Arkansas Online

Arkansas’ Brooke Matthews third after stroke play at U.S. Women’s Amateur.

— Tom Murphy

Brooke Matthews of Rogers fired a tournament-best 66 on Tuesday and surged into third place at the 121st U.S. Women’s Amateur championship at Westchester Country Club in Rye, N.Y.

Matthews, a junior at the University of Arkansas, continued what has been a phenomenal season, leading a group of three Razorbacks in the top 20 with a 3-under 141 through the second and final round of stroke play.

The field of 156 was trimmed to 64 for match play, which will begin today.

Cory Lopez, who completed her freshman season at Arkansas earlier this summer, is tied for 12th at 144 after shooting a second consecutive even-par 72. Arkansas sophomore Julia Gregg is a stroke back at 145 and tied for 20th after her even-par round on the par-72, 6,423-yard tract.

Wake Forest sophomore Rachel Kuehn earned the No. 1 seed after a carding a 5-under 67 on Tuesday to take her to 6-under 138, two shots ahead of SMU’s Kennedy Pedigo.

Matthews, No. 37 in the world amateur golf rankings, made the biggest move of the day, jumping 44 spots into third place. She notched five birdies on the front nine to make the turn at 31 and reached 6 under after a birdie on No. 10. She bogeyed the 10th before posting birdies on Nos. 14 and 17 and a bogey on 16 to cap her 6-under round.

Matthews, a first-team All-SEC performer, will take on Brittany Shin today at noon. Lopez birdied the 520-yard 18th hole to reach even par with her third birdie of the day. Gregg was 3 over after 5 holes, but fought back with birdies at Nos. 7, 9 and 10. She also finished her round with a birdie at the par-5 18th.

Lopez will face Anna Morgan at 11:10 a.m. Gregg will tee off at 11:30 a.m. against Valery Plata, the 50th-ranked amateur in the world.

First-round leader Suthavee Chanchai followed her 69 with a 77 to fall into a tie for 29th. She is paired against Riley Smyth at 12:50 p.m.

Sports

en-us

2021-08-04T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-08-04T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://edition.arkansasonline.com/article/282905208605327

WEHCO Media