June 21, 2006

Pueblo, Colo. – – South Carolina women’s golf standout Jenna Pearson is turning in a very good performance at the 30th annual USGA Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship, as she is five-under-par with a 54-hole score of 70-68=138 at the event, played at the par-72, 6,263-yard Walking Stick Golf Course in Pueblo, Colo.

The tournament is set up such that there are two days of stroke play qualifying to determine exactly the 64 players who will make it to match play. The “Match Play Tree” is then established — much like a tennis tournament or NCAA basketball – and players are seeded according to how they played during stroke play.

With her stroke play completed, Pearson enters the match play phase of the tournament as one of the top seeds.

Pearson kept her scorecard neat on the front nine, posting six pars to go with a pair of birdies on the par-four third hole and the par-five fourth. A bogey on number nine put Pearson at one under at the turn. She stayed solid on the back nine, posting pars on number nine and number 10 before rattling off three straight birdies on 12, 13 and 14. A bogey on 15 was quickly erased with a birdie on 16, then Pearson finished her day by going par, bogey on 17 and 18.

Match play action begins Thursday with Pearson’s opponent to be announced.