Turns out the pyrotechnics in the heavens above the U.S. Air Force Academy Eisenhower Golf Club weren’t the only things creating electricity on Thursday afternoon. The marquee Round-of-16 match in the 74th U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship between 2022 runner-up Gianna Clemente and No. 2 seed Anna Davis, the No. 4 player in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking®, had July 4-type fireworks.
The junior standouts – Clemente is No. 40 in the WAGR and Davis won the 2022 Augusta National Women’s Amateur – combined for nine birdies in a match worthy of a final, with Clemente, 15, of Estero, Fla., pulling out a 3-and-2 victory over the 17-year-old from Spring Valley, Calif.
Both players had to wait out a 3-hour, 1-minute delay for thunderstorms and heavy rains that blanketed the Blue Course just after the Round-of-32 matches were completed. Six of the eight afternoon Round-of-16 matches finished before play was suspended due to darkness. Those matches were finished on Friday morning with incoming University of Texas freshman Lauren Kim, 18, of Canada, and incoming University of Oregon freshman Kiara Romero, 17, of San Jose, Calif., prevailing 1 up and 19 holes, respectively.
During the delay, good friends Clemente, Davis and Kiara Romero, who trails Natalie Yen by a hole with three to play, spent time in the player hospitality area chatting and enjoying each other’s company. But once they got to the first tee, all pleasantries were put aside. Both Clemente and Davis have played against each other for a number of years and the former defeated the latter in a singles match, 1 up, at last week’s American Junior Golf Association’s Wyndham Cup at Mayacama Golf Club in Santa Rosa, Calif.
“That [level of play] was definitely expected,” said Clemente, who now owns an 8-1 match-play record in the U.S. Girls’ Junior. “I’ve played with Anna a lot. She's very accomplished, very experienced. I knew that I had to make a lot of birdies. I knew that she was going to as well.”
Clemente, who captured the 2023 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball title with partner Avery Zweig in May, jumped out quickly, making birdie on the first hole and winning Nos. 2 and 3 with pars. Davis, a left-hander who has committed to attend Auburn University in 2024, answered with three consecutive birdies from No. 5 to tie the match. Then it was Clemente’s turn to go on a run, taking No. 8 with a par, hitting a gorgeous approach to the par-5 ninth to set up a 5-foot birdie and then adding another birdie on No. 10 to regain her 3-up advantage.
Davis, who was just named to the 2023 USA Women’s World Amateur Team, got one back with a birdie on No. 11, but Clemente’s birdie on the par-3 13th pushed the margin back to 3 up. They tied the next three holes.
“I knew the birdies would come, it was just a matter of time,” said Clemente, who had just three birdies in her first two matches, both of which went the full 18 holes. “The putts definitely fell a little bit more today than they did yesterday and in stroke play. Definitely made a couple more birdies than expected today, so it was a good day.”
Added Davis: “I was proud of myself. But, yeah, it was kind of a grind like the entire match. She was playing well. It was definitely one of the more interesting matches I've ever had.”
Also advancing to the quarterfinals were Texas redshirt freshman Farah O'Keefe, 18, of Austin, Texas; University of Michigan incoming freshman Sidney Yermish, 17, of Pinehurst, N.C.; Rianne Malixi, 16, of the Philippines; Leigh Chien, 17, of Irvine, Calif.; and Clarisa Temelo, 17, of Mexico.
