Lois Kaye Go and Mikha Fortuna groped for form in one-on-one matches and lost to lower-ranked rivals in the US Girls’ Junior Championship at the Boone Valley Golf Club in Augusta, Missouri Wednesday.
Go, who placed 18th in the 36-hole stroke play elims, failed to sustain her fightback against No. 47 Ellie Szeryk of Canada, 2&1, while the 22nd-ranked Fortuna, yielded a thrilling duel to No. 43 Stephanie Carras of Michigan on the 20th hole.
It was a sorry setback for The Country Club bet, who rallied from 2-down to force an extra hole by winning Nos. 17 and 18. But after both parred the first extra hole, Fortuna stumbled with a double-bogey on the 20th, enabling Carras to steal the win on a bogey finish.
Those were just two of a number of reversals posted in the first day of the knockout matches with No. 48 So Whi Kang of Korea upending No. 17 Yealimi Noh, 1-up, and No. 57 Annick Haczkiewicz pulling off a win over No. 8 Rachel Kuehn on the 19th hole.
No. 61 Izzy Pellot of Florida came away with the day’s biggest win by upending fourth seed Caroline Hodge of New York, 3&1.
Top seed Lucy Li, however, lived up to her billing and routed Belinda Hu, 7&6, while No. 2 Paphangkon Tavatanakit of Thailand also posted a 7&6 romp over Aussie Emily Mahar in the event ruled by Princess Superal in 2014.
