Sierra Brooks
PORTLAND, Ore. — For the second year in a row,
the final four at the
U.S. Women's Amateur consist of all junior
golfers. Three Americans
and one representative of France will play in
Saturday's semifinal
matches at Portland Golf Club.
One golfer, Hannah O'Sullivan of Paradise
Valley, Ariz., is a returnee
from last year's group of young U.S. Women's
Amateur semifinalists.
The other three are no strangers to being on the
big stage.
Let's meet the four golfers left standing:
Sierra Brooks
The Wake Forest commit captured the Women’s
Southern Amateur and
Women's South-Atlantic Amateur earlier this
year, and was named USA
Today’s High-School Golfer-of-the-Year. After
coming up just short of
her home state (Florida) state championship title
as a freshman, she
grabbed the elusive title in the fall of 2014 as a
junior. Brooks also is
headed to China later this month as part of a
USGA contingent to take
part in the Trans-Pacific Junior Golf Match, along
with fellow
quarterfinalists Hannah O’Sullivan and Mika Liu.
Brooks faced top
collegiate golfer Bronte Law in the quarterfinals
and handled the UCLA
golfer from England by a count of 5-and-3.
Bethany Wu
Wu, of Diamond Bar, Calif., was runner-up this
year to her semifinal
competitor at the Women's South-Atlantic
Amateur. She faced another
runner-up finish at this year's North & South
Amateur where she was
beat by Bailey Tardy in the final. She was
looking for redemption this
year as the UCLA commit earned medalist
honors last year at Nassau
Country Club before being upset in the first
round. Wu defeated fellow
Californian Mika Liu of Beverly Hills 5-and-4 on
Friday, getting her round
rolling with two birdies in the first three holes.
Hannah O'Sullivan
The 17-year-old Arizona native entered Friday's
quarterfinals have
played the fewest holes in match play of any
player still alive. She has
also had an impressive 2015 season thus far,
winning a Symetra Tour
event in Arizona before claiming both the Rolex
Girls Championship and
Rolex Tournament of Champions, two American
Junior Golf Association
major invitationals. O'Sullivan was 2-down to
SMU's Lindsey McCurdy in
her quarterfinal match, but won holes 11 through
14 to flip the switch
and eventually close out the Texan 1-up.
Mathilda Cappeliez
Cappeliez, 17 of France, brought a wealth of
international experience
into this week’s championship. A member of the
French National Team,
she helped her country win the 2015 European
Team Championship. She
also made the cut in last year’s U.S. Women’s
Open at Pinehurst No. 2.
She never trailed on Friday against University of
Tennessee golfer Anna
Newell, winning 5-and-4 with a par on the 14th
hole.
ABOUT THE U.S. Women's Amateur
The U.S. Women's Amateur, the third
oldest of
the USGA championships, was first played
in 1895
at Meadowbrook Club in Hempstead, N.Y.
The
event is open to any female amateur who
has a
USGA Handicap Index not exceeding 5.4.
The
Women's Amateur is one of 14 national
championships conducted annually by the
USGA,
10 of which are strictly for amateurs.
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