Aug. 11, 2004
ERIE, Pa. – Notre Dame junior-to-be Katie Brophy (Spokane, Wash./Gonzaga Prep) continued her historic run at the 104th U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship, advancing to the second round of match play by defeating incoming Purdue freshman Whitney Frykman in 20 holes on Wednesday afternoon. Brophy, who already has gone farther at the U.S. Women’s Amateur than any other golfer in school history, was one of five players who needed extra holes to claim victory on Wednesday, and the 20-hole triumph was the second-longest match of the day at the par-72, 6,365-yard Kahkwa Club in Erie, Pa. The 18th-seeded Brophy next will face 2004 NCAA individual champion and U.S. Curtis Cup Team member Sarah Huarte in the round of 32 beginning at 8:42 a.m. (EDT) on Thursday. Huarte, a recent University of California graduate and the No. 15 seed, advanced to the second round of the U.S. Women’s Amateur with a 5 & 4 win over Furman’s Jenny Suh on Wednesday. If Huarte’s surname sounds familiar to some Notre Dame followers, it should — her uncle, John, was a quarterback on the Irish football team from 1962-64 and won the Heisman Trophy in 1964. Also, her sister, Laura, will be a junior at Notre Dame this fall and competes as a pole vaulter on the Irish track & field team. Should Brophy defeat Huarte on Thursday morning, she would move into the round of 16 later that afternoon. There, she would face either second-seeded Julieta Granada, the 2004 USGA Girls’ Junior Champion, or Duke rising senior Niloufar Aazam-Zanganeh, the 2002 Atlantic Coast Conference Rookie of the Year, at 1:40 p.m. (EDT) Thursday. Brophy, a two-time all-BIG EAST Conference selection and the 2003 BIG EAST Championship co-medalist, had to fight a roller coaster of emotions throughout her first-round match with Frykman. Neither player had more than a one-hole lead the entire afternoon, but Brophy seemed to take control with a birdie at No. 14, which she then covered with a par at the 15th hole for a 1-up lead and three holes remaining. However, she carded a bogey and double bogey on the next two holes, opening the door for Frykman to take a 1-up lead to No. 18. Now needing to win the hole to stay alive, Brophy did just that, parring the 364-yard, par-4 18th, while Frykman bogeyed the final hole. With matters undecided after regulation, the two players returned to the first tee for a sudden death playoff. Both Brophy and Frykman registered pars on No. 1, but the 313-yard, par-4 second hole proved to be Frykman’s undoing. The 18-year-old Acworth, Ga., native made bogey while Brophy steadily posted another par, her 14th in 20 holes, to secure the victory. Some of the bigger names at this year’s U.S. Women’s Amateur had to battle their way just to advance out of the first round of match play. Michelle Wie, the 2003 U.S. Amateur Public Links Champion, had to hold off a late charge by Angela Park for a 1-up victory. Meanwhile, Granada needed 22 holes to outlast Gabby Wedding in a match that saw the pair combine for 13 birdies. Surprisingly, the top seed and stroke play medalist, Amie Cochran, lost her first-round match, 1-up to Hsiao-Chung Lu of Chinese Taipei. Lu barely made it out of stroke play herself, claiming the 64th and final qualifying spot with a birdie on the second hole of a massive 11-player playoff early Wednesday morning. The U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship has been contested annually since 1895, with this year marking the 104th version of the event. Past winners include LPGA legends Babe Didriksen Zaharias, JoAnne Carner, Beth Daniel and Juli Inkster. A full match-play bracket and in-progress scoring updates are available on the 2004 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship web site. A full recap of Brophy’s match-play performances on Thursday also will be available right here on the official Notre Dame athletics web site.
— ND —