HARRISON, New York — It was a bad day to be a high seed at the 121st U.S. Women’s Amateur.
Sure, at this point in the tournament you throw out the seeds and records, because as the old adage goes, “Anything can happen in match play,” but when seven of the top-10 seeds all lose in the Round of 64, it’s worth noting.
Nobody played the opening two rounds of stroke play better than Wake Forest junior Rachel Kuehn, who earned medalist honors on Tuesday night by two shots at 6 under. What did that earn her? A match against Marissa Wenzler, a player beaming with confidence after claiming the Women’s Western Amateur two weeks ago. The Kentucky junior earned a 1 up win against the top seed of the tournament, foreshadowing the many upsets to come.
“There is 156 players that can play and 64 players that can play even better,” explained Kuehn. “Anyone out here can come out and get hot one day.”
Of the 32 matches on Wednesday at Westchester Country Club, 19 were won by the lower seed. Notable players who joined Kuehn on the wrong side of their matches include No. 2 Kennedy Pedigo, No. 4 Erica Shepherd, No. 5 Caroline Canales, No. 6 Alyaa Abdulghany, No. 7 Allysha Mae Mateo and No. 8 Morgan Baxendale.
The only top-10 players to win, you ask?
No. 3 Brooke Matthews, No. 9 Emilia Migliaccio – the former Wake Forest star turned Golf Channel intern who commentated on-air after her win – and No. 10 Sophie Guo.
Also included in the noteworthy losses was the world’s top-ranked amateur and defending U.S. Women’s Amateur champion Rose Zhang, who gave up a 2-up lead through 12 holes by losing three of the next five holes down the stretch to Elle Nachmann.
“Coming into this week I just didn’t have the best game,” said Zhang, an incoming freshman at Stanford who won the U.S. Girls’ Junior last month. “I had to grind through stroke play, and then in match play obviously you can’t make any mistakes. So I just did one too many and it was costly. I think overall it was a good experience and I tried to fight back. Looking forward to my next couple events in the summer.”
Nachmann, on the other hand, can’t get back to the course soon enough for Thursday’s 36-hole marathon day featuring both Rounds of 32 and 16.
Nachmann Knockout!
Elle Nachmann wins her match 1 up against defending #USWomensAm champion Rose Zhang. pic.twitter.com/volRU8EcKI
— USGA (@USGA) August 4, 2021
“I mean, it really, really makes me confident. I have been playing some really good golf this summer,” said Nachmann, a Penn sophomore who missed U.S. Women’s Open qualification by one and earned medalist honors at the Florida Amateur Championship before finishing runner-up in match play. “My uncle Vincent, he was top 20 in the world in tennis and he has been working with me a lot and definitely with my mental game saying, ‘You just got to stay mentally strong.’”
Will the upsets continue on Thursday? Anything can happen in match play.