Greenlief, who won the 2015 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur and has decided to reinvest in her game this season by taking a four-month leave from her job, is the No. 2 seed on the bracket. She tied Rachel Kuehn with 3-under 69 for 18 holes of stroke-play qualifying. Kuehn fell in the first round of match play.
Carol Pyon, runner-up at last week’s Georgia Women’s Match Play, defeated Kuehn. She won another match on Tuesday, this time against Chandler Rosholt.
Interestingly, Pyon will meet Megan Schofill in the next round. Schofill, a top Florida junior who is headed to Auburn in the fall, defeated Pyon the Georgia Match Play final.
Calynne Rosholt and Kennedy Swann will face off on Thursday, and so will Emma Whitaker and Paris Hilinski.
JUNE 4 RECAP
In the first match-play round of the Women’s Southern Amateur, one co-medalist fell and one advanced. At the top of the bracket, Rachel Kuehn, an incoming Wake Forest freshman, fell to Carol Pyon, 1 up. In the No. 2 spot, former U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion Lauren Greenlief prevailed.
Greenlief advanced by defeating Abby Hermann, 4 and 2. The Southern Amateur, played this week at Lockwood Folly Golf Club in Holden Beach, N.C., marks the start of a devoted golf summer for Greenlief. The 28-year-old Virginia resident told the USGA last month that she would take a four-month leave from her job to devote herself fully to the game.
Related: Greenlief's balancing act
Greenlief’s summer will also include the North & South, the Eastern Amateur, the Ladies National Golf Association Championship (formerly the Trans-National) and the inaugural Donna Andrews Invitational in her home state.
Other notable match winners in Tuesday’s first round included recent Georgia Women’s Match Play winner Megan Schofill, Mercer’s Payton Schanen, who won the 2016 Georgia Women’s Amateur.