HARRISON, New York — Emilia Migliaccio is just a few months removed from an All-American career at Wake Forest, but she’s settled in to her life after competitive golf as a Golf Channel intern, even making her on-air debut last month at the U.S. Girls’ Junior.
But don’t get it twisted, the Cary, North Carolina, native can still swing it with the best of them, and she’s proving it once again this week at the 121st U.S. Women’s Amateur.
The five-time collegiate winner and 2019 ACC champion survived a 22-hole marathon match during Wednesday’s Round of 64, beating Ting-Hsuan Huang on the fourth playoff hole with a par.
“I think the hardest thing about match play is when you’re not playing well and you are like, ‘Shoot, I could be 3 up right now but I’m 1 down,’ or something like that,” said Migliaccio after the match. “So that was kind of the thing I had to focus on. Like not think about the holes I could have won and just keep going.”
.@WakeWGolf alum and current @GolfChannel intern @emiliamigliacc1 wins her #USWomensAm match after 22 holes!
pic.twitter.com/TSFZR910fo
— USGA (@USGA) August 4, 2021
Keep going she did. Migliaccio held a 1-up lead midway through the front nine before Huang was able to even the match on No. 7 and take the lead on No. 10. Then it got interesting. Huang, from Chinese Taipei, held a 1-up lead on the 16th tee but lost the hole with bogey and then lost the advantage on Migliaccio, who birdied No. 17. Huang made a clutch birdie on No. 18 to force the playoff, which would be her last birdie of round. The two traded pars on the first three holes, with Migliaccio moving on after Huang’s bogey on No. 4, the 22nd hole.
But Migliaccio didn’t do it alone. The 22-year-old has a new caddie on the bag this week, her boyfriend Charlie.
“In stroke play we were just having a blast. He was making me laugh the whole time,” said Migliaccio. “In match play it was really nice to have him there. Just felt really relaxed and focused, and like it’s really nice to have someone by your side that you can emotionally connect and also talk through shots and stuff.
After the lengthy match, Migliaccio then put the clubs down and picked the mic back up to commentate on the afternoon round during the end of Golf Channel’s broadcast.
“I’m really treasuring this week because it’s going to be my last competition for a while,” Migliaccio said of comparing competition and commentating. “They’re both so exciting. Commentating was as close to playing golf as I could get. So if I can keep doing that I’ll be pretty satisfied.”