Rematch of 2017 Final Highlights Senior Women’s Am Quarterfinals at Orchid Island

(Vero Beach, Fla.) - There will be a rematch of last year’s U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur final on Wednesday, as reigning champion Judith Kyrinis and runner-up Terrill Samuel will square off in the quarterfinals at Orchid Island Golf & Beach Club after both posted a pair of impressive victories on Tuesday to set up another showdown between the two Canadians.

Fatigue was not a problem for Kyrinis, 54, after her Round-of-64 match went 22 holes on Monday. She didn’t trail in either of her matches, topping 2011 Senior Women’s Amateur champion Terri Frohnmayer, 62, of Salem, Ore., on Tuesday morning, 5 and 4, before winning three straight holes on two different occasions in her Round-of-16 match against Laura Coble, 54, of Augusta, Ga., on her way to a 3-and-2 victory. It’s the third straight year and the fourth time in five years that Kyrinis has advanced to the quarterfinals. In addition to winning in 2017, she was runner-up in 2014, and was a quarterfinalist in 2016, also medaling that year. She lost in the Round of 16 in 2015.

Samuel, 57, never trailed on Tuesday, either. After defeating countrywoman Helene Chartrand, 62, 2 and 1, in the Round of 32, she jumped out to a quick lead on Lisa McGill, 59, of Philadelphia, Pa., before ultimately prevailing, 4 and 3. Her quarterfinal match against Kyrinis will mark the fourth time in five Senior Women’s Amateur matches that Samuel will face a fellow Canadian, dating to last year’s final. She defeated countrywoman Rhonda Orr in the Round of 64, 7 and 5.

Past was pretense in another instance on Tuesday, with Patricia Ehrhart advancing to her second straight quarterfinals in the same fashion, by defeating three-time Senior Women’s Amateur champion Ellen Port. Ehrhart, 53, of Honolulu, Hawaii, blasted out from the bunker behind the 18th green and calmly rolled in a 10-footer for par to clinch a 1-up victory over Port, 57, of St. Louis, Mo., a year after she topped her in the Round of 16, 6 and 5.

Ehrhart was bogey free in her match on Tuesday afternoon, and needed to be against Port, who was 2 under on the back nine, with the usual match-play concessions. Port took her only lead of the match on the par-4 sixth, where she hit her approach shot from 130 yards to 7 feet before rolling in the putt. The duo halved the par-3 12th hole with birdies, with Ehrhart rolling in a 6-foot putt after Port hit her tee shot to 2 feet. Ehrhart moved to 2 up on No. 14 when she made a 12-foot putt for birdie before holding on for the victory.

Kathy Kurata, 58, of Pasadena, Calif., was another player who never had to come from behind on Tuesday against a pair of tough opponents. She paired a 4-and-3 victory over medalist Pamela Kuong, of Wellesley Hills, Mass., in the Round of 32 with a 1-up victory over Mary Jane Hiestand, 59, of Naples, Fla. Their Round-of-16 match came to the 18th hole all square before Hiestand, the 2017 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur runner-up, found trouble, having to lay up with her third shot out of a fairway bunker. She missed a 12-foot par putt and then conceded the match to Kurata.

What’s Next
The quarterfinals begin at 8 a.m. EDT on Wednesday morning, with the semifinals following in the afternoon.

Notable
-Also among the quarterfinalists are 2004 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion Corey Weworski, 56, of Carlsbad, Calif.; 2013 Senior Women’s Amateur runner-up Susan Cohn, 55, of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.; Lara Tennant, 51, of Portland, Ore.; and Sue Wooster, 56, of Australia.

-The eight quarterfinalists receive exemptions into the 2019 Senior Women’s Amateur, which will be played at Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Country Club, Aug. 24-29.

-Three quarterfinalists from 2017 are among the final eight this year in Judith Kyrinis, Terrill Samuel and Patricia Ehrhart.

-Kyrinis is the second reigning Senior Women’s Amateur champion to advance to the quarterfinals since 2014. Karen Garcia made a run to semifinals in her title defense in 2016.

Quotable
Judith Kyrinis, of Canada, on how to keep herself fresh for another potentially long day tomorrow: “I’ve kind of been there, done that, right? It’s not our first rodeo. I manage some walking and some riding just to keep the legs going. It was so hot today, so you really needed to have a seat and drink a lot.”

Terrill Samuel, of Canada, on her Round-of-16 victory over Lisa McGill (4 and 3): “Lisa McGill is the nicest person you ever want to meet. It was such a nice match to play, unbelievable. We both played pretty good. I hit a few really bad shots, but that’s just one hole so thank goodness. The only difference was putting. Especially at the end, she three-putted the last couple of holes.”

Patricia Ehrhart, of Honolulu, Hawaii, on playing seven-time USGA champion Ellen Port in the Round of 16: “I couldn’t make a mistake. I knew I would really just have to play the golf course and try to hit the best shot I could everywhere. When you play with someone with the class of Ellen, there’s no games, there’s no distractions, it’s golf. It’s a true championship golf game. I admire her so much. It could have gone either way.”

Kathy Kurata, of Pasadena, Calif., on her pair of victories on Tuesday: “It’s tough playing against friends. I know both of them, great golfers and great ladies. Pam [Kuong] is such a great, steady consistent golfer. This afternoon, I lost my feel for putting and struggled a bit. I thought, just stay patient. Just keep trying to get a feel back.”

Susan Cohn, of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., on earning an exemption into next year’s championship: “That was a big goal of mine. Qualifying is the most stressful thing. Here in South Florida, we have so many big golfers. A day or two after qualifying you think you really don’t care how well you play in the championship because you got in. A few days before the championship, you lose that feeling, because you want to play as well as you can.”