CHULA VISTA, Calif. (AP) - Sophia Schubert and Albane Valenzuela advanced to the finals of the 117th U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship on Saturday and hope to end long droughts in Sunday’s 36-hole final at the San Diego Country Club.
Schubert, 21, of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, defeated 13-year-old Chia Yen Wu of Chinese Taipei, 2-up. Schubert, who will be a senior at Texas, would be the first Longhorn since 1996 to claim the title and would break a nine-year streak of champions under the age of 20.
Valenzuela, 19, who just finished her freshman year at Stanford, defeated Lilia Kha-Tu Vu, 19, of Fountain Valley, California, 3 and 2. Valenzuela would be the first player from Switzerland to win a USGA championship and the first Cardinal golfer to win the women’s title since 1983.
Wu, coming off the longest match in USGA history with a victory on the 12th extra hole of her quarterfinal, led by one at the turn before Schubert tied the match with a bogey on No. 10. After neither golfer made a birdie through 10 holes, Schubert made three straight to grab a 2-up lead before Wu, the youngest semifinalist in championship history, answered with two straight birdies to square the match with three holes to play.
Schubert took the lead with a par on No. 16 and with an approach to 3 feet on No. 18 won the match when Wu failed to hole a long pitch for a birdie.
Vu, who won the Pac-12 title in the spring as a sophomore at UCLA, was 1-up at the turn before making four straight bogeys. Valenzuela took the lead with a birdie on No. 11 and a par on the next hole. She closed it out with a 2-foot birdie putt on No. 16.
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