UC Irvine sophomore Katelyn Kong captured the Golden State’s biggest amateur prize.
Kong won the 59th California Women’s Amateur Championship, defeating Darae Chung, 4 and 3, in the 18-hole final at Santa Ana Country Club.
With the win, Kong joins LPGA Hall of Famers Juli Inkster and Patty Sheehan as winners of the historic event. She also earned an automatic exemption into this year’s U.S. Women's Amateur, set for Aug. 4-10 at Bandon Dunes.
“it’s surreal. It hasn’t really hit me that I won this event,” Kong said. “It’s just patience. With match play, it’s so different.”
The No.24 seed, Kong took control early and never looked back, something she did throughout match play. She’d quickly grab a 2-up lead with a pair of par wins on holes Nos. 2 and 5. Chung, a junior at the University of Oregon and the No.2 seed, cut the lead to 1-up with a par win of her own on No.7.
After the two made the turn, however, Kong again took over. She’d win No.10 with a par and No.12 with a par to go 3-up. Three holes and two tied holes later, on the par-5 15th Kong made birdie to close out the victory.
During match play, Kong was nearly unstoppable. Over the total of her five matches, she only trailed a total of two holes.
“With match play, it’s about knowing when to take your medicine and play it safer, or know when to get more aggressive and picky with certain lies,” Kong said.