Cleveland, OH (Sports Network) - Lydia Ko, the top-ranked amateur in the
world, earned a 3 & 1 win over Paula Reto on Friday to advance to the
semifinals at the U.S. Women's Amateur Championship.
Reto grabbed an early lead with a birdie on the second, but it was all Ko from
there. Reto bogeyed the third to square the match. Ko took the fifth with a
par and the eighth with a birdie.
Ko pushed her lead to 3-up with a birdie on No. 12. She bogeyed the next to
trim her lead, but closed out the match with a par on the 17th at The Country
Club.
Ko advances to face Ariya Jutanugarn, the 2011 Girls Junior champion.
Jutanugarn rolled to a 5 & 4 win over Erynne Lee. Jutanugarn birdied the third
to move 1-up.
Jutanugarn and Lee halved the next four holes before Jutanugarn took over. She
won three in a row from the eighth with a birdie and two pars. Lee birdied No.
12 to get within 3-down, but Jutanugarn took 13 with a par and closed out the
match with a birdie on the par-3 14th.
The other semifinal will pit Nicole Zhang against Jaye Marie Green, who both
won their quarterfinal matches, 2 & 1.
Zhang took down Su-Hyun Oh, who led for the first 12 holes. Oh birdied the
first two holes to quickly go 2-up. She held the lead until stumbling to a
bogey on the par-4 13th.
Zhang birdied 14 and 16 to go 2-up and closed out the match with a par on 17.
Green held off Marijosse Navarro in the other quarterfinal. Neither player had
more than a 1-up lead through 16 holes. The duo traded holes between the
second and fifth.
Navarro bogeyed No. 8 to slip 1-down, but she birdied the 10th to square the
match. Green birdied 16 and 17 to advance.
The semifinals will take place on Saturday with the 36-hole final slated for
Sunday.
The Sports Network