. "It's a totally different mentality in match play. You can't control what your opponent does, so you have to play against the course. But when my opponent makes a birdie, it really motivates me to make my birdie to match her."
Rosen has had little trouble with the format so far. On Wednesday she won her Round of 16 match against 13-seeded Ali Cowan, 5 and 4. A recent University of Virginia graduate who finished eighth in the 2010 NCAA Women's Championship, Rosen scored a runaway 7-and-5 victory earlier in the Round of 32.
Rosen, along with the 15 others in the Championship Flight, began the Round of 16 in a steady rain. There was no lightning in the area, however, so play continued without delay.
"Playing in the rain is always fun," Rosen said sarcastically. "But it wasn't bad. It really wasn't raining that hard."
Not everyone was as comfortable in the conditions. Jessa LaBarbera, the second overall seed from Allen, said she and her Round of 16 opponent, 18th-seeded Becky Neal, let the rain distract them during the early stages of their match. LaBarbera won the second hole with a bogey, and then both players traded matching bogeys for three of the next four holes.
LaBarbera, a senior at Colorado State, won the seventh, eighth and ninth holes with pars. Ultimately, she won the match, 7 and 5.
"I was a little shaky in the rain," LaBabera said. "Once it tapered off, I started playing better and making putts."
Heather Shake, the overall No. 1 seed, won her match, 2 and 1, against 17th-seeded Jaqueline Strickland to advance to the Quarterfinals. Joining her are Texas Tech senior Hannah Arnold from Lufkin, Houston Baptist senior Katy Kile, University of Houston freshman Courtney Tibiletti, Oklahoma State freshman Maddie McCrary and TCU junior Kelly McGovern.
Arnold, the No. 9 seed, defeated 25th-seeded Elisabeth Rau, 2 and 1. Kile, the seventh seed, knocked off 10th-seeded Ann Holcomb, 4 and 3. Fifth-seeded Tibiletti got past No. 21 seed Anna Schultz, 2 up. McCrary, the third seed, defeated 14th-seeded Layne Anderson, 2 up.
McGovern, the No. 11 seed, defeated Brenne Moore, the 27th seed, 1 up. Previously in the round of 32, Moore took down sixth-seeded Megan Thothong, the runner-up in the 2013 Women's State Amateur.
View results for Women's Texas Amateur
ABOUT THE Women's Texas Amateur
Eligibility: Entries are open to female amateur
golfers with a certified GHIN Handicap index.
Player Field: Lowest handicap indexes in multiples of
8 with a maximum of 88 players. In the event the
championship becomes over-subscribed, entries will
be accepted in order of handicap index.
Format: The starting field will consist of 88 total
players. The 32 players with the lowest qualifying
scores will fill the championship flight and contend
for the championship title. The qualifying round is
optional for all but the players with the 32 lowest
handicap indexes on the date the entries close. The
16 players eliminated in the first round of the
championship flight match play may participate in an
18-hole stroke play consolation round. The remaining
players will be flighted into seven flights of eight
based on handicap indexes. The four players
eliminated in the first round of flight matches will
proceed to a consolation match play bracket for each
flight.
View Complete Tournament Information