June 21, 2009

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina rising senior Taylor Barrett and rising sophomore Katie Burnett are headed to Devens, Mass., for the 33rd annual U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship, which begins Monday at Red Tail Golf Club. The pair qualified for the championship in sectional events held in late May.

Barrett was the medalist at the sectional qualifier at Ironwood Golf Club in Greenville, N.C., on May 26, shooting a 73 to earn her fourth berth into the PubLinks Championship. Barrett led a group of four amateurs to advance from the Greenville sectional.

It will be Barrett’s second trip to the PubLinks in three years and her fourth appearance overall as she finished 85th at the 2007 event in Lexington, Ky., missing the cut for match play by two strokes. She first competed in the event in Williamsburg, Va., as a high school sophomore in 2004, finishing 16th in stroke play and advancing to the first round of match play, where she fell to Janet Dyer, 3 and 2. She competed again the following year in Kansas City, Mo., finishing 93rd. Barrett has also competed in the U.S. Girls’ Junior and the U.S. Women’s Amateur in previous years.

Burnett qualified for her first trip to the PubLinks Championship by virtue of winning a four-way playoff in her qualifier at The Oaks Course in Covington, Ga., on May 27. She was part of a group of five qualifiers from the Covington sectional to advance to the championship. This will be Burnett’s first appearance in a USGA Championship event.

The U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship is open to women amateur golfers who, since Jan. 1, 2009, have been bona fide public course players and have not held privileges at any course that does not extend playing privileges to the general public, or privileges of any private club maintaining its own course and have a USGA Handicap Index not exceeding 18.4. A “bona fide public course player” may hold incidental privileges of a course not open to the public when such privileges are provided by an educational institution at which she is a student.

A total of 678 entries were accepted for the 2009 championship, and Barrett and Burnett are two of 156 players that qualified for the championship event. Red Tail Golf Club will play at 6,165 yards and par 72 for the championship. The 36-hole stroke play portion begins Monday morning and runs through Tuesday afternoon, after which the field is cut to 64 players and match play begins.

Burnett will tee off at 8:50 a.m. for her first round Monday, and Barrett is in the final group of the day at 2:30 p.m. Both Gamecock players will begin on the No. 10 tee. Fans can follow Katie and Taylor’s progress through the official web site of the tournament, www.uswapl.org.