Clemson, S.C.—In what must be considered the finest day of amateur play in Clemson women’s golf history, Annabelle Pancake and Savannah Grewal both advanced to the final 32 with first-round match play victories at the 122nd United States Women’s Amateur championship at Chambers Bay Golf Club in University Place, Washington.
After never having an active roster player win a match at the US Women’s Amateur, two Clemson women’s golfers gained victory on the same day. Former Clemson players Ashlan Ramsey and Lauren Stephenson both had won matches previous, but both wins took place before they were seniors in high school.
Pancake and Grewal won their matches in strong fashion, as neither trailed at any point in their match. Pancake was 4-up after nine holes and Grewal had a 3-up lead after the initial nine.Pancake won her match, 5 & 4 over Abbey Daniel of Covington, La,, a senior at Mississippi State. The Clemson junior won five holes and did not lose any in the 14 holes the two golfer played on Wednesday.
Pancake and Daniel tied the first two holes, then the Clemson rising junior broke through to win the par five fourth hole with a birdie. Playing well on the par five holes has been a key for Pancake all week. She made birdie on all five par fives on the par 73 course in the second round of stroke play on Tuesday.Pancake then took control of the match by winning the seventh, eighth and ninth holes to take a 4-up lead at the turn. The next four holes were tied, then Pancake closed out the match with a winning par on the 14th.
“”I played steady all day,” said Pancake. “I had to get up and down for par on the first two holes, but after than I was steady fairways and greens. I didn’t have a bogey all day. “
Pancake did not let Daniel back in the match even when she made birdies on the back nine. We both made birdie putts on 10, then we both had double breakers (for birdie) on 11th. She made a 31-footer, then I made a 20-footer right on top of it to keep the lead at 4-up.”
Pancake, the #24 seed, will face #9 seed Maddison Hinson-Tolchard of Australia, a junior on the Oklahoma State women’s golf team on Thursday morning. She won her first round match 2&1 over Yixian Guo of the University of Texas.
Grewal defeated #10 seed Casey Weidenfeld of Pembroke Pines, Florida, a red-shirt freshman on the Auburn women’s golf team, by a 2 & 1 score. Like Pancake, Grewal took a commanding lead early by winning three of the first six holes, all with birdies, to take a 3-up lead.
She still had the 3-up lead at the turn. But Weidenfeld won holes 10 and 12 to cut the margin to 1-up. Grewal won the par five 13th hole with a birdie, but Weidenfeld came right back to win the par four 14th when Grewal made a bogey. Both players made birdie on the par three 15th hole to keep the lead for Grewal at 1-up.
Grewal then won the 339-yard par four 16th hole to go back to two-up with three holes to play. When the players tied the par three 17th hole with pars, Grewal had the 2&1 victory.
Grewal will now face young phenom Mia Hammond of New Albany, Ohio, who is about to enter her freshman year of high school. Both Grewal and Hammond are past winners of the National Chip, Drive and Putt contest at Augusta National, Grewal in 2017 and Hammond this past April.
The tournament will play two rounds on Thursday, one in the morning and one in the afternoon and early evening. Just eight players will remain after play Thursday night. Coverage on the Golf Channel begins at 7 p.m. eastern time. Live scoring is available on the USGA Website.
