Ashlee Dewhurst qualified in equal seventeenth position for the match play section of the 2012 US Women’s Amateur Championship last week. The 23-year-old Royal Hobart Golf Club member shot rounds of 71 and 73 to finish with an even-par total of 144 at The Country Club in Cleveland, Ohio. Western Australia s Minjee Lee was the best of the Aussies finishing in a tie for fifth place on three-under-par with rounds of 72 and 69. Victoria s Breanna Elliott qualified in equal fourteenth position at one-under-par after rounds of 71 and 72. Moving into the first round of match play Dewhurst defeated Alexandra Papell of Boca Raton, Florida 6&5. Dewhurst then survived a great battle with Victorian and fellow National Squad member Breanna Elliott in the morning round of 32. The match eventually decided in extra time when Elliott double bogeyed the second extra hole after she had birdied the final hole of regulation to force the play-off. Dewhurst teed up against 16-year-old and world number two ranked female amateur Ariya Jutanugarn in the round of 16. The Thai superstar won the recent Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship and was the 2011 US Girls Amateur Champion. Unfortunately Dewhurst went on to lose her afternoon contest with Jutanugarn when their match finished 3&2. Jutanugarn was later halted in the semi finals by 15-year-old New Zealander Lydia Ko who added to her stunning list of titles by winning the championship. The current Australian Women’s Amateur Champion defeated Floridian Jaye Marie Green 3&1 after taking an early lead in the 36-hole final.
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