BANDON, O.R. — Rinko Mitsunaga, who will be a freshman at Georgia this fall, teamed with Mika Liu to win the inaugural U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championships at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort on Wednesday (May 14th, 2015). Mitsunaga and Liu, who both attend the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, earned the title with a 4-and-3 decision over Robynn Ree and Hannah O’Sullivan.
Mitsunaga provided a decisive shot in the match when she holed out for an eagle-3 at No. 12. That pushed her team’s lead to 4-up. The duos halved the next three holes, supplying an insurmountable four-hole lead with three to play.
Mitsunaga and Liu led virtually the entire final. After Ree and O’Sullivan captured the first hole, Mitsunaga and Liu tied the match at No. 2 and then captured No. 6, No. 7 and No. 8 to build a 3-up edge. They remained 3-up through 11 before Mitsunaga’s eagle.
The victory capped an impressive week for the IMG schoolmates.
Mitsunaga and Liu tied for 10th in two rounds of stroke play qualifying and entered match play as the No. 13 seed. They topped Shannon Oh and Texie June Petchel, 2-and-1, the first round; defeated Kathleen Scavo and Lucy Li, 2-and-1, in the round of 16; bested Angel Yin and Muni He after 21 holes in the quarterfinals; and knocked off Alyaa Abdulghany and Ellen Takada, 3-and-2, in the semfinals.
The 2015 edition of the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball is the first in the championship’s history. Along with the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball, the championships are the first additions to the USGA championship schedule since the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur began in 1987. Four-Ball play is a match in which each member of the two-golfer teams plays their own ball. Four balls are in play per hole with each of the four players competing. The team whose player has the lowest score on that hole wins the hole.
Mitsunaga captured the fifth USGA title by Georgia women’s golfers. Vicki Goetze won the U.S. Women’s Am in 1989 and 1992, Martha (Stacy) Leach won the U.S. Mid-Am in 2009 and Sherry (Kamens) Herman won the U.S. Senior Am in 2009.
Mitsunaga is one of three highly-ranked prospects who will join the Bulldogs this fall. Among junior girls graduating in 2015, she is No. 4 and No. 11 in the current AJGA and Golfweek junior rankings, respectively. In addition, Georgia will welcome Bailey Tardy (No. 6 Golfweek/No. 7 AJGA) and Jillian Hollis (No. 5 AJGA/No. 13 Golfweek). Both Tardy and Hollis were named first-team Rolex Junior All-America by the AJGA in 2014, while Mitsunaga was a second-team selection.