Three members of Orchards Golf Club worked their way into Wednesday’s match play after two rounds of qualifying stroke play in the 122nd Massachusetts Women’s Amateur Championship at Concord Country Club.
Ryley Regan, Annie Dai and Julianna Megan all play out of the pristine, private 18-hole track in South Hadley, and they had a chance to punch their ticket to the Round of 16 as they teed off Wednesday morning in the Round of 32. Megan shot 11-over par through the first two days to finish in a tie for 17th, Regan posted a score of 12-over par to tie for 20th and Dai squeaked into the top 32 with a score of 16-over to finish in a tie for 30th.
While all three had success in the opening two rounds to advance to match play, their run in the Women’s Am came to a close there.
Regan lost to Nehoiden Golf Club’s Katherine Ng 6&5, Megan fell 4&3 to KOHR Golf’s Julia Imai and Dai dropped her match 6&5 to Indian Ridge Country Club’s Isabel Brozena.
The youngest competitor in the field, Regan more than held her own. She lost the first hole to Ng before winning No. 2 to square things up. The Granby native tied the next three holes to leave her all square through five, but Ng took over from there, winning five of the next six holes to put her in the driver’s seat to win the match.
Megan had success early on as well, erasing a quick 1-down deficit to jump ahead by one after winning the 4th and 5th holes with a birdie and par. The match went to the back nine all square, but Imai steamrolled ahead with four wins over the next five holes to take a commanding lead and pull out the victory.
Dai played her first five holes even par 1-under, a birdie on the par-5 5th tying her match up after losing the first hole. Brozena caught fire from there, as she shot a 1-under 35 on the front nine and followed it up with two birdies in her first four holes on the back. She won five of the last six holes to pull away for the win over Dai.
The Round of 16 also took place in the afternoon. No Hampshire County competitors advanced past the Round of 32.
Thursday’s quarterfinal matchups are set, as Shannon Johnson (Thorny Lea Golf Club) will battle Lillian Guleserian (Blue Hill Country Club), Rebecca Skoler (Pine Brook Country Club) takes on Alexis Florio (Woodland Golf Club), Molly Smith (Vesper Country Club) matches up with Phoebe Brinker (George Wright Golf Course) and Brozena meets Kaitlyn Doe (Needham Golf Club) with a spot in the semifinals on the line.
The final four competitors will return to the course on Thursday afternoon to get down to two finalists. Those two will then meet on Friday for a 36-hole championship.
