U.S. Amateur final pits first-timer vs. 2003 runnerup
By wire services
Published August 15, 2004
ERIE, Pa. - Amanda McCurdy, playing her first U.S. Women's Amateur, dominated a struggling and more experienced Paula Creamer 6 and 4 Saturday to advance to the final.
McCurdy faces last year's runnerup, Jane Park, 17, of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. Park beat Sarah Huarte, 22, of Shingle Springs, Calif., with Huarte three-putting the 18th.
McCurdy, a 20-year-old junior at the University of Arkansas, said after making the semifinals she had 24 voice messages on her cell phone from family and friends.
"Nobody really knew who I was and everybody knew the marquee names so I really did have nothing to lose," said McCurdy, the only one of the four semifinalists who was not on the U.S. Curtis Cup team.
Creamer, 18, of Pleasanton, Calif., had made short shots all week to reach the semifinals a second straight year. But she had six bogeys Saturday and hit five of 14 greens. McCurdy went 1-up on the third hole when Creamer bogeyed the 152-yard, par 3, and never lost the lead. Creamer was frustrated entering the back nine, where McCurdy widened her lead to 3-up.
"That was ridiculous," Creamer said after three-putting the 10th.
Creamer missed the green to the right on the 11th. After pitching the ball across the green, Creamer squatted just off the green, holding her head in her hands. McCurdy parred to win the hole and go 4-up.
At the 13th, Creamer missed her putt to save par. On the 14th and final hole, Creamer's second shot skimmed the fairway and landed at the bottom of a deep valley. She pitched up to the front left of the green but could not win the hole.
Meanwhile, Park was down to Huarte much of the match. Huarte was 2-up after the 13th, a 384-yard dogleg left. But she bogeyed the 14th and the 15th, evening the match. On the 16th, Park drove the ball under a tree in the rough. She punched it out to the fairway and finished with bogey 5. Park won the hole anyway and went 1-up, though, after Huarte three-putted for double bogey. Huarte again three-putted the 18th, losing the match.
HOOTERS: Former U.S. Amateur champion and Florida alum Bubba Dickerson shot 1-under 71 in the Buffalo Run Casino Classic to share a one-stroke lead with Will McKenzie (65). Both were 14-under 202 in Miami, Okla. Twelve were within four shots of the leaders.
EUROPEAN PGA: The third round of the Russian Open in Nakhabino was postponed after heavy rain flooded the course. Co-leaders Henrik Nystrom and Kariem Baraka (10-under 134 for one-stroke lead) completed the first hole when organizers first suspended play. Two rounds will be played today.
CANADIAN AMATEUR: Fifteen-year-old Darren Wallace became the youngest to win the championship in Pointe-Claire, Quebec. Wallace beat 18-year-old Marc Bourgeois 5 and 3. Wallace is three years younger than Donald Carrick, who was 18 when he won in 1925. Tiger Woods was 18 in 1994 when he became the youngest U.S. Amateur champion.
