U.S. Women's Open: Tavatanakit Low Am with Top 5 Finish

June 3, 2018 | by AmateurGolf.com Staff

Patty Tavatanakit (USGA photo)

Patty Tavatanakit, the UCLA rising sophomore from Thailand, is the 2nd am in a row to finish in the top 5

SHOAL CREEK, AL (June 3, 2018) - Patty Tavatanakit, the UCLA rising sophomore from Thailand, shot a final-round 1-under 71 to finish the U.S. Women's Open in a tie for fifth place. Tavatanakit wins the gold medal as the low amateur of the 29 who started the tournament.

It was the second consecutive year an amateur has finished inside the top 5 at the U.S. Women's Open. Last year, Hye-Jin Choi of Korea held the lead through 63 holes and was the runner-up.

With the tournament leaders so far ahead, no amateur would have a chance to win this year, but the race for low amateur was tight heading into the final round. Tavatanakit started the day one shot ahead of Albane Valenzuela (Switzerland) and two ahead of Elizabeth Wang (San Marino, CA) after three rounds.

While the other six amateurs to make the cut would shoot over par on Sunday, Tavatanakit started well, going three under for her first six holes. She did make four bogeys coming in, but two more birdies would give her a red number and lock up the gold medal. Her 72-hole score was 2-under 286.

Valenzuela was also under par at the turn, but came back in 40 to shoot 75 and finish 24th at 3-over 291.

Amateur Leaderboard

T5	Patty Tavatanakit	70	73	72	71	286
24	Albane Valenzuela	72	73	71	75	291
T27	Kristen Gillman	70	74	75	74	293
T34	Elizabeth Wang	72	74	71	77	294
T55	Hailee Cooper	72	76	77	74	299
T55	Lucy Li	72	74	77	76	299
T57	Linn Grant	69	72	78	81	300

MC	Allisen Corpuz	76	73		149
MC	Dylan Kim	74	75		149
MC	Lei Ye	75	74		149
MC	Robyn Choi	75	75		150
MC	Gina Kim	72	79		151
MC	Celia Barquin Arozamena	76	75		151
MC	Evelyn Arguelles	80	72		152
MC	Yujeong Son	74	78		152
MC	Emilia Migliaccio	77	76		153
MC	Olivia Mehaffey	76	77		153
MC	Erica Shepherd	82	71		153
MC	Maria Fassi	76	77		153
MC	Dana Williams	74	80		154
MC	Sophie Hausmann	78	76		154
MC	Kaylee Benton	74	80		154
MC	Olivia Cason	76	79		155
MC	Andrea Lee	82	75		157
MC	Gaeun Song	76	82		158
MC	Kelsey Chugg	83	76		159
MC	Jennifer Chang	81	79		160
MC	Celeste Dao	83	80		163
MC	Sophia Schubert	85	79		164

ROUND ONE RECAP

Seven amateurs have made the cut at the U.S. Women's Open Championship at Shoal Creek, led by Patty Tavatanakit of UCLA and Thailand, who is the only amateur under par and the only one inside the top 10 through three rounds.

Storms delayed play on Friday, forcing players to come back out early to finish their second rounds Saturday, after which the cut was made and the field was re-paired for round three.

Linn Grant, the 18-year-old from Sweden, was 3 under through two rounds and found herself in the second-to-last group for the third round, playing with Chella Choi and Jenny Shin. But Grant tumbled down the leaderboard with three 6's in her first six holes.

Tavatanakit, who just finished her freshman year at UCLA, won three times for the Bruins including the Pac 12 Women's Championship and the NCAA West Regional. She got to 2 under after round one and is currently 1 under after a 72 in round three.

Albane Valenzuela, the Swiss amateur whose runner-up finish in last year's U.S. Women's Amateur earned her a place in the field, shot a 1-under 71 to get her to even par and just one shot behind Tavatanakit in the low amateur race.

Elizabeth Wang, an 18-year-old committed to Harvard University, is two behind Tavatanakit after a third-round 71.

Amateur Leaderboard

T9	Patty Tavatanakit	70	73	72	215
T15	Albane Valenzuela	72	73	71	216
T23	Elizabeth Wang	72	74	71	217
T30	Kristen Gillman	70	74	75	219
T30	Linn Grant	69	72	78	219
T48	Lucy Li	72	74	77	223
61	Hailee Cooper	72	76	77	225

MC	Allisen Corpuz	76	73		149
MC	Dylan Kim	74	75		149
MC	Lei Ye	75	74		149
MC	Robyn Choi	75	75		150
MC	Gina Kim	72	79		151
MC	Celia Barquin Arozamena	76	75		151
MC	Evelyn Arguelles	80	72		152
MC	Yujeong Son	74	78		152
MC	Emilia Migliaccio	77	76		153
MC	Olivia Mehaffey	76	77		153
MC	Erica Shepherd	82	71		153
MC	Maria Fassi	76	77		153
MC	Dana Williams	74	80		154
MC	Sophie Hausmann	78	76		154
MC	Kaylee Benton	74	80		154
MC	Olivia Cason	76	79		155
MC	Andrea Lee	82	75		157
MC	Gaeun Song	76	82		158
MC	Kelsey Chugg	83	76		159
MC	Jennifer Chang	81	79		160
MC	Celeste Dao	83	80		163
MC	Sophia Schubert	85	79		164

ROUND ONE RECAP

Three amateurs are high up on the leaderboard after the first round of the U.S. Women's Open Championship at Shoal Creek.

Linn Grant, an 18-year-old from Sweden, shot a 3-under 69 and is tied for fourth, just two shots behind the first-round leaders Ariya Jutanugarn, Sarah Jane Smith, and Jeongeun6 Lee.

Grant was the winner of the only Women's Open qualifier held in England, and also won last year's Ladies British Stroke Play and Scottish Ladies Open Amateur.

Patty Tavatanakit of UCLA and Thailand shot a 70 and is in a seventh place tie with Kristen Gillman (Austin, TX) of the University of Alabama.

Related: Tee Times for the 29(!) Amateurs in the U.S. Women's Open

A total of 29 amateurs have made the field this year, up from 21 last year. Hye-Jin Choi of Korea, who has since turned pro and is in the field at Shoal Creek, nearly became the first amateur since 1967 to win the U.S. Women's Open, leading on the back nine on Sunday before ultimately finishing second.

Round 1 Amateur Leaderboard

T4	Linn Grant	-3	69
T7	Patty Tavatanakit	-2	70
T7	Kristen Gillman	-2	70
T25	Elizabeth Wang	E	72
T25	Albane Valenzuela	E	72
T25	Hailee Cooper	E	72
T25	Lucy Li	E	72
T25	Gina Kim	E	72
T56	Yujeong Son	+2	74
T56	Kaylee Benton	+2	74
T56	Dylan Kim	+2	74
T56	Dana Williams	+2	74
T74	Lei Ye	+3	75
T74	Robyn Choi	+3	75
T96	Celia Barquin Arozamena	+4	76
T96	Maria Fassi	+4	76
T96	Allisen Corpuz	+4	76
T96	Olivia Mehaffey	+4	76
T96	Gaeun Song	+4	76
T96	Olivia Cason	+4	76
T121	Emilia Migliaccio	+5	77
T134	Sophie Hausmann	+6	78
T143	Evelyn Arguelles	+8	80
T146	Jennifer Chang	+9	81
T148	Erica Shepherd	+10	82
T148	Andrea Lee	+10	82
T151	Kelsey Chugg	+11	83
T151	Celeste Dao	+11	83
156	Sophia Schubert	+13	85

Results: U.S. Women's Open

Place	Player	Location	Pts	Scores
T5	Patty Tavatanakit	, Thailand	1500	70-73-72-71=286
24	Albane Valenzuela	, Switzerland	800	72-73-71-75=291
T27	Kristen Gillman	Austin, TX	800	70-74-75-74=293
T34	Elizabeth Wang	San Marino, CA	700	72-74-71-77=294
T55	Hailee Cooper	Montgomery, TX	500	72-76-77-74=299

View full results for U.S. Women's Open

About the U.S. Women's Open

U.S. Women's Open: Tavatanakit Low Am with Top 5 Finish

The U.S. Women's Open has the biggest payout in women's golf. It is one of 15 annual championships conducted by the USGA. The event is open to any professional or amateur female golfer. There is a handicap limit for amateurs; for the 2024 event it wa...