PUEBLO, Colo. -- California teenager Mina Harigae easily
advanced to the quarterfinals in the U.S. Women's Amateur Public
Links Championship on Friday, while co-medalist Hannah Jun was
eliminated in the second round.
The 16-year-old Harigae, from Monterey, routed Mari Chun of
Pearl City, Hawaii, 7 and 6 in the second round, and beat Morgan
Grantham of Kingman, Ariz., 5 and 4 in the third round on the
Walking Stick course.
"I started getting tired in the second match," said Harigae,
whose sports psychologist, Jeff Troesch, is serving as her caddie.
"I just kept drinking water. The second match I wasn't hitting
fairways, so it was hard for me to get it close. I was swinging
conservatively. I was just trying to make pars."
Jun, the UCLA player making a comeback from a serious neck
injury, dropped a 19-hole decision to Michigan State's Sara Brown
in the morning matches. Jun recently returned to competition after
fracturing a vertebra in her neck in a December car accident that
led to drunken driving charges against a UCLA football player.
"It was the most intense, fun round I have ever played in match
play," said Brown, who rallied from three holes down on the back
nine against Jun. "Hannah is my good friend and it was just fun to
play with her. It just makes me feel good that I got to play with
someone that good and I was able to beat her."
Brown followed the victory with a 2-and-1 win over South Korea's
Kyu Ri Ban.
"I didn't even hit balls before I played again," Brown said.
"I ate lunch, hit some putts and teed off. It was fun and I'm
really excited to get out there tomorrow."
In the upper-bracket quarterfinals, Harigae will face
14-year-old Kimberly Kim of Hilo, Hawaii, and 2004 champion Ya-Ni
Tseng of Taiwan will play Tiffany Chudy of Miramar, Fla. In the
lower bracket, Brown will meet Angela Oh of Maple Shade, N.J., and
Tiffany Joh of San Diego will face Colombia's Maria Jose Uribe.
The semifinals are set for Saturday afternoon, and the 36-hole
final is Sunday. The eight quarterfinalists are exempt from
qualifying for the 2007 tournament, and the champion and runner-up
will earn spots in the U.S. Women's Amateur in August at Pumpkin
Ridge Golf Club outside of Portland, Ore.