Livermore Golfers Split at US Junior Girls’ Championship

Livermore golfers went 1-for-2 in match play Wednesday at the U.S. Junior Girls’ Championship in Olympia Fields, Ill.

Casie Cathrea was one of 32 golfers to advance to Thursday’s matches, but Marguerite Swearingen was eliminated from the tournament.

Cathrea, who finished second out of 156 golfers in two days of qualifying stroke play at Olympia Fields Country Club, survived a determined upset bid by Lakareber Abe of Angleton, Texas.

“She’s a really good player,” Cathrea said. “I didn’t know what to expect … but she was really good today. She played excellent golf. She was shooting at pins the first nine holes. I was like, ‘C’mon. Give me a break.’”

While Abe was playing well, Cathrea struggled early.

“The first nine holes were pretty inconsistent for me,” Cathrea said. “I made the turn being one down and then when I started the back nine, I went two down. And then I just started making birdies.”

A birdie on 11 pulled Cathrea to within one hole of Abe and another on 15 finally squared the match. Yet another birdie on the par-4 16th hole finally gave Cathrea her first lead of the match since she was 1 up after one.

Cathrea maintained that lead as the two players headed to the tee on No. 18, a 476-yard, par-5 hole. While Cathrea put her drive on the fairway and her second shot within six feet of the pin, Abe imploded.

“She just got a little tired,” Cathrea said. “I know how it is to be one down with one to go. It’s a lot of pressure.”

Abe’s tee shot left her path to the green blocked by trees in the left rough. She had to play out onto the fairway with her second shot, and her third shot found a bunker short of the green. Her sand shot still left her short of the green. By this time, she knew the match had slipped away, and after her chip attempt for bogey came up well short, she did the classy thing and conceded the hole and match to Cathrea.

The match was played in sweltering heat and humidity. By the time it finished in the early afternoon, the thermometer had reached 99 degrees with a heat index 10 degrees higher. It was the third straight day golfers had to endure hot and humid conditions and the Thursday forecast called for more of the same.

Cathrea said she was holding up well in the conditions.

“I’m fine,” she said. “Although I don’t know what to say about my caddie. … We’re keeping him hydrated.”

Cathrea’s 2-up victory propelled her into a Thursday morning match against Ashlan Ramsey of Milledgeville, Ga. Ramsey finished the 36 holes of qualifying stroke play with a six-over-par 150, six shots behind Cathrea.

Tough loss for Swearingen

Marguerite Swearingen had an early lead in her match Wednesday, but a costly bogey on the 13th hole contributed to a 3 and 1 defeat at the hands of Maria Fernanda Torres.

Swearingen went 1 up on the second hole after a Torres bogey, but the 16-year-old Puerto Rican evened the match with an eagle on the 356-yard, par-4 6th hole. A birdie on No. 10 then gave Torres her first lead of the day, but the match was again square after she bogeyed the par-3 12th hole.

A birdie on 16 padded the lead for Torres, meaning Swearingen had to win the final two holes to force a sudden death playoff. Swearingen struggled on the par-4 17th, however, and her double bogey handed the match to Torres.

Still, just making the cut in the tournament was an accomplishment, as the field included some of the best young female golfers from 35 states and ten nations. The stroke-play medalist, for example, was Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand. The 15-year-old was one of five players in the tournament who competed the previous week in the U.S. Women’s Open.