Scoring [icon name="external-link" class="" unprefixed_class=""]
By Arthur Utley
WILLIAMSBURG – Three juniors from France and a 13-year-old from New Jersey captured the four spots available in Friday’s 18-hole qualifier for the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship.
Agathe Laisne, 18, from Boulogne-Billancourt, France, birdied the final hole for a 4-under-par 68 on the Blue Heron course at Ford’s Colony to capture medalist honors by one stroke over Pauline Roussin-Bouchard, 17, of Carqueiranne, France, who played in the first group of the day and posted 3-under 69.
The third member of the triumvirate, Mathilde Claisse, 17, from Poissy, returned 2-under 70 and nailed down the third berth.
Megha Ganne, 13, of Holmdel, N.J., playing in the last group of the day, shot a 1-under 71 to equal the score posted by Anne Taylor Hough, a 20-year-old junior at Virginia Tech from Spartanburg, S.C. Ganne made par on the fourth extra hole of a playoff to earn her bid.
Hough is the first alternate. Emily Hawkins of Lexington, N.C., gained the second alternate’s spot in a 5-for-1 playoff after each of the five shot 72. Hawkins won on the second extra hole with a par.
The U.S. Women’s Amateur is scheduled Aug. 7-13 at San Diego Country Club in Chula Vista, Calif.
Forty players participated in the qualifier at Ford’s Colony. Laisne, Roussin-Bouchard and Claisse are among the top juniors in France and wanted to play in a qualifier for the U.S. tournament. They recently finished high school exams, the Williamsburg qualifier date fit into their schedule and the Federation Francaise de Golf helped them get here.
“We’re just here for four days just for this event, My exams finished on Monday so it was a perfect time to play it,” said Roussin-Bouchard, who logged three birdies on the front nine and added more birdies at the 12th and 13th holes before making double bogey at No. 15. “Today was very good. I played my own golf. It’s really different from the rest of the year. I wasn’t playing really good during the year. This is my third under par card this year so I’m really, really happy and proud.”
Laisne was 2-under par when she arrived at the par-5 16th. She made eagle there, bogeyed the par-3 17th and finished with the birdie on 18.
Although she admits that she can tire quickly, she likes to travel because “you can visit a lot of places.”
Claisse kept checking the scoreboard frequently to see if her 70 that included three birdies and a bogey would stand up. She says Roussin-Bouchard is her best friend and the three will play in the European Championships in a couple of weeks.
Traveling together “is going to create a good thing between us. I think it’s really cool (they had the top three scores),” Claisse said.
Ganne and her father arrived at Ford’s Colony Thursday around noon from California where she attended a Stanford University golf camp. She got in a practice round on the Blue Heron course that played 6,328 yards, longer than usual for her.
The Williamsburg qualifier also was a schedule fit for Ganne. In addition to breaking par for the first time, this was her first try to qualify for the Women’s Amateur.
She recorded three birdies and a bogey on the front nine but bogeyed the first two holes on the inward nine.
“I was definitely thinking I had to go under par (to gain a spot),” Ganne said. “I knew I needed to make a birdie to get under par.”
She accomplished that at the par-4 15th and parred in to set up the playoff for the final spot.
Retired Richmond Times-Dispatch staff writer Arthur Utley is a regular contributor to VSGA event coverage.