Quarters set at California Women's Am; Akabane skates by

CARMEL, Calif. (July 26, 2018) – There was one big upset, and nearly an even bigger one, as match play opened at the annual California Women’s Amateur Championship at the par-72 Quail Lodge Resort.

No.1 seed Ty Akabane of Danville, who beat the field by seven shots in stroke-play qualifying, looked like she was on her way out early in her Round of 16 match to No.17 Ziyi Wang. Wang, who plays at Stanford, went 6 under through the first eight holes to take a huge 4-up lead.

But Akabane didn’t give in. When Wang cooled off a bit, Akabane came roaring back, playing No. 9 through No. 16 in 4 under to pull the match back to all square. On the par-3 17th, Akabane made yet another birdie to go 1 up. The pair then halved the closing 18th.

Akabane’s comeback sets up a quarterfinal showdown with No. 9 seed Sabrina Iqbal. Iqbal, who won the CWAC title in 2016, won her Round of 16 match, 2 up.

No. 2 seed Elizabeth Schultz also moved on to the quarterfinals. The Walnut Creek resident, who played at San Jose State, won her two matches, 3 and 2 and 2 and 1.

No. 3 seed Andrea Gomez was not as fortunate, falling to No. 14 Kathleen Scavo, who plays for the University of Oregon. Scavo won the California Junior Girls’ State title in both 2012 and 2013. Earlier this month, she won the Women’s Trans National Championship.

No.4 seed Madelyn Gamble of Pleasant Hill, a sophomore at Carondelet High and the runner-up at this year’s California Junior Girls’ Championship, cruised in her two matches, 7 and 6 and 5 and 4. She’ll next take on No.2 1 Maria Davis in the quarterfinals.

The other two quarterfinals matches will pit Schultz vs. No. 10 Natasha Oon and Scavo against No. 11 Alice Duan. Oon, a junior star in Malaysia, will start playing for San Jose State this fall.