U.S. SENIOR WOMEN'S AMATEUR
Rematch of 2017 Final Highlights Senior Women's Am Quarterfinals October 9, 2018 | Vero Beach, Fla. By Scott Lipsky, USGA
Patricia Ehrhart defeated seven-time USGA champion Ellen Port for the second straight year. (USGA/Fred Vuich)
57th U.S. Senior Women's Amateur |#USSeniorWomensAm
Orchid Island Golf & Beach Club, Vero Beach, Fla.
Round of 32/Round of 16: Par 72, 5,817 yards | Hole Locations
There will be a rematch of last year's U.S. Senior Women's Amateur final on Wednesday, as reigning champion Judith Kyrinis and runner-up Terrill Samuel will square off in the quarterfinals at Orchid Island Golf & Beach Club after both posted a pair of impressive victories on Tuesday to set up another showdown between the two Canadians.
Fatigue was not a problem for Kyrinis, 54, after her Round-of-64 match went 22 holes on Monday. She didn't trail in either of her matches, topping 2011 Senior Women's Amateur champion Terri Frohnmayer, 62, of Salem, Ore., on Tuesday morning, 5 and 4, before winning three straight holes on two different occasions in her Round-of-16 match against Laura Coble, 54, of Augusta, Ga., on her way to a 3-and-2 victory. It's the third straight year and the fourth time in five years that Kyrinis has advanced to the quarterfinals. In addition to winning in 2017, she was runner-up in 2014, and was a quarterfinalist in 2016, also medaling that year. She lost in the Round of 16 in 2015.
Samuel, 57, never trailed on Tuesday, either. After defeating countrywoman Helene Chartrand, 62, 2 and 1, in the Round of 32, she jumped out to a quick lead on Lisa McGill, 59, of Philadelphia, Pa., before ultimately prevailing, 4 and 3. Her quarterfinal match against Kyrinis will mark the fourth time in five Senior Women's Amateur matches that Samuel will face a fellow Canadian, dating to last year's final. She defeated countrywoman Rhonda Orr in the Round of 64, 7 and 5.
Past was pretense in another instance on Tuesday, with Patricia Ehrhart advancing to her second straight quarterfinals in the same fashion, by defeating three-time Senior Women's Amateur champion Ellen Port. Ehrhart, 53, of Honolulu, Hawaii, blasted out from the bunker behind the 18th green and calmly rolled in a 10-footer for par to clinch a 1-up victory over Port, 57, of St. Louis, Mo., a year after she topped her in the Round of 16, 6 and 5.
Ehrhart was bogey free in her match on Tuesday afternoon, and needed to be against Port, who was 2 under on the back nine, with the usual match-play concessions. Port took her only lead of the match on the par-4 sixth, where she hit her approach shot from 130 yards to 7 feet before rolling in the putt. The duo halved the par-3 12th hole with birdies, with Ehrhart rolling in a 6-foot putt after Port hit her tee shot to 2 feet. Ehrhart moved to 2 up on No. 14 when she made a 12-foot putt for birdie before holding on for the victory.
Kathy Kurata, 58, of Pasadena, Calif., was another player who never had to come from behind on Tuesday against a pair of tough opponents. She paired a 4-and-3 victory over medalist Pamela Kuong, of Wellesley Hills, Mass., in the Round of 32 with a 1-up victory over Mary Jane Hiestand, 59, of Naples, Fla. Their Round-of-16 match came to the 18th hole all square before Hiestand, the 2017 U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur runner-up, found trouble, having to lay up with her third shot out of a fairway bunker. She missed a 12-foot par putt and then conceded the match to Kurata.
The quarterfinals begin at 8 a.m. EDT on Wednesday morning, with the semifinals following in the afternoon.
Also among the quarterfinalists are 2004 U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur champion Corey Weworski, 56, of Carlsbad, Calif.; 2013 Senior Women's Amateur runner-up Susan Cohn, 55, of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.; Lara Tennant, 51, of Portland, Ore.; and Sue Wooster, 56, of Australia.
The eight quarterfinalists receive exemptions into the 2019 Senior Women's Amateur, which will be played at Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Country Club, Aug. 24-29.
Three quarterfinalists from 2017 are among the final eight this year in Judith Kyrinis, Terrill Samuel and Patricia Ehrhart.
Kyrinis is the second reigning Senior Women's Amateur champion to advance to the quarterfinals since 2014. Karen Garcia made a run to semifinals in her title defense in 2016.
Judith Kyrinis, of Canada, on how to keep herself fresh for another potentially long day tomorrow: "I've kind of been there, done that, right? It's not our first rodeo. I manage some walking and some riding just to keep the legs going. It was so hot today, so you really needed to have a seat and drink a lot."
Terrill Samuel, of Canada, on her Round-of-16 victory over Lisa McGill (4 and 3): "Lisa McGill is the nicest person you ever want to meet. It was such a nice match to play, unbelievable. We both played pretty good. I hit a few really bad shots, but that's just one hole so thank goodness. The only difference was putting. Especially at the end, she three-putted the last couple of holes."
Patricia Ehrhart, of Honolulu, Hawaii, on playing seven-time USGA champion Ellen Port in the Round of 16: "I couldn't make a mistake. I knew I would really just have to play the golf course and try to hit the best shot I could everywhere. When you play with someone with the class of Ellen, there's no games, there's no distractions, it's golf. It's a true championship golf game. I admire her so much. It could have gone either way."
Kathy Kurata, of Pasadena, Calif., on her pair of victories on Tuesday: "It's tough playing against friends. I know both of them, great golfers and great ladies. Pam [Kuong] is such a great, steady consistent golfer. This afternoon, I lost my feel for putting and struggled a bit. I thought, just stay patient. Just keep trying to get a feel back."
Susan Cohn, of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., on earning an exemption into next year's championship: "That was a big goal of mine. Qualifying is the most stressful thing. Here in South Florida, we have so many big golfers. A day or two after qualifying you think you really don't care how well you play in the championship because you got in. A few days before the championship, you lose that feeling, because you want to play as well as you can."
Scott Lipsky is the senior manager of content for the USGA. Email him at slipsky@usga.org.
Canada's Judith Kyrinis (@golfrmom) & Terrill Samuel have advanced to the quarterfinals of the #USSeniorWomensAm.
Scoring: https://t.co/NXnb3dzStm
📷 by @USGA pic.twitter.com/MB7X4AvclE
— Golf Canada (@TheGolfCanada) October 9, 2018
The Lara Tennant train 🚂 keeps on rollin' at the #USSeniorWomensAm - Next stop, quarterfinals. (📸 @USGA)
📰 | https://t.co/UCa7cgfux7 pic.twitter.com/mq77a8Ggei
— Pacific NW Golf Association (PNGA) (@thePNGA) October 9, 2018
Walking into the #USSeniorWomensAm quarterfinals like... 📸USGA/Fred Vuich
A post shared by United States Golf Association (@usga) on Oct 9, 2018 at 3:50pm PDT
Good luck @TheOlympicClub member Pat Cornett today!!#USSeniorWomensAm https://t.co/cm8tWxXmTj
— Will Hutter (@WillHutter) October 9, 2018
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