Ella Cheek Cruises into Quarterfinals of 105th Women’s Texas Amateur presented by Hytera US
IRVING – Ella Cheek and Stalee Fields upset the top two seeds in the Championship Bracket of the 105th Women’s Texas Amateur presented by Hytera US. The tournament moves into the quarterfinals at The Nelson Golf & Sports Club’s TPC Course.
Cheek was up early on No. 1 seed Veronika Exposito in their afternoon match, chipping in for birdie on the par-4 third to go 2-up. She matched Exposito with par on holes four through six and then won hole seven with a par, hole eighth with a birdie and hole nine with a birdie. She dropped one on the par-4 11th but won the 12th and 14th to win 5 & 4.
In her morning match, Cheek defeated Chiara Brambilla in 19 holes. Cheek moves on as the No. 17 seed in the Championship Bracket.
Fields won her afternoon match 6 & 4 over Tarini Bhoga and the No. 31 seed continues to move through the bracket. Fields upset No. 2 seed Ashleen Kaur in the morning in 19 holes. Kaur made a run on Fields, winning three of the final four holes in their match, but the sophomore at Kansas State emerged by winning the extra hole.
Carly Marshall of Temple won both of her matches on Wednesday and moves into the quarterfinals to face Cheek. Marshall defeated Sydney Givens 3 & 2 in the afternoon and Savannah Barber in the morning. Marshall is the No. 8 seed in the Championship Bracket.
Makena Junkin and Gia Ahlowalia both win their Round of 16 matches 5 & 4 and will face off in the quarterfinals. Junkin defeated Annabeth Boyd and Brielle Burns on Wednesday, while Ahlowalia eliminated Addison Surber and Kaylee Yuan. Both players are the lowest remaining seeds in the Championship Bracket with Junkin as the No. 3 seed and Ahlowalia as the No. 6 seed.
Saahi Naraharasetty defeated Qianhua Chen 1 up and Brianna Lemaire in 19 holes during her matches. The Cedar Park native finished strong against Chen, winning three in a row on holes 15-17 and making par on the 18th to seal the victory.
Yoonjeong Huh was the last player to advance into the Quarterfinals after her win in 19 holes over Elle Pistana. Huh stood on the 12th tee and was 4 down with seven holes to play. She won four of the next five holes, including a birdie on the par-5 16th and finished with par on the first extra hole to win and move on. Huh will take on Fields tomorrow morning.
The Women’s Texas Amateur is one of the oldest and most prestigious amateur championships in Texas Golf. The was first held at River Crest Country Club in 1916 and boasts past champions including Betty Jameson, Babe Didrikson, Betsy Rawls, Polly Riley, Robin Burke and Sandra Haynie.
The Championship Bracket features the top 32 players from the Qualifying Round. The remining players in the field were placed in flights of eight players. They played one match on Day 1.
In Flight 1, Tatum Churchman and Brooke Frerichs won their morning matches and will square off in the semifinals. Churchman was the No. 8 seed in the flight and knocked out the top seed. Shannon Fish-Martin and Riya Bapna won their morning matches and will be the second semifinal match in Flight 1.
In Flight 2, Paityn Carter and Nethra Sheri won their first-round matches. Lauren Rios and Megan Lee both upset higher seeds in their matches and will face each other in the semifinals.
In Flight 3, Presley Bolado and Mia Nixon both upset their opponents as the higher seeds. Summer Lee and Quinn Timmerman both handled their opponents and will battle tomorrow.
In Flight 4, Camille Pazouki and Kate Pickrell both moved on and will face each other in the semifinals, while Eileen Lee and Sayers Allen each won 4 & 3 and will square off.
In Flight 5, Grace Hall and Jordyn Arts both won their matches and their winner tomorrow will face the winner of Aubrie Nolen and Melay Dittrich on Friday.
In Flight 6, Kylee Strickland and Emme Darnold won their matches, while Catherine Matranga and Raleygh Simpson beat their opponents.
In Flight 7, Grace Charis and Addison Barber won their morning matches and will face each other in the semifinals. Isabel Crow and Ellie Harris won their morning matches and will battle tomorrow.
In Flight 8, Madison Le and Catherine Singletary moved into the semifinals and will face the winner of Kymbree Larance and Jacqueline Lawrence.
The Nelson Golf & Sports Club is hosting the Women’s Texas Amateur for the first time in the event’s history. The TPC Course plays to a par-70 and features elevated greens and narrow fairways as players meander around Cottonwood Creek. The par-5 seventh played as the easiest hole on the day, playing to an average score of 4.98 with one eagle and 20 total birdies. The par-4 14th played the toughest at a 4.72 stroke average.
To see all the pairings for the first round of matches, click here. To see all the scores from Stroke Play Qualifying, click here.
About Hytera US:
Hytera US Inc is an industry leader in research and development, state-of-the-art manufacturing, and bringing next-generation radio technology to the market. We regard ourselves as a solution provider whose core area of expertise is providing cost-effective radio systems of the highest reliability, durability, and quality.
Hytera US Inc has an experienced staff of dedicated radio professionals that have been implementing innovative radio communication solutions in the US for more than 15 years and are established specialists in DMR, Push-to-Talk over Cellular, and related communications technologies.