Jiwon Jeon earns medalist honors in U.S. Women's Open qualifying at Rainier Golf & Country Club
SEATTLE - Jiwon Jeon earned medalist honors by four shots on the strength of an afternoon 5-under par 67, and Emily Kristine Pedersen and Caroline Inglis each survived a three-for-two playoff to earn tickets into the U.S. Women's Open through qualifying at Rainier Golf & Country Club on Tuesday.
Jeon birdied four of her final seven holes to surge clear of the field and secure a spot in her second career U.S. Women's Open and first as a professional.
"I was kind of in the zone," Jeon said.
Jeon was a shot back of Ssu Chia Cheng, Yealimi Noh and Yu Liu after the morning round. Noh – a member of the U.S. Solheim Cup team is 2021 – continued to hold a lead until late into the afternoon rounds before Jeon raced off into the distance.
Jeon notched birdies on 12, 15, 16 and 18 as part of a back nine 32 to punch her ticket to Lancaster Country Club in late May.
"The first 18 I kind of hung in there because my shot was like spraying a little bit. But this course has a lot of trees so you just got to be really patient and stick to your game plan," Jeon said. "The second 18 I felt like I have to go really low to make it into the top three, but this course is gettable, for sure, if you have it in the right spot. I think I hit a lot of fairways on the back and just whenever I had an opportunity, I just went for it and made some good putts out there."
The field at Rainier Golf & Country Club had plenty of notable names from the LPGA Tour trying to find their way into the U.S. Women's Open. With the tour playing in Los Angeles at Wilshire Country Club this past weekend, the qualifying site in Seattle became a popular one for pros without a spot secured already to try to earn one of just three spots available.
Noh suffered a three-putt bogey on No. 17 to ultimately land one shot out of the eventual playoff. Cheng also dropped a shot with a three-putt bogey on the 18th hole that forced her into a playoff with Pedersen and Inglis.
On the opposite side of the course, Pedersen – a member of the European Solheim Cup team last year – went on a charge and birdied her final three holes on the front nine to make it into the playoff. Meanwhile, Inglis made birdie on the par 5 7th hole to get to 3-under par and into the playoff as well.
All three players would squander a chance to advance during a playoff that would ultimately go seven extra holes.
Pedersen missed a short 2-foot birdie putt on the par 4 2nd hole after sticking a wedge shot in tight from around 75 yards out. She ultimately overcame the setback on the very next hole, making birdie to earn her spot in the U.S. Women's Open field.
"Very good!" Pedersen said of getting through. "Obviously, missing a 2-footer is not nice, but Mikey – my caddie – just said ‘hey, get on with it, let’s birdie the next' and then we did that, so it's good."
Pedersen finished tied for sixth in this weekend's LPGA event in Los Angeles, quickly flew to Seattle to play a practice round on Monday, and then needed 39 holes to secure her spot.
"It just shows that it was worth us making the trip here and getting through," Pedersen said.
Pedersen will be back in Seattle for the KPMG Women's PGA Championship at Sahalee Country Club in June.
"I think this is the best U.S. Open qualifier course I've ever played," Pedersen said of Rainier Golf & Country Club. "It's in great condition. I like this kind of treelined golf course so it was just super nice."
While Pedersen's day finally ended, Cheng and Inglis battled on – with each other, the golf course, and dwindling daylight.
Cheng left a lengthy birdie putt on the lip of the cup on the first playoff hole, and couldn't get a birdie to fall on the 4th hole as a couple of chances to cement her spot slipped away. Inglis had a 10-foot birdie try on the first hole as well that wouldn't fall, and had to make a terrific par save out of the right bunker on the par 4 4th hole to extend the playoff.
Cheng scuffled hard on the par 3 6th hole with her tee shot into the right bunker. Her second shot sailed long of the green and an aggressive chip rolled out to 25 feet as Inglis eyed a short par putt. However, Cheng drilled her putt from distance to save bogey while Inglis' par putt lipped out as the playoff pushed into a seventh hole.
They returned to the par 4 2nd hole for what would be the final hole of the night one way or another. Either there would be a winner or the pair would have to return to the course on Wednesday to finish the battle.
After Cheng's birdie putt from the left collar curled just by the left side of the hole, Inglis hammered her 15-foot birdie putt emphatically into the hole to end the marathon day after 43 holes played.
"I did not want to come back tomorrow morning!" Inglis said joyously. "It was so good. the first few putts I left myself were above the hole. On this course it's difficult to be aggressive with putts from above the hole so I was happy that one was uphill.
"Honestly, I couldn't see a thing. I said to my husband (and caddie Taylor Klopp) ‘do you think it's right edge?' and he's like ‘sure!’ And I was like I'm just going to hit it firm. I want to go home. I'm just so excited to go back to the U.S. Open."
Cheng is the first alternate from the site, while Noh will be the second alternate.
Two-time reigning Washington Women's Amateur champion Angela Zhang finished tied for 19th at 7-over par.
The U.S. Women's Open will be held May 30 - June 2 at Lancaster Country Club in Pennsylvania.
