Australian Sue Wooster has charged into the quarter-finals of the US Senior Women’s Amateur in Florida.
Wooster, 56, continued her remarkable North American season today with two match play victories to reach the final eight, then immediately set her sights on going even deeper in a quality field at Orchid Island Golf & Beach Club
“I’m about to go have a stretch and just try to have an early night. Get some good rest and get some food,” Wooster said after Round of 16 victory over Canadian Marie-Therese Torti.
“I’ll try not to use too much mental energy if I can thinking about tomorrow … (and just) keep playing the way I’ve been playing. Hopefully, that’s good enough.”
It was certainly good enough today with an absolutely stunning finish to her earlier Round of 32 match against Texan Kelley Nittoli, who found herself 1-up through 13 holes after an arm wrestle in which neither woman had led by more than one hole.
But the Victorian, whose trademark this week has not to become flustered under pressure, was again unfazed.
Wooster calmly birdied the final five holes in succession – two via concession – and charged to a 2-up victory despite her opponent being only one over in that stretch.
“I was playing well on the end of the back nine this morning. I was feeling pretty confident,” Wooster modestly admitted.
A brief lunch didn’t upset that form and Wooster quickly birdied the first in her afternoon match.
By the time she parred the eighth hole – and was square with the card to that point – the National Golf Club member had moved 4-up on Torti and, from that point, despite three birdies from the Canadian, played well enough to maintain that edge and close the match out 4&2 with the fourth birdie of her round on the 16th hole.
“I tried to get off to a good start and put some pressure on early. I was lucky that I holed the putt,” Wooster said.
While seedings count for little late in major match play championships, Wooster, at No.5, is now the highest ranked player in her half of the draw and will next face No.13 seed Patricia Ehrhart, of Hawaii, in the quarters, who was bogey-free in winning her Round of 16 match 1-up against No.4 seed Ellen Port, of Missouri.
On the other side of the draw, three of the top six seeds remain, including a rematch of last year’s final between Canadians Judith Kyrinis and Terrill Samuel.