A journey that began with a medalist-winning performance in a qualifying tournament in October at Walnut Creek Golf Preserve in Westminster has led to the semifinals of the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship for Colorado State University teammates Katrina Prendergast and Ellen Secor.
A year after making it to the round of 16 in this national event, the two Rams earned two victories on Tuesday to advance to the final four at El Caballero Country Club in Tarzana, Calif.
If Prendergast and Secor win two more matches on Wednesday, they’ll be USGA national champions.
The CSU teammates have won their three matches by margins of 4 and 2, 4 and 2, and 1 up. (The two are pictured, with Prendergast at left.)
On Tuesday morning, they scored a 4 and 2 victory in the round of 16 over Californians Hailey Borja and Chayse Gomez. And in the afternoon, they prevailed 1 up over 32nd-seeded Katherine Gravel-Coursol of Canada and Paige Nelson of Farmers Branch, Texas, who on Monday beat the stroke-play medalists.
In the quarterfinals, Prendergast and Secor won Nos. 3 and 5 with pars and No. 4 with a birdie to go 3 up, and never trailed. But Gravel-Coursol and Nelson won holes 12 through 14, with two birdies and a par, to square the match. Then Prendergast and Secor took No. 15 with a birdie, Gravel-Coursol and Nelson No. 16 with a par to square things again, and the CSU teammates went ahead one last time with Secor’s 15-foot birdie on the par-5 17th. The teams halved No. 18 with pars, giving the victory to the two Rams, who were 1 under par for the round.
In the round of 16, Prendergast and Secor won the first hole with a birdie and led throughout, making seven birdies and one bogey in 16 holes.
In Wednesday’s semifinals, the Rams will face 13th-seeded Megan Furtney of Chicago and Erica Shepherd of Greenwood, Ind., two future Duke teammates. Then the two semifinal winners will square off Wednesday afternoon for the national title. Shepherd won the 2017 U.S. Girls’ Junior.
Here are the scores for the local teams that are competing this week:
MATCH PLAY QUARTERFINALS
CSU teammates Katrina Prendergast/Ellen Secor def. Katherine Gravel-Coursol of Canada and Paige Nelson of Farmers Branch, Texas, 1 up.
MATCH PLAY ROUND OF 16
CSU teammates Katrina Prendergast/Ellen Secor def. Hailey Borja of Lake Forest, Calif., and Chayse Gomez of Yorba Linda, Calif., 4 and 2.
MATCH PLAY ROUND OF 32
CSU teammates Katrina Prendergast/Ellen Secor def. Calynne Rosholt and Chandler Rosholt of Cedar Park, Texas, 4 and 2.
Meghan Stasi of Fort Lauderdale, Fla./Dawn Woodard of Greenville, S.C. def. Charlotte Hillary of Cherry Hills Village/Hailey Schalk of Erie, 1 up.
STROKE PLAY
6. CSU teammates Katrina Prendergast/Ellen Secor 70-67–137
15. Charlotte Hillary of Cherry Hills Village/Hailey Schalk of Erie 70-70–140
For all the scores from the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball, CLICK HERE.
