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Wenzler, Castle Knock Off Top Seeds at U.S. Women’s Amateur

Wenzler, Castle Knock Off Top Seeds at U.S. Women’s Amateur

by Eric Lindsey

RYE, N.Y. – Kentucky women’s golfers Marissa Wenzler and Jensen Castle have been the talk of the U.S. Women’s Amateur at the midway point of the national tournament.
 
A day after winning a 12-for-2 playoff to reach the match-play portion of the event, Wenzler and Castle rolled their momentum into Wednesday’s round of 64 with back-to-back upsets of the top two seeds at the Westchester Country Club’s West Course (par 72, 6,488 yards) in Rye, New York.  
 
Wenzler, coming off a dominating performance two weeks ago with a championship at the Western Women’s Amateur, knocked off No. 1 seed Rachel Kuehn from Wake Forest 1 up in the morning. Castle followed in the afternoon with a strong 3-and-2 victory over Kennedy Pedigo from SMU.
 
Castle came roaring out of the gates with a 2-up lead through two holes, went 3 up after seven and then never led by less than two holes.
 
Wenzler match was back and forth. Kuehn, who was ranked No. 35 in the final Golfstat rankings of the 2020-21 collegiate season and earlier this summer teamed up with Castle to win their second straight Carolinas Four-Ball Championship, was 2 up through five. Wenzler came roaring back and tied the match on the par-5 ninth hole with a birdie. She took the lead on No. 11, moved to 2 up on No. 13 and held on for a 1-up win.
 
The upsets – by seed only – came after the UK duo made clutch birdies Tuesday in a massive 12-player tiebreaker for the final two spots in the 64-player match-play field. They birdied the par-3, 166-yard first hole while the other 10 made par or worse. Wenzler sunk a 12-foot putt for her birdie, and Castle made a valiant comeback in the second round to enter the playoff after a tournament-opening 79. She rallied in the second round with a 1-under 71 to join the logjam at 6-over par.
 
In the round of 32, Wenzler will face Michigan’s Hailey Borja at 7 a.m. in the first match of the day. Castle goes off at 8:20 a.m. vs. Sophie Linder. The round of 16 will take place Thursday afternoon with live coverage on Peacock from 3-6 p.m.
 
Kentucky teammate Laney Frye also made the round of 64 but lost 2 and 1 Wednesday to Valeria Medizabal from Mississippi State after an early lead.
 
UK’s three representatives to start the tournament tied for the second most in the field. Only Stanford, with four players, featured more players to start the event.
 
Played annually and organized by the United States Golf Association, the tournament has been played since 1895. There are no age restrictions, but to make the field is an achievement within itself with a record 1,560 entries and a maximum USGA Handicap Index of 5.4. A total of 25 sectional qualifiers were held in the U.S. and one in Canada.
 
Past notable champions include Julie Inkster (1980-82), Grace Park (1998), Morgan Pressel (2005), Danielle Kang (2010-11) and Kristen Gillman (2014, 2018).
 
This marks the second straight appearance for Castle and Wenzler. Castle made it to the round of 32 last season and Wenzler advanced to the round of 64.
 
Kentucky’s presence in the tournament shouldn’t come as a surprise. Castle, Frye and Wenzler all played major roles in UK’s breakthrough 2020-21 season that resulted in the program’s first NCAA Championship Finals berth since 1992.
 
Castle and Wenzler have played in a combined 33 events in their first two seasons at Kentucky. Castle posted the top scoring average in school history as a freshman and Wenzler recorded the third best. Although neither could match their record-setting marks as sophomores, each played an important role in the NCAA Championship run with Castle contributing a team-high 30 rounds towards the team score in 2020-21 while Wenzler posted the second-best UK score at the national championship.
 
Kentucky’s 2021-22 schedule was released last month. Returning all five players who qualified and played in the NCAA Championship Finals, the Wildcats will play in nine regular-season events before the Southeastern Conference Championship and postseason play. After navigating through the COVID-19 pandemic, UK will return to a traditional schedule with four tournaments in the fall, four in the spring, a head-to-head matchup with rival Louisville and then the postseason.
 
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.
 

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