HARVARD, Massachusetts – During what has been the hottest stretch of the season to date here in the Bay State, with the heat index rising to triple digits Tuesday, Dover, Massachusetts native Sophie DiPetrillo, a member of the University of Richmond women’s golf team, made five birdies in her final nine holes to jump up and clinch the third and final spot to the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship in August. Two competitors who traveled from places generally known for its warm temperatures split medalist honors at 4-under par 68, besting DiPetrillo by one stroke.
Hawaii native Allisen Corpuz, a rising junior on the University of Southern California women’s golf team, and Stephanie Lau, of California, a rising senior on the Northwestern University women’s golf team, each shot a 4-under 68 at Shaker Hills Country Club to advance to the Championship Proper.
“I’m absolutely pumped,” said DiPetrillo on clinching a berth to her first U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship.
After making the turn at 1-over 37 following a bogey-birdie-bogey stretch on holes six through eight, the Blue Hill Country Club member, a rising senior at the University of Richmond, skyrocketed up the leaderboard with a stellar performance on the back nine.
DiPetrillo, the reigning Patriot League individual champion who helped lead the Spiders to the NCAA Tournament this past May, birdied the par-4 10th hole to get back to even, then birdied four of her final five holes to avoid a sudden death playoff by one stroke.
“I knew that I needed to shoot under 70 to qualify and I just wasn’t there,” said the 21-year old DiPetrillo on her start to Tuesday’s qualifier. “I three-putted the 13th hole and then made four birdies in the next five holes to shoot 69. I kept sticking it close and putting it in and I was like, ‘Please God, just go in the hole.’”
In addition to qualifying for her first U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship, she has been on a recent streak over the course of the past month that saw her play in four consecutive tournaments, and winning the recent Virginia State Golf Association’s Women’s Stroke Play Championship at Belle Haven Country Club in Alexandria.
“My year so far has been incredible” said DiPetrillo. “[At Richmond], I won two tournaments individually this year so we won the conference and then we went to [NCAA] Regionals, but I played in three tournaments in a row and this is my fourth.”
She will compete in the New England Women’s Golf Association Amateur Championship, being contested at the Woodlands Club in Falmouth, Maine from July 9-11.
Joining DiPetrillo at the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship, being contested at The Golf Club of Tennessee from August 6-12, is University of Southern California rising junior Allisen Corpuz and Northwestern University rising senior Stephanie Lau.
Corpuz, who at age 10 became the youngest competitor to ever play in a USGA Championship when she competed in the 2008 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship, made the turn at 2-under with birdies on the fifth and seventh holes, then erased an error on the par-4 11th by carding eagle-birdie on holes 15 and 16 to finish her day at 4-under. This past season, she earned Pac-12 and All-American Honorable mentions after her No. 5 Trojans fell to Alabama in the NCAA Semifinals.
Lau, the 2016 Big Ten Freshman of the Year, played bogey-free golf on Tuesday. She made the turn at 1-under 35, then registered birdies on the par-4 12th hole, the par-5 15th hole and the par-4 17th holes.
In addition to the three competitors who qualified, Auburn, New York’s Lindsay May was named first alternate while Maisie Fuller (Bloomfield, Conn.) earned second alternate after May defeated Fuller in a four-hole sudden-death playoff.
Mass Golf will provide coverage for its competitors playing in the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship. Visit MassGolf.org and follow @PlayMassGolf on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for the latest information. To join the conversation, use the hashtag #MassGolf and #USWomensAm
