June 17, 2017

COLUMBIA, S.C. ââ’¬” South Carolina women’s junior golfer Ainhoa Olarra earned runner-up honors at the 114^th Ladies’ British Amateur Championship after falling 3&2 to Ireland’s Leona Maguire in the championship match Saturday afternoon at Pyle & Kenfig Golf Club in South Wales.

Olarra, who tallied five match-play victories en route to a spot in the finals, carded a birdie on the par-4 third to grab an early 1-up lead. Maguire, the No. 1 ranked amateur in the world, responded with back-to-back birdies on Nos. 4 and 5 to pull ahead by one, and she headed to the turn with a 3-up advantage following a birdie on No. 9.

A bogey on No. 12 by Olarra dropped her to 4-down in the match, but the San Sebastian, Spain, native remained tough down the stretch. Maguire’s bogey on the par-4 13^th trimmed her lead to 3-up, and Olarra cut the deficit to 2-up after notching a birdie on No. 15. Maguire clinched the title after Olarra registered a bogey on the par-4 16^th.

Olarra, the No. 39 seed in the match-play bracket, posted an opening-round 2&1 win and a 2-up victory in the second round Thursday to reach the Round of 16. She won the 19^th hole against Denmark’s Line Toft Hansen to advance out of the third round Friday before topping Italy’s Alessandra Fanali 4&2 in the quarterfinals later that afternoon.

In Saturday morning’s semifinal round, Olarra defeated Norway’s Stina Resen 4&3 behind four birdies. The Gamecock standout qualified for match play after finishing inside the top-64 (39^th, +7) following the conclusion of 36 holes of stroke play on Wednesday.

Olarra, who received the Diana Fishwick Cup for her efforts this week, boasted a career year for the Gamecocks, totaling five top-10 finishes in her third season at Carolina. Two of her top-10 showings came in the postseason, including a 10^th-place finish at the 2017 NCAA Championship. Olarra ranked second on the team in stroke average (72.71) and was one of three Carolina golfers to earn All-America honors from Golfweek this spring.