ATHENS, Ga. — Three members of the Georgia women’s golf team will begin competition in the 121st U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship on Monday at Westchester Country Club in Rye, N.Y. Jenny Bae, Caroline Craig and Céleste Dao qualified for spots among the 156 golfers in the field.
“When you come to the University of Georgia you expect to compete for national championships,” head coach Josh Brewer said. “Many of our players have had very good summers, and the three of them now get the opportunity to compete at the highest level in U.S. amateur golf. All three of them have played well this summer. I’m excited for their prospects this week as they vie to be called the U.S. Women’s Amateur Champion.”
The tournament will begin with 36 holes of stroke play on Monday and Tuesday. The field will then be cut to a 64-person match play bracket. The round of 64 will be on Wednesday, followed by the rounds of 32 and 16 on Thursday, the quarterfinals on Friday, the semifinals on Saturday and the 36-hole championship on Sunday.
Bae and Craig will be competing in their first Women’s Am. Dao will be appearing in her second. Bae and Craig earned spots by winning qualifiers earlier this spring, while Dao’s status changed from alternate to entrant last week.
Bae shot 5-under 68 to win the qualifier at Woodmont Golf and Country Club in Canton, Ga., on July 5. The victory was Bae’s third in six days after previously capturing the GSGA’s Georgia Women’s Amateur and the Georgia PGA’s Georgia Women’s Open the previous week.
Craig was the lone golfer of the 65 entrants at Carolina Trace Country Club in Sanford, N.C., to post a red number on July 6. She shot 3-under 69, three strokes clear of the rest of the field. On the same day, Dao posted a 2-over 75 at Seymour Golf and Country Club in Vancouver to tie for fourth on the leaderboard. She then earned a second alternate spot for the Am over three other golfers and officially moved from alternate to in the field last week.
Georgia annually has qualifiers reach the U.S. Women’s Amateur. Vicki Goetze won the 1989 and 1992 U.S. Amateurs and also was medalist at the 1990 Am.
Television coverage from Wednesday through Sunday will be split between the Golf Channel and Peacock. The Golf Channel will air the Am on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday from 2:00-5:00 p.m. ET, while Peacock’s coverage will be from 2:00-5:00 p.m. ET on Thursday and Friday.