Abbey Daniel tops North & South Women’s Am; marquee matches ahead on 32-woman bracket
The next stage of the North & South Women’s Amateur is match play, and the 32-woman bracket is loaded with Mississippi State players. Among the trio of bulldogs is Abbey Daniel, the player at the top of the bracket after managing Pinehurst Nos. 2 and 4 best for the past two days in Pinehurst, North Carolina.
This is one time, however, when being the No. 1 seed doesn’t bring quite the perks a player might like. Daniel, from Covington, Louisiana, must face Gina Kim in the first round. Kim, a senior at Duke, has a reputation as a formidable match-play player, having helped Duke to the ACC title in match play this past spring and to the national title in match play two years ago.
Still, Daniel has a handle on No. 2, having posted even-par 72 there in the opening round before coming back with a 69 on No. 4 to wrap up medalist honors.
Scores: North & South Women’s Amateur
“Match play on No. 2 – I feel like it opens a bit more shots,” she told Pinehurst writer Alex Podlogar. “You can be a little more aggressive because match play is all about birdies, it’s all about those momentum putts, so being a little bit more aggressive on the greens and getting the ball close.
“That’s the kind of golf I like to play.”
Farther down the bracket, teammates Ashley Gilliam and Blair Stockett are in the Nos. 12 and 29 spot, respectively. Valeria Mendizabal, a fourth Bulldog, missed the cut at Pinehurst. Gilliam will have another one of the notably tough matches on Wednesday as she faces Allisen Corpuz, who recently finished her fifth year at USC and this time last year was a finalist at the North & South.
Directly below that match, Canada’s Brooke Rivers, who finished at 2 under and second to Daniel in stroke play, will take on Amanda Sambach, who is coming off a 4-0 match play record in the Wyndham Cup, an AJGA team event pitting the best juniors in the eastern half of the U.S. against those from the west.
So far, Pinehurst has been unforgiving in this event, the first major women’s amateur event of the summer. On Wednesday, Ohio State’s Aneka Seumanutafa came in with a 67 on No. 4, one of the best rounds of the week. That pulled her up the leaderboard after opening with 77 on No. 2.
Ho Yu An, a high-schooler from Taiwan, opened with 79 on No. 2 but on Wednesday, redeemed herself with a 66 on No. 4. She’ll face Maddison Hinson-Tolchard on Thursday in match play. The Oklahoma State sophomore from Australia could present a tall hurdle considering she already won the Southern Amateur in match play last month and competed on the Cowgirls’ NCAA runner-up team.
Hinson-Tolchard’s teammate Isabella Fierro, winner of the 2017 North & South Women’s Amateur, is in the next-to-last match on the bracket against Kelly Sim. Earlier this month, Fierro caddied for good friend Abel Gallegos in the men’s North & South Amateur.
The final match of the day will pit recent Texas transfer Brigitte Thibault, winner of last summer’s Women’s Western Amateur, against USC senior Katherine Muzi.
