5 things we learn at the 2021 U.S. Women’s Amateur

After two rounds of stroke play and six rounds of match play, a national champion has been crowned.

Jensen Castle survived a 12-for-2 playoff just to qualify for match play at the 121^st U.S. Women’s Amateur and rode that momentum all the way to the 36-hole final match. The University of Kentucky junior from West Columbia, South Carolina, came back from 2 down for the third time this week to defeat the University of Arizona junior Vivian Hou, 2 and 1. Oh yeah, she did all that with a stress fracture in her rib.

Outside of Castle’s impressive performance, there was more to take away from the week at Westchester Country Club. Here’s what we learned from the U.S. Women’s Amateur.

Age is just a number, same with rankings and seeds
Shout out to Rianne Mikhaela Malixi, the 14-year-old who after losing in the Round of 32 at last month’s U.S. Girls’ Junior to eventual champion and the world’s No. 1 amateur, Rose Zhang, advanced all the way to the Round of 16 this week. And then there’s Cara Heisterkamp, the 15-year-old who almost quit golf earlier this summer before her Women’s Am run ended in the quarterfinals at the hands of Hou, the runner-up.

Seven of the tournament’s top-10 seeds lost in the first round of match play, which sounds bad. In reality, only three were ranked inside the top 60 of the World Amateur Golf Ranking. And the seven players’ average world ranking? 254. Fast forward to the Round of 16, where only five of the top-100 players in the world advanced: Rachel Heck (2), Vivian Hou (21), Aline Krauter (29), Brooke Matthews (37) and Emily Mahar (74).

The point? Nobody would believe on paper that Malixi or Heisterkamp would have made match play, let alone advance as far as they did. We wouldn’t have been treated to Castle’s brutal honesty about the final match. Ages, rankings, seeds, they don’t matter. The players do, and they delivered again.

Westchester was a great host
Don’t take it from me, hear it from the players.

Two programs on the rise
When you think of golf schools, Ohio State and Kentucky aren’t the first two that come to mind. That said, each had three players advance to match play.

Ohio State junior Lauren Peter lost in the Round of 64, junior Aneka Seumanutafa in the Round of 32 and sophomore Kailie Vongsaga bowed out in the Round of 16. That experience, paired with Lisa Strom’s return to her alma mater could mean big things for the Buckeyes. As for Kentucky, Castle won the championship, junior Marissa Wenzler knocked off medalist Rachel Kuehn and sophomore Laney Frye fell short in the Round of 64. Those kinds of performances can inspire teammates, with the fall season just a few weeks away.

Future broadcasting star
Emilia Migliaccio recently made her on-course commentating debut at the U.S. Girls’ Junior after announcing she’d focus on her media career instead of professional golf following an All-American career at Wake Forest. Migliaccio can still swing it with the best of them, as the Golf Channel intern not only advanced to match play, but jumped on-air to commentate following her Round of 64 win. The Cary, North Carolina, native keeps getting better on the mic and is a rising star in the business.

Stanford did Stanford things
The Cardinal sent four players – Heck, Zhang, Krauter, and Brooke Seay – to Westchester and three made it to the Round of 16. Seay advanced to the quarters and Heck the semifinals, and both took their matches to extra holes. Stanford’s stars seem to shine when the lights are the brightest, and they’re only getting better.