Jensen Castle Still Basking in Glory of U.S. Amateur Title
Jensen Castle entered the United States Women’s Amateur golf championship with low expectations for several reasons. It turned out that, despite all of the things working against her, she still had enough to win.
Castle went to the U.S. Women’s Am suffering from a rib injury. She had rested the injury for a couple of weeks prior to the event, so between the injury and the time off, her expectations were low.
“I had my rib injury, I hadn’t touched a club for two or three weeks before, so I was like, there’s no way I’m going to make it to match play,” Castle said. “Just no way.”
After one day at legendary Westchester Country Club, it looked like Castle’s expectations would be met. She shot a 79 on the first day of stroke play and appeared to be in no position to advance to the match play portion of the championship.
But on day two, Castle rallied. She shot 71 to get into a 12-for-2 playoff. That’s 12 players playing for two spots in the final 64, which is the match play portion of the event.
Turns out, it was good to be a UK golfer in the 12-for-2. The two players who advanced out of the 12 were Castle and Kentucky teammate Marisa Wenzler, who both made birdie on the first playoff hole.
Castle entered match play as the No. 63 seed, meaning she would face No. 2 seed Kennedy Pedigo of SMU in the first round. Castle took control of the match early, winning the first two holes, on her way to a 3&2 victory.
The following day, Castle played twice. First, she topped Sophie Linder 1-up to make it through to the round of 16. There, Castle easily handled Jenny Bae of Georgia 4&2.
Suddenly, the week that started with low expectations was starting to get very exciting. And creating outfits became an issue for Castle, who had not expected to be in New York that long.
“I packed two practice round outfits, two stroke play (outfits) and one match play, then I wore down an outfit from Charleston,” Castle said. “So, I was able to mix and match after that. I had no expectation of making it that far, so I didn’t prepare for that.”
In the quarterfinals, Castle faced Emily Mahar from Virginia Tech. And in perhaps her most dominating performance of the week, Castle rolled to a 6&5 win, earning a spot in the semifinals.
Standing between Castle and the final was 2021 NCAA individual champion Rachel Heck of Stanford. Heck was, without question, the top collegiate golfer all of last season and would be a tall task for Castle.
Heck took the lead on the first hole of the match and led 2-up with three holes to play. But Castle, the junior-to-be at UK, won the 16th hole, halved the 17th, then won the 18th to force the match into extra holes.
And on the first extra hole, Castle birdied to defeat Heck and move on to the championship match. It was at that point that Castle really started to believe that she could win the whole thing.
“Probably after the Rachel Heck match, that 19th hole,” Castle said. “After that match, I was like, alright, I’m here for it. I just qualified for the final match and whatever happens tomorrow happens but the golf that I’m playing…”
And she had a plan heading into Sunday’s championship match.
“After (the Heck) match, I was like, greens and fairways,” Castle said. “You’re playing solid golf. Continue to focus on what you have all week and it could possibly work out.”
The 36-hole final would pit Castle against Vivian Hou from Arizona. After the first 18 holes, Hou had a 2-up lead. But Castle quickly tied the match on the 21st hole. She took the lead on the 22nd hole and never trailed again, ultimately winning 2&1.
In doing so, Castle became the first player in UK history to win the U.S. Amateur. And with her return, along with Wenzler and Laney Frye, who also made the match play portion of the event, the future appears to be bright for UK women’s golf.
“Our team is so special. The team dynamic is crazy good. There’s no drama, we all get along great,” Castle said. “We all love to see each other succeed. There’s no jealousy. I’m not going to say we’re going to have any expectations. We’re still going to focus on the same thing we have, just one tournament at a time.”
But for now, Castle can enjoy basking in her accomplishment at Westchester.
“It’s still not real to me,” Castle said. “It’s been a dream. It’s a special feeling.”
