Marissa Wenzler Crowned Western Women’s Amateur Medalist
PARK RIDGE, Ill. – Kentucky women’s golfer Marissa Wenzler won medalist honors in the stroke-play portion of the Western Women’s Amateur on Wednesday.
The rising junior carded a two-day, two-round score of 8-under par at Park Ridge Country Club in Park Ridge Illinois, to finish atop the 120-player field. She held off Xavier’s Emma McMyler at 7-under par and three other competitors at 6-under par.
With 32 players advancing to match play, Wenzler is the No. 1 seed in the bracket and will face Sarah Arnold from Western Kentucky on Thursday morning. A champion will be crowned Saturday.
Wenzler, who helped Kentucky this past spring to its first NCAA Championship finals appearance in 29 years, shot 67 in Tuesday’s first round and followed up with a 69 in Wednesday’s second round. She was even par through seven holes on Wednesday but rolled in three birdies in a row as she made the turn to get to 8-under par. Wenzler got as low as 9-under par and had a two-shot cushion heading into the final two holes.
Held without interruption since its inception in 1901, the Women’s Western Amateur is among the oldest and most prestigious annual championships in women’s amateur golf. The tournament is conducted jointly by the Women’s Western Golf Association and the Western Golf Association and features the top amateur and collegiate players from across the globe.
The list of past champions spans more than a century, from legendary stars Patty Berg, Louise Suggs and Nancy Lopez to modern standouts like Cristie Kerr, Brittany Lang, Stacy Lewis and Ariya Jutanugarn.
If Wenzler can navigate through a difficult match-play bracket, she would not be the first Wildcat to win the event. Just two years ago, recent UK graduate Sarah Shipley won the 119th edition of the tournament as the No. 5 seed at Royal Melbourne Country Club in Long Grove, Illinois.
Wenzler played in last year’s event at Prestwick Country Club in Frankfort, Illinois, and advanced to the round of 16.
As a freshman at Kentucky in 2019-20, Wenzler posted the third-best scoring average in school history. Later that summer, she would go on to win two championships, posted two runner-up finishes and qualified for the U.S Women’s Amateur Championship.
Although Wenzler didn’t enjoy the same type of individual success as a UK sophomore, she played in all but one event in Kentucky’s breakthrough NCAA Championship season and was the second-best Wildcat performer at the national championship.
Wenzler, along with teammates Jensen Castle and Laney Frye, are scheduled to play in the U.S. Women’s Amateur Aug. 2-8 in Rye, New York. Wildcats María Villanueva Aperribay, Marta López Echevarría and Rikke Svejgård Nielsen are also competing this week at the European Ladies’ Amateur Championship at Royal Park I Roveri in Italy
For the latest on the Kentucky women’s golf team, follow the team on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, as well as on the web at UKathletics.com.
