By Katie Filbeck
DAILY BRUIN CONTRIBUTOR
[email protected]
 UCLA Sports Info
UCLA freshman Yvonne Choe in the U.S. Amateur
Championships.
The U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship ended last week in
Sunriver, Ore., sending home UCLA golfer Yvonne Choe without a
trophy but with her morale still intact.
The tournament, sponsored by the USGA, is the seventh national
event the UCLA sophomore has participated in. She advanced to the
semifinals in the U.S. Women’s Amateur in 2000 and in last
week’s tournament.
Choe’s semifinalist status in the 2000 tournament exempted
her from a sectional 18-hole qualifying cut used to choose the
participants of this year’s Amateur Public Link
Championship.
Choe succeeded in beating Kimberly Rowton of San Antonio, 4 and
3, then lost in the semifinal round to the tournament’s
eventual winner, 19-year old Annie Thurman of Highland, Utah, 2 and
1.
Despite her loss, it is safe to say this 9-year veteran of golf
did quite well for herself, advancing to the final four among the
tournament’s 702 participants.
“I was happy with the results,” she said. “I
hit pretty well but struggled with my putting. She didn’t
make any mistakes. She was a good player.”
For Choe, this was her first time on the 6,189-yard, par-71
Meadows Course. With minimal time to practice, added to the
recuperation factor of just having gotten through with her finals,
Choe’s expectations were never too high.
Choe lead the match with a par at the third hole, only to lose
the advantage when Thurman birdied the fifth. Thurman won both the
11th and 14th holes with pars, then closed the match when both
players birdied the par-5 17th hole. The tournament ended with
Thurman’s defeat of 19-year-old Hwanhee Lee of Cerritos, 6
and 5.