Women’s Western Am: Thibault, Lucena will play for the title
Brigitte Thibault (L) and Jackie Lucena square off Saturday
After six rounds of golf over four days, the Women’s Western Championship has its championship match set.
Beginning the day with eight, Brigitte Thibault and Jackie Lucena fought hard to work their way into Saturday’s championship match at Prestwick Country Club in Frankfort, Ill.
UC Davis’ Lucena clawed her way through the quarters and semis with an extended 20 hole match against 15-seed Taylor Kehoe. Squaring off against Winthrop’s Chelsea Dantonio, Lucena pounced early going 5 up through nine before finishing the match at No. 12 for a 7&6 win.
A Fresno State senior, Thibault bested Oklahoma’s Ellen Secor 6&4 to advance and face Middle Tennessee State’s Sophie Burks. Burks did not go down easy as Thibault needed 21 holes to secure her spot in the championship match.
Thibault, the 2019 Mountain West Conference champion, was a quarterfinalist in the Women's Western two years ago and played in the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur in 2019.
Saturday’s 36-hole championship match will begin at 7:30 am local time.
ABOUT THE Women's Western Amateur
The The Western Golf Association (WGA) has
partnered with the Women’s Western Golf
Association to administer the
Women’s Western Amateur. Held without interruption
since 1901, this event is one of the
oldest annual championships in women’s amateur
golf. The list of past champions includes
current stars and legends of the LPGA TOUR,
including Ariya Jutanugarn (2012), Stacy Lewis
(2006), Brittany Lang (2003), Grace Park (1998),
Cristie Kerr (1995) and Nancy Lopez (1976).
The Women's Western Amateur is open to amateur
women who have an up-to-date 18-hole
handicap index
that does not exceed 5.4 under the World Handicap
System. The WWGA Committee limits the
field to a
maximum of 120 contestants.
The championship begins with 36 holes of stroke-
play qualifying, after which the field is cut to
the low 32
players for match play. In the event of a tie for the
32nd position, a sudden-elimination playoff
will determine
the final match play qualifiers. Five rounds of 18-hole
matches will decide the Women's
Western Amateur
champion.
View Complete Tournament Information