The final of the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball had less to do with women than with girls, an all-teenage pairing that might have warranted having a chaperone rather than a scorer. But the victory delivered by Oregon natives Natalie Yen, 18, and Asia Young, 16, over two 16-year-olds from Kentucky, Athena Singh and Keira Yung, on Wednesday testified to the continuing growth and strength of the future of women’s golf.
Yen and Young jumped to a 3-up lead in the first four holes at Oklahoma City Golf & Country Club in Nichols Hills, Okla., three of them on birdies, and lost only a single hole, with a bogey on the 14th, that they followed with a birdie at 15 to deliver a 5 and 3 victory.
The duo was dominant from the outset of the competition, co-medalist honors, then the No. 1 seed going into match play. Only two of their matches were relatively close, 2 and 1 victories in the round of 32 and their semi-final victory, 2 and 1, over Fay Jia and Cherry Zhang on Wednesday morning.
Yen, from West Linn, Ore., and committed to Texas A&M, entered the championship ninth in the American Junior Golf Association ranking, while Young, 22nd in the AJGA ranking, won the Callaway Junior at Canebrake Club a month earlier.
They made for an amusing pairing with their efforts at not letting the long days, two matches on Tuesday and another two on Wednesday, wear them down.
“I think a big component was staying loose in between because it’s a long day,” Young said on Tuesday. “You got to be really patient out there. We played ‘rock, paper, scissors’ like a million times, so that was fun.”
Yen, meanwhile, noted their debate about whether there were more doors or wheels in the world. Seriously.
“Yeah, it’s still ongoing,” Yen said.
“I think it has to be doors,” Young replied.
Teenagers.
As for doors, several have opened for them on the basis of this victory. Each now has an exemption into the U.S. Women’s Amateur at Bandon Dunes this summer, as well as 10-year exemptions into the Women’s Four-Ball.
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
