Matthews advances at U.S. Amateur

Arkansas golfer Brooke Matthews tees off on the ninth hole during the final round of the Arkansas State Golf Association's Women's Stroke Play Championship on Wednesday, June 17, 2020, at Chenal Country Club in Little Rock.

University of Arkansas junior Brooke Matthews of Rogers repelled a late rally from Malia Nam on Thursday to advance during the opening round of match play at the 120th U.S. Women’s Amateur in Rockville, Md.

Razorbacks sophomore Kajal Mistry saw her wild ride at the Woodmont Country Club come to an end after a worthy struggle with defending champion Gabriela Ruffels.

Both Razorbacks were pitted against golfers from Southern Cal.

Matthews got out to a sizzling start with a 4-under 32 on the front nine, but Nam rallied by winning four of six holes on the back nine to pull into a tie heading into the par-4 18th.

Matthews managed a par on the hole while Nam, the Pac-12 freshman of the year in 2019, shot bogey to drop the match.

Matthews, the No. 25 seed after stroke play, shot out of the gates with a birdie on the par-3 second hole and an eagle on the par-5 third to take a 2-up lead. Matthews, with her father Terry serving as caddie, increased her margin with another birdie on the sixth. However, she gave it back with a bogey on the eighth, then reclaimed her three-hole lead with another birdie on No. 9.

While Nam had a respectable even-par 36 on the front nine, she was well behind.

Matthews’ 32 on the front nine matched the day’s best performance by Rose Zhang, a 5-and-3 winner over Anna Morgan, and Auburn’s Kaleigh Telfer, who defeated Talia Campbell 6 and 5.

Matthews increased her lead to 4 up with a par on the 11th hole. But after that, Nam made her move to get back into contention.

Matthews will face Rachel Kuehn, a first-round co-leader who finished eighth in stroke play, in today’s morning round. Kuehn, a sophomore at Wake Forest, downed Yurika Tanida 2 and 1 on Thursday.

The rounds of 32 and 16 are both scheduled for today, setting up quarterfinal matches for Saturday morning.

Mistry, of South Africa, pulled off one of the top stories of the tournament just to qualify for match play after opening the championship with an 81. She shot 3 under 69 on Wednesday, then birdied the first playoff hole to second the No. 59 seed.

Mistry twice held 1-up leads against the sixth-seeded Ruffels on the front nine with birdies on Nos. 3 and 5. But Ruffels, a veteran match player who will be a senior at USC, was not ruffled.

She won Nos. 4, 9 and 10 to lead 1 up. After Mistry won No. 12 with par to get back to all square, Ruffels answered with a birdie on the par-3 13th to go back ahead.

Ruffels, a native of Australia, extended her lead after Mistry had bogeys on the next two holes, then closed out the match with a par on No. 16 for a 3-and-2 victory.