Alison Lillie

No.1 seed Alison Lillie and No.2 seed Yoonhee Kim were among the eight players advancing to the quarterfinals of this week’s annual California Women’s Amateur Championship after a grueling Wednesday at par-72 Quail Lodge Golf Club.

Lillie, a junior at the University of San Francisco, moved on with a 4 and 3 win over No.16 Desiree Gillaspy, while Kim, a senior at Dougherty Valley High in San Ramon, advanced with a 2 and 1 Round of 16 victory over No.47 seed Simar Singh. Just a month ago, Singh won the California Junior Girls’ State title at Quail Lodge.

Down one through the first nine, Kim brought the match back to all-square with a birdie on the 10th. A hole later on the 11th, another Kim birdie gave her a 1-up lead. The pair halved the next five holes, with Kim closing things out thanks to another birdie on the par-3 17th.

Having received a Round of 64 bye, Lillie needed to dig deep to stay alive in her morning match versus No.32 Amanjoty Sangha of San Mateo. With a birdie on the 14th, Lillie took what appeared to be a commanding 3-up lead. Sangha didn’t give in, however, winning both the 15th and 17th holes to cut Lillie’s lead to 1-up heading to the 18th. The two would halve the final hole, giving Lillie a 1-up win.

No.3 seed Anna Zhou, the runner-up at this year’s San Francisco City Championship, had her own close call in the Round of 16. Concord resident Yealimi Noh, who won the 2014 California Junior Girls’ State title and lost to Singh in this year’s finals, pushed Zhou to extra holes before Zhou emerged with a 19th hole win after draining an eagle putt on the par-5 1st.

Also surviving the day was No.5 seed Ashley Noda of Roseville. Noda, who plays at Santa Clara University, won her morning match with a par on the 19th hole and followed that up with a 1-up win over No. 12 Andrea Wong in the afternoon.

Fullerton’s Stephanie Lau, the No.4 seed, was not as fortunate, getting eliminated in the Round of 16 by Benicia’s Kathleen Scavo, 3 and 2.

Scavo, who’s headed to the University of Oregon and played in this U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship with Lucy Li, took a 1-up lead with a par on No.5 and never lost the lead from there. At No.13, Scavo is the highest seed left alive in the brackets.Others advancing to the quarterfinals were No.9 Jessica Luo, who cruised to a 7 and 6 Round of 16 win, No.7 Erika Salinas and No.6 Jiyoon Jang.

In Friday morning’s quarterfinals, Lillie will take on Luo, while Scavo will face Noda. The other two matches will be Kim versus Salinas and Zhou taking on Jang.

The quarterfinals will begin at 7:16 a.m., with the semifinals set to start at 12:04 p.m.

Former winners of the championship include current LPGA Tour members Mina Harigae and Natalie Gulbis and legend Juli Inkster.

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