A trio of Triad golfers put themselves in the hunt to advance to match play after the first round of stroke play at the U.S. Women’s Amateur at The Honors Course in Ooltewah, Tennessee.
Morgan Ketchum of Winston-Salem, who recently finished her career at Wake Forest, shot 2-over-par 74. Wake teammate Macy Pate of Winston-Salem and Emily Mathews of Mebane, who plays at Virginia Tech, shot 75.
Ketchum and Pate played together at Reagan High and this past year at Wake. Ketchum, who played three years at Virginia Tech, was a Hokie teammate of Mathews.
Ketchum is part of an 18-player tie for 46th place in the 156-player field. Mathews is one of 14 players tied for 64th. The top 64 players — ties will be broken in playoff — after Wednesday’s final round of stroke play advance to match play.
Ketchum made three birdies, three bogeys and a double-bogey. Pate posted two birdies, three bogeys and a double. Mathews made two birdies on her way to 35 on the front, but made four bogeys for 40 on the back nine.
Jenna Kim of Raleigh, committed to play at Yale, shot 80. Carolina Wynns, a 15-year-old from Buies Creek, shot 81. Charlotte’s Elizabeth Rudisill, who plays at Vanderbilt, shot 73. High Point University’s Makayla Grubb shot 76. Wake golfer Sarah Lydic posted 76 and teammate Chloe Kovelesky had 80.
Anna Iwanaga of Japan shot 67 to lead the field. Only 20 players were under par on the difficult Pete Dye design.
