Anna Zhou and Sabrina Iqbal will square off in California Women's Amateur final
7/29/2016 | by Northern California Golf Association
see also: View results for California Women's Amateur, Santa Ana Country Club
The final at Quail Lodge Golf Course will begin at 6:30 a.m. PST
CARMEL-BY-THE-SEA, CA (July 29, 2016) -- Anna Zhou and Sabrina Iqbal will square off for the title at the 50th California Women’s Amateur Championship, and they’ll do it on one of golf’s greatest stages.
Zhou, a sophomore at Harvard, and Iqbal, a junior at Pioneer High in San Jose, both punched their tickets to Saturday’s 18-hole final at Pebble Beach Golf Links by sweeping their quarterfinals and semifinals matches Friday at par-72 Quail Lodge Resort in Carmel Valley.
The No. 20 seeded Zhou, who hails from Palo Alto, earned her spot after knocking out No.9 Monica Matsubara via a 4 and 3 victory. Matsubara began the day by ousting No.1 seed Kathleen Scavo, 1-up, after Scavo double-bogeyed the 18th.
A finalist at the 2014 San Francisco City Amateur, Zhou took a 2-up lead after a birdie on the par-5 4th hole and never looked back. Matsubara, who was coming off a win at the recent CWC Championship, trimmed the lead to 1-up when Zhou bogeyed the 7th, but by the time the two reached the 11th tee Zhou’s lead was back to 3-up courtesy of a par and birdie win on the 9th and 10th holes, respectively.
In the morning quarterfinals, Zhou dispatched No.12 seed and defending NCGA Women’s Amateur winner Camille Orito with a 4 and 2 win. In all four of her matches, Zhou has never trailed.
While Zhou continued to cruise through the brackets, the No. 2 seeded Iqbal finally found herself severely tested in her quarterfinals match against No. 30 Gypsie Hutchinson. Through the first 14 holes, Iqbal either led or the match was all-square. On both holes No. 15 and No. 16, however, Hutchinson made birdie to go dormie. With her back against the wall, Iqbal responded with a birdie win on the par-3 17th and a par win on No. 18.
On the 19th hole (No.1), Iqbal again made a birdie while Hutchinson could only manage a par. Hutchinson’s birdie on the 15th marked the first time that Iqbal had ever trailed in a match.
In the afternoon semifinals, Iqbal got back to business. The recent NCGA Junior Championship winner took a 1-up lead with a birdie on the first hole and never gave it up. Zhu, a junior at Harker High, brought it back to all-square with a birdie on the 7th but two costly bogeys later handed Iqbal a 2-up lead through the 13th.
On the 15th, Iqbal made birdie to go 3-up. Zhu tried to mimic Iqbal’s quarterfinals comeback by making birdie on the 16th, but the two halved the 17th for a 2 and 1 Iqbal victory.
The championship, founded by women’s golf legend Helen Lengfeld in 1967, was annually held at Pebble Beach until 1987.
Former champions of the event include four-time winner and current LPGA Tour member Mina Harigae and Natalie Gulbis.
About the California Women's Amateur
The California Women’s Amateur Championship was founded in 1967 and played at Pebble Beach Golf Links until 1987 when the Championship was invited to Quail Lodge & Golf Club in Carmel, where it was played through 2019. 36-hole stroke play qualifying ...
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