Li is Medalist at 100th Women’s Amateur; Defending Champion Claims No. 1 Seed in Match Play
ORADELL, N.J. –– Amongst a strong field of competitors, defending Women’s Amateur Champion Katie Li earned medalist honors at Hackensack Golf Club on Tuesday afternoon with a commanding 5-under par 67.
“I just kept hitting it close and it just felt easy,” Li said following her round. “It was very smooth.”
“My game feels really good,” Li continued. “It feels solid and the best it has for me since the U.S. Women’s Open. But this course is only going to get harder, so I'm very excited for that.”
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Li, of Fiddler’s Elbow Country Club shot 6-under through the front nine with seven birdies, including five consecutive birdies going into the turn.
“It was a very relaxing seven birdies that I really don't know how it all accumulated to that,” Li said.
The All-ACC rising junior out of Duke University followed up her strong front nine with three birdies on the back, on the way to leading the field at the end of Tuesday’s 18-hole stroke-play opening round.
“There are a lot of shots, on the back nine especially, that I wish I could get back,” Li said. “The course is really nice, especially after the torrential downpour yesterday. There are adjustments that I should have made because of the rain that I didn’t do today.”
Heading into match-play, the defending champion will face Jessica Danckwerth during the round of sixteen.
“There's definitely added pressure,” Li said. “I'm trying not to think about it at all. I'm just going to stay present, focus on the match at hand, and not worry about anything besides the hole right in front of me.”
Following close behind Li was Megan Meng, of Mountain View Golf Club, and Grace Lu, of Plainfield Country Club – West 9, who each finished 4-under par 68.
Meng, the rising sophomore out of Northwestern University finished her round bogey-free through the final five holes and added six birdies to her scorecard to climb up the leaderboard Tuesday afternoon.
“I feel like my game was good,” Meng said. “Everything was working for the most part. The course was very gettable today which was a good thing, and I think if anything I just want to work on my putting a little bit. The greens were slick so my lag putts got away from me a little bit.”
“Overall, I’m very happy with how I played.”
Close behind Meng on the leaderboard were Samantha Galantini and Taylor Oberparleiter with rounds of 3-under par 69.
Galantini, a rising junior out of Quinnipiac University put together a strong front nine, highlighted by two birdies and a blemish-free five holes going into the turn.
“I'm feeling really good,” Galantini said following her round. "I know this is a course where you can make lots of birdies, but also a lot of bogeys, and that if I made bogey I would just bounce right back.”
On the back nine, Galantini started with a birdie on the 468-yard par 5 10th hole to get to 2-under and finished strong with final birdie on the 332-yard par 4 18th hole to take the clubhouse lead early on. The product out of Montclair Golf Club will face Savannah Laverty during the first round of match play on Wednesday.
“My putting was really good today. So I think just the next few days just keep doing that and I think I’ll do well,” Galantini said.
With a score of 3-over par 75 or better, 16 players advanced to Wednesday’s match-play rounds.
The round of sixteen will start at 8:00 a.m. Wednesday morning at Hackensack Golf Club.
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