Aug. 14, 2002

SCARBOROUGH, N.Y. – South Carolina senior All-America Kristy McPherson was down by one hole through 15 in the round of 32 before play was suspended Wednesday in the 102nd U.S. Women’s Amateur Golf Championship at the Sleepy Hollow Country Club. McPherson will complete her match at 7:30 a.m. Thursday in hopes of advancing to the Round of 16 on the par 71, 6,190-yard course. McPherson’s USC teammate, junior Adrienne Gautreaux, fell to Becky Lucidi, 2 up, in a Round of 64 match Wednesday morning.

McPherson and the University of Georgia’s Angela Jerman will finish their match early Thursday for the right will take on Maru Martinez in Thursday’s Round of 16 at 8:40 a.m. The winner of that match will play at 1:30 p.m. in quarterfinal action. The semifinals will be played Friday with the 36-hole championship match taking place Saturday.

In McPherson’s second match Wednesday, Jerman led by as many as two holes on the front side before McPherson began a comeback to square up the match through 12 holes. But Jerman birdied the par 4, 13th hole to take a one-hole lead. Play was suspended through 15 holes due to darkness.

In the first round Wednesday, McPherson came back on the back nine to down Annie Thurmond (Highland, Utah), 1 up. Using the match play format, McPherson quickly took a 1 up lead on the back side with a birdie on No. 10, only to lose two-consecutive holes to fall one hole down after 12. Then with the match all square through 16 holes, McPherson countered Thurmond’s birdie on the par 5, 449-yard No. 17 hole with an eagle to take a one hole lead. Each player bogeyed the final hole, giving McPherson the victory.

Gautreaux could not overcome a slow start in a 2 up loss to Lucidi (Poway, Calif.) in Wednesday’s first round. Down by two holes for most of the match, Gautreaux pulled to within 1 up through 12 with the players matching scores on the next five holes. Down by one entering No. 18, Gautreaux bogeyed the par 4 while Lucidi earned a par to give her the two-hole victory.

The U.S. Women’s Amateur is one of 13 championships conducted by the United States Golf Association each year, 10 of which are strictly for amateurs. The U.S. Women’s Amateur is open to female amateur golfers who have USGA handicap indexes not exceeding 5.4. Entries closed June 19.