Several Australians to advance to knockout phase of US Women’s Amateur
Jazy Roberts in action today – image Darren Carroll USGA
Victorian golfer Jazy Roberts has, by some margin, done best of the six-strong Australasian contingent during the 36-hole qualifying for the US Women’s Amateur Championship at The Honors Course in Ooltewah, Tennessee.
While several players are still required to finish their second rounds tomorrow due to a weather delay and then darkness, Roberts will finish the qualifying in around 8th place and comfortably qualify for the knockout rounds, which will commence after resumed play on Thursday (US time)
Australia’s highest-ranked female amateur (32nd in the world), Roberts won the Australian Women’s Amateur Championship earlier this year and has since won events such as the Riversdale Cup, the English Women’s Strokeplay Championship, and the Porter Cup in the US.
Last year, Roberts made it through to the Round of 32 in this event after qualifying 7th in the strokeplay, but the Bendigo golfer is a considerably more credentialed golfer now and her experience and success in some significant events over the last few months should bode well for her chances this week.
In 2019, Victorian Gabi Ruffels became the first Australian to win the title and lost in the final the following year before turning professional.
Roberts began with a round of 72 on Tuesday, but she opened round two with an outward nine of 33, and although she dropped two shots late in her round, a last-hole birdie has given her a high ranking amongst the qualifiers.
Queensland’s Amy Hodgkins, a recent winner of the Colorado Women’s Amateur Championship, is now at college in the US, initially at Northern Arizona and now in Louisville, and, interestingly, her sister Kirsty also played college golf in the US.
Hodgkins has two holes to play when play resumes tomorrow, and at 2 over par she sits inside the current cutoff mark of 4 over.
Victorian Raegan Denton bounced back from an opening round of 77 with a round of 70 on day two and made it into the field for the match play beginning on Thursday (US time), while last year’s semi-finalist Ella Scaysbrook of NSW is also at 3 over and having completed her 36 holes, she is safely into the knockout phase and on track for another shot at the title.
18-year-old NSW golfer, Rachel Lee might yet have work to do if she is to advance. Lee is at 4 over and, with 65 players on that score or better and 64 advancing, she is on the cusp, although she is likely to have done well enough to avoid a playoff. The 2025 Australian Amateur Champion has been a prolific winner of titles already in her career, and it is hoped she can make it through to test herself against the match play field.
64-year-old Victorian Sue Wooster will unfortunately miss out on advancing after struggling through the 36-hole qualifying.
