Marissa Wenzler upsets top-seed Rachel Kuehn in Round of 64 at U.S. Women’s Amateur

HARRISON, New York – The pins and needles have been in play since dusk Tuesday when Marissa Wenzler stood on the first tee at Westchester Country Club, hoping to fill the final line of the U.S. Women’s Amateur match play bracket.

It was hard to breathe.

The 20-year-old junior at the University of Kentucky was among the 12 players competing for two spots after closing out stroke play with an even-par 72. When she walked off the course, 6 over was on the wrong side of the cut line.

“It was very stressful,” Wenzler said. “I was in the morning wave, so we were trying to figure out what I should do the rest of the day. I was hoping to make a playoff. In that situation it’s hard to stay positive, but you just have to kind of simplify it, and say, ‘I just need birdie on this hole and I’m good to go.’ I was really grateful I was in the last group in the playoff because I knew what I had to do. I saw my teammate (Jensen Castle) make a birdie so I was like, ‘OK, that’s one spot there and I want to take the next one.’ ”

And that’s exactly what happened.

Wenzler rolled in a birdie and landed against top-seed Rachel Kuehn, a seasoned USGA competitor and Wake Forest All-American.

“If I see Jensen doing something, I want to do it, too,” she added. “Same with Laney (Frye), who’s here, too. We’re all really competitive, but that’s what made us progress in season and off season, because we see teammates at the summer events, too.”

Wenzler and Kuehn were first off. There was some back and forth. Kuehn was 2 up early, but the match was square after at the turn. Wenzler captured the Western Amateur two weeks ago and has some match play mojo. Her older brother, Ryan, is on the bag this week and provided voice of calm.

Momentum was exchanged when she rolled in birdies at Nos. 7 and 9.

Bogeys at the 11th and 13th left Kuehn two down, but she upped the level of drama with a tap-in birdie at the difficult par-3 16th.

Wenzler pushed a drive right on the 17th and had tree trouble. She punched out, pitched on from the rough and two-putted for bogey.

After her approach stopped above the hole, Kuehn three-putted.

Both players found the center of the fairway at par-5 18th, laid up to wedge range and found the green. Wenzler’s approach from 80 yards stopped pin high. She cozied up the 12-footer after this year’s medalist failed to drop a slippery birdie try from above the hole.

The sense of relief was instant.

“I was down quick, but I wasn’t playing horribly,” Wenzler said. “I just had one bad hole, but my brother was like, ‘You’re fine. You’re playing well. Stay patient.’ That helped a lot. I was getting a little nervous on 17. Where my drive ended up, I thought, ‘I could lose this hole.’ But then I made that 5-footer, which was awesome. Coming up to the 18th hole, Rachel is an amazing player, I mean amazing, so I expected her to make birdie. You have to expect your opponent is going to make everything. And she’s good under pressure so in my head I was ready to go. It was fun.

“I definitely talked to my brother a lot coming down the 18th. I hit my drive well. ‘OK, first check point.’ My second shot, ‘OK done.” And then my third shot and it’s like, ‘I have a birdie putt.’ ”

Conditions were again perfect, but there were not a lot of birdie opportunities on the West Course.

“The pins were way more tucked,” Wenzler said. “A few of them were on those little shelves. I was expecting that because in match play they like to make things more exciting. Thankfully, my lag putting was good and I hit it close when I had to.”

Next up for the Dayton, Ohio resident is Hailey Borja, a second-team, All-Big 10 selection from Michigan who defeated Yilin Liu 3 up.

“I didn’t make it past the Round of 64 last year so this is new for me and really exciting,” Wenzler said.

A memorable week for the only local remaining in the championship ended when Lauren Peter of Carmel lost 3 and 2 to Xin Kou, an incoming freshman at USC.

“I had such a great time here this week,” said Peter, a junior at Ohio State. “It was a great opportunity and I enjoyed all the support I had. There were 15-20 fans each day.”

Peter was in attack mode on Tuesday, shooting a 3-under 69, but had to dial back a little on Day 3.

“It wasn’t attack-the-pin day, I can tell you that,” she said.

Peter erased an early deficit, but Kou built a comfortable lead when she won 12, 13 and 15 with a birdie and two pars.

“It just makes me want to work harder, to be honest,” Peter added. “I worked pretty hard coming into this and I’m a little disappointed by the outcome, but that’s what makes you work harder and get better every day. I’ll just kind of be hanging out with family and friends before I go back to school in a few weeks. It’s definitely going to be a really great season with a really great team. We had three girls make the cut this week so we’re excited. I’m definitely thinking maybe we can grab a little NCAA trophy.”