Smith seeded 15th at U.S. Amateur

Shooting under par was at a premium during the two rounds of stroke play qualifying in the 120th U.S. Women’s Amateur at Woodmont Country Club in Maryland after a day off Tuesday between rounds due to weather.

Kate Smith shot rounds of even par and 1-over for a share of 14th place advancing to match play near the top of the qualifying leaderboard.

Smith traveled to Maryland after receiving the championship trophy of the Minnesota Golf Association Women’s Amateur Championship last weekend in Stillwater - her second title in four seasons. She earned her 14th state championship title and joined 17 other women with multiple Women’s State Amateur wins.

Smith noted her mental strength on the course as the biggest key to victory and mentioned continuing that at the U.S. Am.

Smith was near the top of the leaderboard after the opening nine holes on Monday with a four-birdie effort, including three in a row on holes Nos. 3-5, two par fives and a par four. She went out with a 3-under 33 after a bogey at the par-4, seventh and a birdie to answer at the par-4, eighth hole.

The back nine consisted of seven pars, a bogey at the par-4, 14th and a double on the par-4 closing hole for a 3-over 39 and even for the day.

She was back under par on the front nine of round two with two birdies, six pars and one bogey. Three early bogeys on 11, 12 and 14, all par-4’s, and a birdie at the par-5, 15th hole brought Smith in with a +2, 38 and 1-over on the day and for the qualifying rounds.

Smith is seeded 15th in match play and opens against a fellow college senior Louise Yu of Vanderbilt. Yu qualified with the 50th seed after finishing in an 11-player tie for 48th place at 5-over par.

Rachel Heck shot a 1-under 71 in the second round of stroke play to earn medalist honors. Her 36-hole total of 4-under 140 made her one of just seven players to break par in stroke play, the fewest since 2014.

Heck, 18, of Memphis, Tenn., gained national attention when she made the cut at the 2017 U.S. Women’s Open as a 15-year-old. Now three years later, she has loftier aspirations than just playing the weekend.

Heck is competing in her fourth consecutive U.S. Women’s Amateur. On Wednesday, she birdied four of her first eight holes and was one of three competitors in the 132-player field to post consecutive sub-par scores.

“The course is in perfect condition,” said Heck, an incoming freshman at Stanford University. “It’s pretty tight, so we were focusing on hitting fairways, hitting greens, not trying to do anything crazy. That's kind of been my game plan and it's worked out well so far.”

Three players finished two strokes behind Heck at 2-under 142 – Phoebe Brinker, Valery Plata and the fourth-ranked player in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, Emilia Migliaccio. First-round co-leader, Rachel Kuehn, rebounded from a tough start to earn the No. 8 seed. Starting on the 10th hole, she bogeyed the 11th and triple bogeyed the 12th before playing even-par golf the rest of the way.

Playing with Kuehn, defending champion Gabriela Ruffels bogeyed two of her first three holes, but played her final 15 holes bogey-free. Three birdies coming in led to a 1-under 71 and earned her the No. 6 seed in her title defense.

Other notable players to make the match-play field include first-round co-leader Riley Smyth, 2019 U.S. Women’s Open low-amateur Gina Kim and 2019 U.S. Women’s Amateur semifinalist Megha Ganne.

The biggest turnaround of the day belonged to Kajal Mistry. The 19-year-old who represented South Africa in the 2018 Women’s World Amateur Team Championship tied the low round of the day with a 3-under 69 – an improvement of 12 strokes from her opening 81. She then survived a 15-for-6 playoff with a birdie on the first playoff hole (Woodmont’s eighth) to punch her ticket into match play.

In addition to Mistry, Katherine Zhu, Auston Kim, Therese Warner, Gurleen Kaur and Haylin Harris emerged from the playoff to make match play.

The Round of 64 is scheduled to begin at 8:50 a.m. CT on Thursday, with the Golf Channel broadcast live from 3-6 p.m. CT.

Due to Tuesday’s round being postponed, the Rounds of 32 and 16 will be played on Friday, and both the quarterfinals and semifinals are scheduled for Saturday. The 36-hole championship match will take place on Sunday.

U.S. Amateur qualifying leaderboard

Rachel Heck, Memphis, Tenn. 69-71--140

Valery Plata, Colombia 71-71--142

Emilia Migliaccio, Cary, N.C. 71-71--142

Phoebe Brinker, Wilmington, Del. 70-72--142

Gabriela Ruffels, Australia 72-71--143

Riley Smyth, Cary, N.C. 68-75--143

Catherine Park, Irvine, Calif. 72-71--143

Rachel Kuehn, Asheville, N.C. 68-76--144

Micheala Williams, Brownsboro, Ala. 73-71--144

Mychael O'Berry, Hoover, Ala. 72-72--144

Hailey Borja, Lake Forest, Calif. 74-70--144

Alyaa Abdulghany, Malaysia 73-71--144

Marissa Wenzler, Dayton, Ohio 75-69--144

Maria Bohorquez, Colombia 71-74--145

Natasha Andrea Oon, Malaysia 76-69--145

Katherine Smith, Detroit Lakes, Minn. 72-73--145

Rose Zhang, Irvine, Calif. 74-71--145

Maria Fernanda Escauriza, Paraguay 69-77--146

Kaleigh Telfer, South Africa 71-75--146

Raquel Olmos Ros, Spain 71-75--146

Vanessa Knecht, Switzerland 73-73--146

Sadie Englemann, Austin, Texas 74-72--146

Kennedy Swann, Austin, Texas 75-71--146

Marissa Kirkwood, New Castle, Pa. 72-74--146

Brooke Matthews, Rogers, Ark. 72-74--146

Cecilie Finne-Ipsen, Denmark 74-73--147

Pimnipa Panthong, Thailand 73-74--147

Kaitlyn Papp, Austin, Texas 74-73--147

Gina Kim, Durham, N.C. 76-71--147

Megha Ganne, Holmdel, N.J. 71-76--147

Michaela Morard, Huntsville, Ala. 76-71--147

Allisen Corpuz, Kapolei, Hawaii 76-71--147

Amari Avery, Riverside, Calif. 77-70--147

Ellie Slama, Salem, Ore. 73-74--147

Zoe Antoinette Campos, Valencia, Calif. 72-75--147

Aline Krauter, Germany 73-75--148

Isabella Fierro, Mexico 74-74--148

Lei Ye, People's Republic of China 75-73--148

Teresa Toscano Borrero, Spain 73-75--148

Jensen Castle, Columbia, S.C. 74-74--148

Tyler Akabane, Danville, Calif. 75-73--148

Aneka Seumanutafa, Emmitsburg, Md. 71-77--148

Addie Baggarly, Gainesville, Fla. 72-76--148

Malia Nam, Kailua, Hawaii 75-73--148

Megan Schofill, Monticello, Fla. 69-79--148

Talia Campbell, New York, N.Y. 74-74--148

Reagan Zibilski, Springfield, Mo. 74-74--148

Kirsty Hodgkins, Australia 73-76--149

Emily Mahar, Australia 73-76--149

Yurika Tanida, Japan 76-73--149

Sofia Garcia, Paraguay 75-74--149

Louise Yu, Duluth, Ga. 74-75--149

Bohyun Park, Republic of Korea 73-76--149

Courtney Dow, Frisco, Texas 76-73--149

Lauren Beaudreau, Lemont, Ill. 77-72--149

Libby Winans, Richardson, Texas 73-76--149

Nicole Whiston, San Diego, Calif. 77-72--149

Anna Morgan, Spartanburg, S.C. 76-73--149

Katherine Zhu, San Jose, Calif. 74-76--150

Cory Lopez, Mexico 74-76--150

Kajal Mistry, South Africa 81-69--150

Virunpat Olankitkunchai, Thailand 73-77--150

Lauren Greenlief, Ashburn, Va. 76-74--150

Haylin Harris, Carmel, Ind. 75-75--150

Kelly Sim, Edgewater, N.J. 73-77--150

Lauren Hartlage, Elizabethtown, Ky. 75-75--150

Mika Jin, Fremont, Calif. 76-74--150

Gurleen Kaur, Houston, Texas 78-72--150

Therese Warner, Kennenwick, Wash. 74-76--150

Kenzie Wright, McKinney, Texas 75-75--150

Hailee Cooper, Montgomery, Texas 74-76--150

Auston Kim, St. Augustine, Fla. 76-74--150

Briana Chacon, Whittier, Calif. 75-75--150

Missed cut

Brigitte Thibault, Canada 77-74--151

Karen Fredgaard, Denmark 76-75--151

Pilar Echeverria, Guatemala 76-75--151

Lois Kaye Go, Philippines 78-73--151

Kelly Xu, Claremont, Calif. 76-75--151

Erica Shepherd, Greenwood, Ind. 75-76--151

Anika Varma, India 75-76--151

Brooke Seay, San Diego, Calif. 78-73--151

Megan Furtney, St. Charles, Ill. 74-77--151

Sera Tadokoro, Japan 75-77--152

Renate Grimstad, Norway 78-74--152

Chanikan Yongyuan, Thailand 79-73--152

Caroline Canales, Calabasas, Calif. 75-77--152

Christine Wang, Houston, Texas 76-76--152

Alexa Pano, Lake Worth, Fla. 76-76--152

Jacqueline Putrino, Lakewood Ranch, Fla. 76-76--152

Lauren Cox, Orange, Texas 78-74--152

Ivy Shepherd, Peachtree City, Ga. 79-73--152

Ashley Kim, Redondo Beach, Calif. 76-76--152

Grace Summerhays, Scottsdale, Ariz. 76-76--152

Ela Anacona, Argentina 71-82--153

Clara Manzalini, Italy 75-78--153

Morgan Baxendale, Windemere, Fla. 78-75--153

Bentley Cotton, Austin, Texas 76-77--153

Katie Chipman, Canton, Mich. 74-79--153

Amanda Sambach, Charlotte, N.C. 76-77--153

Julia Gregg, Farmers Branch, Texas 78-75--153

Julia Becker, Las Vegas, Nev. 72-81--153

Allysha Mae Mateo, Mililani, Hawaii 77-76--153

Brynn Walker, Saint Davids, Pa. 76-77--153

Julia Johnson, St. Gabriel, La. 79-74--153

Valeria Mendizabal, Guatemala 73-81--154

Brooke Riley, Manteca, Calif. 77-77--154

Kelsey Chugg, Salt Lake City, Utah 78-76--154

Ellen Port, St. Louis, Mo. 75-79--154

Anne Chen, Sugar Land, Texas 75-79--154

Jackie Rogowicz, Yardley, Pa. 78-76--154

Kaitlin Milligan, Goldsby, Okla. 77-78--155

Julia Potter-Bobb, Indianapolis, Ind. 79-76--155

Hanna Alberto, Kingwood, Texas 78-77--155

Siripatsorn Patchana, Thailand 78-77--155

Giovanna Fernandez, Paraguay 73-83--156

Emily Hawkins, Lexington, N.C. 78-78--156

Jillian Bourdage, Tamarac, Fla. 78-78--156

Ami Gianchandani, Watchung, N.J. 75-81--156

Ashley Gilliam, Manchester, Tenn. 82-75--157

Jackie Lucena, Chico, Calif. 80-78--158

Siyun Liu, People's Republic of China 81-78--159

Sophia Bae, Norwood, N.J. 80-79--159

Brianna Navarrosa, San Diego, Calif. 78-82--160

Celeste Dao, Canada 80-81--161

Jasmine Ly, Canada 77-84--161

Meghan Stasi, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. 81-80--161

Shannon Johnson, North Easton, Mass. 81-80--161

Kennedy Pedigo, Fort Worth, Texas 81-80--161

Paris Hilinski, Los Angeles, Calif. 83-84--167

Marta Perez Sanmartin, Spain 80-88--168

Siarra Stout, Franklin, Tenn. 85-83--168

Angela (Yilin) Liu, Irvine, Calif. 83-WD--WD