Kaitlyn Schroeder and Bailey Shoemaker carried their quest for a U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball to the final hole on Sunday at the Grand Reserve Golf Club in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico, but came up just short.
Thienna Huynh and Sara Im defeated Schroeder and Shoemaker 1-up in the championship match despite a pair of late rallies. Schroeder, who will enroll at Alabama next year and Shoemaker, who has committed to USC, won the 16th hole when Shoemaker nearly aced it. But Huynh and Im halved the next two holes for the title.
“It obviously means a lot,” said Huynh. “It’s so surreal. (My mom) said on 18 green, ‘Can you believe that we’re USGA champions?’”
It was Schroeder’s second brush with going deep in a USGA national championship. She got to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Junior Girls last year before losing to Paula Miranda.
TFW becoming #USWFourBall champions starts to sink in
pic.twitter.com/cJHnr3YNOP
— USGA (@USGA) April 24, 2022
The duo was 31-under through their first four matches, counting concessions, and averaged seven birdies per round until the championship, when they combined for four.
“I don’t think there’s one highlight that stands out, just the clutch putts to win holes, to halve holes, to win matches,” Schroeder said. “It all just fits together as a great week and an experience that we will never forget.”
Schroeder also had her father, Scott, the University of North Florida golf coach, caddying for her throughout the tournament, UNF gave him permission to miss the first round of the Atlantic Sun tournament on Sunday in Athens, Georgia, where his team forged a 10-shot lead over Lipscomb.
Schroeder and Shoemaker won a morning semifinal match 2 and 1 over Amelia Guo and Grace Jin, while Huynh and Im beat Kary Hollenbaugh and Anna Ritter, 4 and 3.
Schroeder clinched the match when she hold out from a greenside bunker at the par-3 16th hole. She and Shoemaker were 8-under on 17 holes, with an eagle.
However, Im chipped in the first hole of the championship match and she and Huynh never trailed.
After Huynh-Im, the No. 7 seeds from stroke play, birdied the par-5 15th, Shoemaker delivered the most dramatic shot of the championship as she nearly aced the 135-yard 16th. The ball lipped out and the birdie was conceded. Huynh or Im were now just 1 up with two to play.
But they parred the last two holes to stay ahead.