Golfers Take Step Forward to Internationals

Ryan Lam, Asst. Sports Editor|August 28, 2018

Earlier this month, three Lady Brahmas participated in the 118th annual U.S Women’s Amateur golf tournament. The competition took place at the Golf Club of Tennessee with over 1400 participants from all over the world.

Crystal Wang, a 2018 graduate, senior varsity captain Kailie Vongsaga and 2014 grad Bethany Wu qualified for the match-play tournament through qualifying sectionals.

Despite recovering from a wrist injury, Vongsaga was the medalist at her amateur qualifier. With past experience competing at top tier tournaments such as the Junior PGA Championship, ANA Junior Inspiration and Rolex Girls Championship, she felt very confident going into the competition, which took place on Aug. 8-12.

“By having a lot of experience from previous years and other events, it allowed me to focus on my game and play my very best,” Vongsaga said.

Wu was not able to play in the final rounds, placing just a few places under the cut. Wang and Vongsaga were able to make top 64 and play in the third round, but their runs ended there.

“It was very satisfying to make it to the round of 64, since I didn’t make the cut in the past three years,” Vongsaga said.

One lesson Vongsaga took away from the match-play tournament against a top college athlete was patience.

“I learned a lot from her [staying patient] when she was down 3 after 7 holes and was able to come back strong and win the match. I take that as a good learning experience from a top player and hope to use that in the future,” Vongsaga said. “The Women’s Am is one of the hardest events that I have played in the past few years, but I played very well from tee to green and I gave it all my best and didn’t leave anything out there on the golf course.”