June 30, 2011

BANDON, Ore. – South Carolina rising sophomore Katie Rose Higgins won her first-round match at the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship on Wednesday, advancing to the round of 32 in her first trip to the USGA event.

Higgins defeated Allisen Corpuz of Honolulu, 1 up, after leading for most of the match at the Old MacDonald course at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort. Higgins won the second hole with a par and took the third hole with a birdie to go 2-up thru three. However, the 13-year-old Corpuz would fight back and square the match at the 11th, then take the lead at No. 12. However, Higgins would again square the match at No. 13 with a par, then move back ahead with a bogey at No. 16 while Corpuz made double-bogey. Both players bogeyed the 17th and made par on 18 to give Higgins the victory.

The Charleston native advanced to the match play portion of the event by posting a two-day stroke play total of 79-76=155 (+13) to tie for 36th in the 156-player field, four shots clear of the cut line of 17-over.

Higgins will face Stanford rising junior Sally Watson in the round of 32 on Thursday, with their match getting underway at 9:10 a.m. PT (12:10 p.m. ET). Live scoring is available through uswapl.org.