Australia’s representatives at the US Women’s Amateur have a mountain to climb to reach the match play phase.
With Americans Haley Moore and Kristen Gillman leading after respective 67s at the San Diego Country Club, young Queenslanders Karen Kim and Emily Mahar find themselves a long way off the pace after disappointing first rounds.
Kim, a year 10 student at Queensland Academies, began nervously with two double-bogeys and then another on the ninth before settling slightly in her 84 that contained two birdies in a sign of future promise.
Mahar, a Keperra product based with her family in Arizona for the past five years who’s about to start her university career at Virginia Tech, held her nerve early before two back-nine doubles and another triple consigned her to an 85, also with a birdie despite the nerves.
The top 64 will advance to match play after tomorrow’s second round and that current line lies at three over, meaning both young Aussies will need to go exceptionally low tomorrow to keep their first taste of the world’s premier women’s amateur tournament alive.