Global Golf Post - July 25, 2011

JUNIOR
Spieth Takes Second U.S. Junior

BREMERTON, WASHINGTON | Jordan Spieth, 17, of Dallas, Tex., earned a 6-and- 5 victory over Chelso Barrett, 16, of Keene, N.H., to win the U.S. Junior Amateur Saturday at the par-72, 7,111- yard Olympic Course at Gold Mountain Golf Club.

Spieth, who also won the 2009 U.S. Junior, became just the second golfer in the 64-year history of the championship to claim more than one title in this event. Tiger Woods won three consecutive Junior Amateurs (1991 to 1993).

But it wasn’t easy, particularly at the start. Barrett took an early 2-up lead in the scheduled 36-hole final when Spieth bogeyed the first two holes. Spieth got one hole back when Barrett double-bogeyed the par- 4 third hole and squared the match with a 10-footer for birdie on the par- 5 sixth hole.

Spieth would not trail again. He took the lead for good with a conceded birdie on No. 13 when Barrett was unable to get up and down from a greenside bunker. Another bogey by Barrett on No. 15 increased Spieth’s lead to 2 up.

At the 461-yard, par- 4 17th, it looked like Barrett might get one back when Spieth hit his tee shot left into the deep rough and Barrett drove in the middle of the fairway. But Barrett hit his approach shot short and right of the green and his seven-foot putt raced five feet past the hole. His bogey putt lipped out and Spieth made his bogey putt to take a 3-up lead.

After the break, Spieth lost the first
hole for the second time in the match but
made a 16-footer for birdie one hole later
to again build his lead to 3 up. Barrett
bogeyed the 23rd hole to go 4 down and
another bogey two holes later pushed the
deficit to 5 down.

nugarn, who also captured her first United States Golf Association championship.

Jutanugarn, of Thailand, wasted no time in the finals, birdieing the par- 4 first hole on the South Course at Olympia Fields to take a 1-up lead. She was able to hold the lead until the sixth hole, where a par from Ardina, of the Philippines, squared the match. They swapped pars for the next 11 holes to remain all square, but a Jutanugarn bogey on the 17th gave Ardina a 1-up lead that she carried into the break.

“I think in the morning, I played
not so good because I missed a lot
of putts,” said Jutanugarn, who
competed in the U.S. Women’s
Open earlier this month.

Jutanugarn started the
afternoon by immediately
birdieing the 19th hole to
square the match. The
see-saw battle con-
tinued, with Ardina
never letting Juta-
nugarn extend her
lead past 1 up until
the 31st hole. At the
par- 4 13th, Ardina hit
her approach to 10
feet, and Jutanugarn
followed with her own
approach to within two
feet. An Ardina miss
and Jutanugarn make
gave the 15-year-old the first 2-up
lead of the match.
Ardina, 17, narrowed the
margin to 1 up with a birdie on the
33rd hole, but her undoing came
two holes later when a three-putt
from long distance opened the
door for Jutanugarn, who poured
in her four-footer to seal the vic-
tory and became the third player
from Thailand to win a USGA title.
“I feel like I’m so happy,” said
Jutanugarn. “I really want to
thank my dad and my mom ... and
thank you to my sister for being
the caddie for me this week.”
Ardina hit 34 of 35 fairways on
Saturday and missed only three
greens, but her putter failed to
join the party, spelling her ulti-
mate downfall.

Jutanugarn cruised through her first two matches, defeating Marissa Chow, of Honolulu, 6 and 4, and Sarah Schmeizel, of Phoenix, Ariz., 4 and 3. In the quarterfinals Jutanugarn used a birdie on No. 18 to edge past Jisoo Keel, of Canada, by a 1-up margin. One round later, Jutanugarn used birdies on Nos. 15 and 16 to squeeze out a 1-up victory against Gabriella Then, of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. RESULTS

OLYMPIA FIELDS, ILLINOIS |

When Ariya Jutanugarn’s four-foot par putt dropped on the 35th hole to close out Dottie Ardina, 2 and 1, in Saturday’s final, she became just the 16th stroke-play medalist in the 63-year history of the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship to take the match-play title.