Far Hills, N.J. Twelve-year-old Alexis Thompson of Coral Springs, Fla., became the youngest to ever qualify for the U.S. Womens Open when she did so Monday to earn a spot in the 156-player field via sectional qualifying for the 2007 championship, which will be played June 28-July 1 at Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club in Southern Pines, N.C.
Sixty-eight players were fully exempt into the championship, leaving 87 spaces open in the field for qualifiers.One spot is still being held open for the winner of next weeks LPGA Tour event, should that winner not already be fully exempt into the Womens Open. The sectional qualifier at the Turtle Bay Club in Kahuku, Hawaii, where three players were competing for one spot, had yet to finish Monday.
Thompson, after recording scores of 72-71 at Heathrow Country Club in Heathrow, Fla., qualified at the age of 12 years, 4 months and 1 day, besting the previous record of Morgan Pressel, who was 12 years, 11 months and 21 days old when she qualified for the 2001 Womens Open, which was also conducted at Pine Needles.
Brandie Burton, Liselotte Neumann and reigning U.S. Womens Mid-Amateur Meghan Bolger of Oxford, Miss., lead the list of 10 USGA champions who earned a spot in the 2007 U.S. Womens Open.
Burton, who won the 1989 Girls Junior at Pine Needles, and Neumann, the 1988 U.S. Womens Open winner, will be joined in the field by Dorothy Delasin (1996 Girls Junior; 1999 Womens Amateur); Marcy (Newton) Hart (1995 Girls Junior; 2000 Womens Amateur); In Kyung Kim of Korea (2005 Girls Junior); Kelli Kuehne (1994 Girls Junior; 1995, 1996 Womens Amateurs); In-Bee Park (2002 Girls Junior); Aree Song (1999 Girls Junior); and Annie (Thurman) Young (2002 Womens Amateur Public Links).
Burton, Kuehne and Neumann are three of the eight players who qualified who also played in the 1996 and 2001 U.S. Womens Opens, which were both conducted at Pine Needles. The others who will make their third trip to Pine Needles are: Tina Barrett; Carin Koch; Leta Lindley; Michele Redman; and Dina Ammaccapane, who earned medalist honors at the Rockville, Md., qualifier.
Teenagers claimed medalist honors at three of the six qualifying sites Monday to join In Kyung Kim (18) and Park (18) in the field. Colombias Maria Jose Uribe, 17, earned medalist honors at Keith Hills Country Club in Buies Creek, N.C., to advance to the Womens Open for the second consecutive year. Also heading to her second consecutive Womens Open is Vicky Hurst, 15, of Melbourne, Fla., the 2006 U.S. Girls Junior runner-up, who earned medalist honors at Heathrow (Fla.) Country Club. Mina Harigae, 17, of Monterey, Calif., was the low scorer at Lake Merced Country Club in Daly City, Calif.
Those five lead the list of 17 teenagers who have qualified for the Womens Open thus far.They will be joined by Esther Choe, 17, of Scottsdale, Ariz.; Courtney Ellenbogen, 16, of Blacksburg, Va.; Shanshan Feng, 17, of Hilton Head Island, S.C.; Ha-Na Jang, 15, of Korea; Danielle Kang, 14, of Oak Park, Calif.; Song Hee Kim, 18, of Korea; Joanne Lee, 18, of San Carlos, Calif.; Teresa Hsiao-Ching Lu, 19, of Chinese Taipei; Tiffany Lua, 16, of Rowland Heights, Calif.; Sydnee Michaels, 18, of Temecula, Calif.; Ji Young Oh, 18, of Korea; and Jennifer Song, 17, of Korea.
Stacy Lewis, 22, of The Woodlands, Texas, and Taylor Leon, 20, of Dallas, Texas shared medalist honors at the Houston qualifier at Westwood Golf Club. It will be the fourth consecutive Womens Open for Leon, who was a member of the 2006 USA Curtis Cup team, and the first for Lewis, who recently won the NCAA Division I individual title and finished tied for fifth at the 2007 LPGA Kraft Nabisco Championship.
The U.S. Womens Open is one of 13 national championships conducted annually by the USGA. Other championships include the U.S. Open, the U.S. Senior Open, and 10 national amateur championships.
A list of the players who qualified for the 2007 U.S. Womens Open, including qualifying sites and scores, follows:
Key
(a) amateur
A alternate
(qualifying score in parentheses)
6/11/07 Daly City, Calif. (Lake Merced Country Club)
(a) Mina Harigae, Monterey, Calif. (147)
(a) Jennie Lee, Henderson, Nev. (149)
(a) Tiffany Lua, Rowland Heights, Calif. (149)
(a) Danielle Kang, Oak Park, Ill. (150)
Dana Dormann, Pleasanton, Calif. (151)
(a) Ha-Na Jang, Korea (151)
(a) Joanne Lee, San Carlos, Calif. (151)
(a) Sydnee Michaels, Temecula, Calif. (151)
(a) Jennifer Song, Korea (151)
(a) Selanee Henderson, Apple Valley, Calif.
Erika Wicoff, Roseville, Calif. (152)
A (a) Amie Cochran, Torrance, Calif. (153)
A (a) Tiffany Joh, San Diego, Calif. (154)
6/11/07 Heathrow, Fla. (Country Club of Heathrow)
(a) Vicky Hurst, Melbourne, Fla. (137)
Maria Hjorth, Sweden (139)
In Kyung Kim, Korea (140)
Karen-Margrethe Juul, Denmark (140)
(a) Shanshan Feng, Hilton Head Island, S.C. (140)
(a) Alexis Thompson, Coral Springs, Fla. (143)
Johanna Head, England (145)
Nicole Hage, Coral Springs, Fla. (145)
A (a) Lindy Duncan, Daytona Beach, Fla. (145)
A Charlotta Sorenstam, Sweden (146)
A (a) Jacqui Concolino, Orlando, Fla. (147)
A (a) Mi Jung Hur, Korea (147)
6/11/07 Glen Ellyn, Ill. (The Village Links of Glen Ellyn)
Onnarin Sattayabanphot West Lafayette, Ind. (140)
Audra Burks, Altamonte Springs, Fla. (140)
Maria Kostina, Russia (144)
Ashley Prange, Noblesville, Ind. (145)
Kelly Cavanaugh Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. (145)
Annie Young, Highland, Utah (145)
Kelly Cap, Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. (145)
Sophia Sheridan, Mexico (146)
Allison Fouch, East Grand Rapids, Mich. (146)
Melissa Martin Altadena, Calif. (146)
Yoora Kim, Korea (146)
Su A Kim, Korea (146)
Brandi Jackson, Greenville, S.C. (147)
Tiffany Tavee Tempe, Ariz. (147)
Ashley Grier Hagerstown, Md. (147)
Nicole Melton San Antonio, Texas (147)
Jimin Jeong, Korea (147)
Carolina Llano, Colombia (148)
(a) Taryn Durham, Glasgow, Ky. (148)
(a) Leah Marie Wigger Louisville, Ky. (148)
Jana Peterkova Lakeland, Fla. (148)
A (a) Taylore Karle Scottsdale, Ariz. (148)
A Emily Bastel Upper Sandusky, Ohio (148)
A Kim Welch Roseville, Calif. (148)
A Kristen Samp Lawrence, Kan. (149)
6/11/07 Rockville, Md. (Woodmont Country Club/Old South Country Club)
Dina Ammaccapane, Phoenix, Ariz. (134)
Anna Jane Eathorne, Canada (137)
Kris Tamulis, Naples, Fla. (139)
Wendy Doolan, Australia (139)
Aree Song, Korea (140)
In-Bee Park, Las Vegas, Nev. (140)
Katherine Hull, Australia (140)
Song Hee Kim, Korea (140)
a-Paola Moreno, Colombia (141)
Alena Sharp, Canada (141)
Dorothy Delasin, San Francisco, Calif. (141)
Giulia Sergas, Italy (141)
Moira Dunn, Utica, N.Y. (141)
Tina Barrett, Manhasset, N.Y. (141)
a-Esther Choe, Scottsdale, Ariz. (142)
Brandie Burton, San Bernandino, Calif. (142)
Erica Blasberg, Las Vegas, Nev. (142)
Jimin Kang, Scottsdale, Ariz. (142)
Katie Futcher, The Woodlands, Texas (142)
Sarah Sargent, St Charles, Ill. (142)
Carin Koch, Sweden (143)
Ji Young Oh, Korea (143)
Karin Sjodin, Sweden (143)
Sun Young Yoo, Korea (143)
Teresa Hsiao-Ching Lu, Chinese Taipei (143)
Young-A Yang, Korea (143)
Angela Jerman, Columbus, Ga. (144)
Charlotte Mayorkas, Las Vegas, Nev. (144)
Chin-Huei Hung, Chinese Taipei (144)
Irene Cho, Fullerton, Calif. (144)
Kelli Kuehne, Dallas, Texas (144)
Leta Lindley, Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. (144)
Liselotte Neumann, Sweden (144)
Michele Redman, Plymouth, Minn. (144)
Janice Moodie, Scotland (145)
Marcy Hart, Winston-Salem, N.C. (145)
(Note: Qualifier will resume at 9 a.m. Tuesday to determine final spot and list of alternates)
6/11/07 Buies Creek, N.C. (Keith Hills Country Club)
(a) Maria Jose Uribe, Colombia (141)
(a) Marci Turner, Tompkinsville, Ky. (144)
Eva Dahllof, Sweden (144)
(a) Meghan Bolger, Oxford, Miss. (145)
(a) Courtney Ellenbogen, Blacksburg, Va. (145)
A (a) Cydney Clanton, Concord, N.C. (146)
A (a) Lydia Gumm, Radcliff, Ky. (146)
A Cat Johnston-Forbes, Kitty Hawk, N.C. (146)
A (a) Stacey Kim, Columbus, Ga. (147)
6/11/07 Houston, Texas (Westwood Golf Club)
(a) Stacy Lewis, The Woodlands, Texas (145)
(a) Taylor Leon, Dallas, Texas (145)
Anna Acker-Macosko, Kerrville, Texas (146)
(a) Ashley Rollins, Austin, Texas (146)
A Cindy Currier, Austin, Texas (147)
A Claire Dury, New Zealand (148)
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