Thirty-two of the top women amateur golfers in Florida have advanced to the match play portion of the 84th Women’s Amateur Championship at Vero Beach Country Club, on June 8-12.
After persisting through three hours of weather delays during Saturday’s round, some competitors still had to finish their first round Sunday morning. Ashley Holder, of Orlando, was no exception. Holder had to finish two holes Sunday morning due to the delay, but came in with a two-under par 70 and was first round co-leader with Tess Huber of Port St. Lucie. Holder finished as medalist for the qualifying rounds with rounds of 70-73-143. Holder had five birdies between the two rounds, and even birdied the difficult 18th hole that proved to be a test to the rest of the field. Holder will face Ericka Schneider, of Bradenton, who is the 2012 Women’s Stroke Play defending champion.
Other notables that have advanced to the match play portion include, Mary Jane Hiestand of Naples, who is the 2007 Women’s Amateur past champion. Hiestand was also the 2012 Women’s Senior Player-of-the-Year and just recently won the 2013 Women’s Senior Amateur Championship in April. Hiestand will play against 2nd seed Dylan Kim, of Winter Garden, in Monday morning’s Round of 32 matches. Kim played very consistently during the last two days; shooting 73-73-146 to finish tied just behind Holder. Yuanru Yin, of Orlando, came back after a decent first round of 77, with a three-under-par round of 69 on Sunday. Yin has recently won three Florida Junior Tour events in a row.
The competitors will face single elimination matches beginning with the Round of 32 matches to be played on Monday morning, and then Round of 16 matches following Monday afternoon. Quarter-final matches will be played Tuesday morning, with Semi-final matches played in the afternoon on Tuesday. The final 18 hole Championship match will be played on Wednesday morning.
