Seong, Carta advance to US Women's Amateur final
SPRINGFIELD, Pa. (AP) - South Korea's Eun Jeong Seong and Italy's Virginia Elena Carta set up the first all-international U.S. Women's Amateur final in 106 years Saturday - and guaranteed a rare season sweep.
They each advanced with 2-and-1 victories at Rolling Green. The 16-year-old Seong beat 18-year-old Mathilda Cappeliez of France, and the 19-year-old Carta topped 15-year-old Yuka Saso of the Philippines.
Seong is trying to complete an unprecedented U.S. Girls' Junior-Amateur season sweep, and Carta is attempting to become the second player to win the tournament and NCAA individual title in the same year.
"I'm looking for U.S. Girls' Junior win and US Women's Amateur win, but I will play my play," said Seong, coming off her second straight U.S. Girls' Junior title last month at Ridgewood in New Jersey. "I don't feel pressure with another player."
Carta won the NCAA individual title in May in Oregon as a Duke freshman. She's trying to join Vicki Goetze (1992) as the only players to win the Amateur and NCAA in the same year, and the sixth to win both titles. Carta also is trying to become the second Italian winner, following Silvia Cavalleri in 1997.
In 1910 in the last all-international final, Dorothy Campbell, a Scot who was living in Canada, beat England's Mrs. G.M. Martin at Homewood in Illinois.
Seong never trailed Saturday.
"I think other players are more tired, that they make mistakes some holes," said Seong, 24-4 in USGA match-play championships. "That's why I can win easy going to the back nine."
Carta rebounded from a three-putt bogey on the par-4 12th, taking the lead for good with a par on the par-3 14th and ending the match with a birdie on the par-5 17th.
"The things that I brought from nationals is to see bad things in a positive way," Carta said. "I was like, 'OK, this is going to be great, because now you have to be even more focused on the next shot, and to believe it even more than what you are actually doing.' So, that was great. Three-putting that hole was great."
Seong also would become the third female player to win multiple USGA championships in the same year. Pearl Sinn won the Women's Amateur and Women's Amateur Public Links in 1988, and Jennifer Song swept the same events in 2009.
The finalists earned spots in the U.S. Women's Open next year at Trump National in New Jersey, and the winner traditionally also receives exemptions into the ANA Inspiration, Women's British Open and Evian Championship - all only if still an amateur.
Hannah O'Sullivan, the Chandler, Arizona, teen who won last year in Portland, Oregon, skipped her title defense. She played last week in the Women's British Open.