BANDON, Ore. – Kansas junior golfer Lyla Louderbaugh advanced to the semifinals of the U.S. Women’s Amateur on Friday. This came despite losing a 2-hole lead against top-ranked player Kiara Romero and then keeping her composure to win in 20 holes at Bandon Dunes. Louderbaugh, who has been a two-time Kansas Women’s Amateur champion, advanced to face Brooke Biermann, who defeated Arianna Lau of Hong Kong 3 and 2. Megha Ganne, a senior at Stanford, defeated Eila Galitsky of Thailand, 2 and 1, and will face Ella Scaysbrook of Australia in the semifinals, who had the shortest match of the quarterfinals, winning 5 and 4 against Taylor Kehoe of Canada. Louderbaugh took the lead against Kiara Romero, a junior at Oregon and No. 1 in women’s amateur golf, with a tee shot to 3 feet on the 12th hole (par 3) and an excellent approach for a tap-in on the 13th hole (par 5). He was 2 up when Romero missed a 30-inch par putt on the 16th hole. However, the situation changed due to a strong wind coming from the Pacific coast, with gusts of up to 30 mph. Louderbaugh sent his approach to the 17th hole over the green and into the bushes, while Romero managed a shot to 3 feet. In the 18th hole (par 5), after Romero hit his driver from the fairway, about 50 meters before the green, Louderbaugh used a 7-iron from a light rough. The wind, which was blowing from left to right, sent his shot into the bushes again, giving the hole to Romero.
In the 10th hole, the first extra hole, Louderbaugh’s 7-foot birdie putt hit the back of the cup and veered off. On the 20th hole, it was Romero who made a mistake. His shot went to the right, and the best he could do from there was an approach to about 10 feet from the flag. Romero missed his 10-foot par putt, and Louderbaugh two-putted from 20 feet to win.I went to the bathroom and told myself: “You were playing very well on the last two holes. You don’t need to let those two mistakes affect you.” I told my caddie to let me think for myself, to go over the shots in my head. That helped me think clearly.
Louderbaugh
Ganne had a 2-hole lead early on and led by one hole when he made two 6-foot par putts to stay ahead, before Galitsky made too many mistakes. Biermann was losing until he won three holes in a row, starting with a fairway shot to 3 feet against the wind on the 11th hole.I was confident that I could go out and beat her today.
Louderbaugh
