Sports
UCLA Golfers Advance at Women's Amateur
Senior Stephanie Kono and incoming freshman Erynne Lee reach the quarterfinals.
The present and future of the UCLA women's golf program was on display Thursday at the 111th U.S. Women's Amateur tournament in Barrington, Rhode Island.
The Bruins are defending national champions, so it's no surprise that four of them were still alive in the round of 16 match play at the 6,399-yard par 71 Rhode Island Country Club.
Senior Stephanie Kono eliminated her junior teammate Tiffany Lua 3 and 2 while incoming Bruins freshman Erynne Lee from Central Kitsap High School in Silverdale, Washington, needed 19 holes to defeat Annie Park of Levittown, New York.
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Kono, an All-American from Honolulu, Hawaii, had defeated Lydia Ko of New Zealand by the same score in the round of 32 earlier Thursday, Lee knocked out Tiffany Lim of San Jose 4 and 2 and Lua knocked out Canada's Mackenzie Brooke Henderson 3 and 2.
UCLA junior Lee Lopez won her second round match over Stephanie Kim of Tempe, Arizona, before dropping her afternoon match 3 and 2 to Austin Ernst of Seneca, South Carolina, who plays for LSU and was the 2010 NCAA Division I individual champion.
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A veteran on the U.S. Golf Association tournament circuit, the 21-year -old Kono will play Ernst in the quarterfinals Friday while Lee will play Brooke Pancake of Chattanooga, Tennessee, a junior at Alabama.
The two remaining Bruins are on opposite sides of the draw and would not meet until the final, which is scheduled for 36 holes on Sunday.
UCLA captured its third women's golf title (and second under current coach Carrie Forsyth) in May, winning by four strokes over Purdue at College Station, Texas. It was the 107th NCAA title for UCLA, which has won more than any other school.
Lua was fourth overall at 1-under par (287) at the four-round team championships, behind Ernst (281), Arkansas sophomore Kelli Shean (284) and Laura Gonzales of Purdue (286).
In July, Bruins senior Brianna Do out of Long Beach Wilson High won the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship at the Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Bandon, Oregon.
