BROCKTON, Massachusetts – Among a talented field, four women punched their ticket to the 119th U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship on Monday at Thorny Lea Golf Club in Brockton. Medalist Phoebe Brinker, of Wilmington, Delaware, who fired a day-best 3-under 68 in the 18-hole qualifier, joins Valery Plata of Columbia, Alexa Pano of Lake Worth, Florida, and Paris Hilinksi of La Quinta, California in under-par rounds. The quartet will head to the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship being contested at Old Waverly Golf Club in West Point, Mississippi beginning August 5.
ONLINE: RESULTS | USGA QUALIFYING HOMEPAGE
The four will join Massachusetts resident Shannon Johnson, who earned entrance into the Championship Proper via an exemption from her U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship victory last September.
Brinker took the top spot on the leaderboard with a little help from an eagle on the difficult 472-yard Par 5 8th hole.
“The course was playing pretty difficult,” said Brinker of the conditions on Monday. “I was even through six and it was starting to get a bit tough out there but making eagle on eight certainly helped and kept me rolling. I got to the green in two and I made a great putt…one of those putts you just don’t expect to make. It just rolled in.”
The 17-year old Brinker, a verbal commit to Duke University in Fall 2020, is on her way to her first U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship. The national stage is nothing new to the Delaware native, as she has competed in several notable events including the U.S. Girls Junior Championship in 2018. A bit of a trailblazer like her Aunt Suzy Whaley, first female President of The PGA of America, Brinker was the first female to win the Delaware State High School Championship in 2016.
“I am just so excited to have qualified for my first Women’s Amateur,” said Brinker. “I didn’t really have any expectations heading into today and I didn’t put much pressure on myself.”
Posting respectable scores of 1-over par 72 after two playoff holes are Lauren Thibodeau from New Hampshire and Julia Misemer of Kansas who earned first and second alternate honors.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bz81jEAlyxO/
STAY INFORMED
Mass Golf will provide coverage of its Massachusetts competitors competing in the 119th U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship at Old Waverly Golf Club in West Point, MS from August 5-11. Visit MassGolf.org and follow @PlayMassGolf on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for the latest information. To join the conversation, use the hashtags #MassGolf and #USWomenAm
