Wake’s Rachel Kuehn adds to family USGA medal haul at U.S. Women’s Amateur

August 3, 2021

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Make that three USGA medals for the Kuehn family.

Wake Forest junior Rachel Kuehn shot 5-under 67 Tuesday at Westchester Country Club in Rye, N.Y., to finish the stroke-play portion of the U.S. Women’s Amateur at 6 under and capture medalist honors. Kuehn’s achievement came more than two decades after her mother, Brenda Corrie Kuehn, won medalist honors at the 1995 and 1996 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateurs.

With her brother, Corrie, on her bag, Kuehn also earned the top seed for match play, which begins with the Round of 64 on Wednesday. Kuehn will face off against Marissa Wenzler, who joined Jensen Castle as the two players to advance out of a 12-for-2 playoff.

The last No. 1 seed to win the U.S. Women’s Amateur was Amanda Blumenherst in 2008.

“I think you get to this level and everyone can play, so you just got to take one match at a time and not take anything for granted,” Kuehn said. “The seeding doesn’t really mean anything at this level. Everyone can go out there and have a good round, and match play is having just a little bit of a better round than your opponent.”

Stroke-play scoring from the U.S. Women’s Amateur

Other notables to advance to match play include Kuehn’s Wake Forest teammate Emilia Migliaccio (-1), reigning NCAA individual champion and Stanford sophomore Rachel Heck (E), and the two finalists from last month’s U.S. Girls’ Junior, winner Rose Zhang (+2) and runner-up Bailey Davis (+4). Zhang is also the defending champion of this championship.

“I just love match play,” Zhang said. “I think it’s very unexpected. Anything can happen. Since tomorrow is a clean slate, I’m going to go out there and try to play the best I can against my opponent.”

Among those not moving on to match play: U.S. Women’s Open low amateur Megha Ganne, ANWA champ Tsubasa Kajitani and the Auburn trio of Meghan Schofill, Mychael O’Berry and Kaleigh Telfer.

Wednesday’s matchups, tee times (ET)

9 a.m. Rachel Kuehn, Asheville, N.C. (138) vs. Marissa Wenzler, Dayton, Ohio (150)
9:10 a.m. Hailey Borja, Lake Forest, Calif. (146) vs. Yilin (Angela) Liu, Irvine, Calif. (146)
9:20 a.m. Valeria Mendizabal, Guatemala (144) vs. Laney Frye, Nicholasville, Ky. (148)
9:30 a.m. Valentina Rossi, Argentina (144) vs. Hannah Holzmann, San Antonio, Texas (148)
9:40 a.m. Morgan Baxendale, Windermere, Fla. (143) vs. Katie Cranston, Canada (149)
9:50 a.m. Kennedy Swann, Austin, Texas (145) vs. Tess Blair, South Jordan, Utah (147)
10:00 a.m. Emilia Migliaccio, Cary, N.C. (143) vs. Ting-Hsuan Huang, Chinese Taipei (149)
10:10 a.m. Brooke Seay, San Diego, Calif. (145) vs. Savannah Barber, Fort Worth, Texas (147)
10:20 a.m. Erica Shepherd, Greenwood, Ind. (142) vs. Cara Heisterkamp, Westlake, Ohio (149)
10:30 a.m. Mika Jin, Fremont, Calif. (146) vs. Lauren Hartlage, Elizabethtown, Ky. (146)
10:40 a.m. Aneka Seumanutafa, Emmitsburg, Md. (144) vs. Audrey Tan, Malaysia (148)
10:50 a.m. Clare Connolly, Chevy Chase, Md. (145) vs. Aline Krauter, Germany (148)
11:00 a.m. Caroline Canales, Calabasas, Calif. (142) vs. Emma McMyler, San Antonio, Texas (149)
11:10 a.m. Lauren Peter, Carmel, N.Y. (145) vs. Xin (Cindy) Kou, People’s Republic of China (146)
11:20 a.m. Alessia Nobilio, Italy (144) vs. Yu-Chiang Hou, Chinese Taipei (148)
11:30 a.m. Grace Summerhays, Scottsdale, Ariz. (145) vs. Bibilani Liu, Cupertino, Calif. (147)
11:40 a.m. Kennedy Pedigo, Fort Worth, Texas (140) vs. Jensen Castle, West Columbia, S.C. (150)
11:50 a.m. Bridget Ma, Windermere, Fla. (146) vs. Sophie Linder, Carthage, Tenn. (146)
12 p.m. Jenny Bae, Suwanee, Ga. (144) vs. Bailey Davis, White Plains, Md. (148)
12:10 p.m. Cory Lopez, Mexico (144) vs. Anna Morgan, Spartanburg, S.C. (148)
12:20 p.m. Allysha Mae Mateo, Mililani, Hawaii (143) vs. Rianne Mikhaela Malixi, Philippines (149)
12:30 p.m. Julia Gregg, Farmers Branch, Texas (145) vs. Valery Plata, Colombia (146)
12:40 p.m. Sophie (Yixian) Guo, People’s Republic of China (143) vs. Maisie Filler, Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. (149)
12:50 p.m. Maddison Hinson-Tolchard, Australia (145) vs. Emily Mahar, Australia (147)
1:00 p.m. Brooke Matthews, Rogers, Ark. (141) vs. Brittany Shin, Cape Coral, Fla. (149)
1:10 p.m. Rose Zhang, Irvine, Calif. (146) vs. Elle Nachmann, Boca Raton, Fla. (146)
1:20 p.m. Rachel Heck, Memphis, Tenn. (144) vs. Karen Tsuru, Carlsbad, Calif. (148)
1:30 p.m. Celeste Dao, Canada (144) vs. Grace Kim, Australia (148)
1:40 p.m. Alyaa Abdulghany, Malaysia (143) vs. Kailie Vongsaga, Diamond Bar, Calif. (149)
1:50 p.m. Riley Smyth, Cary, N.C. (145) vs. Suthavee Chanachai, Thailand (146)
2:00 p.m. Kan Bunnabodee, Thailand (143) vs. Alyson Bean, Murrieta, Calif. (149)
2:10 p.m. Jackie Rogowicz, Yardley, Pa. (145) vs. Emma Spitz, Austria (147)