Lyla Louderbaugh takes down No. 1 player and reaches semifinals of US Women's Amateur

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BANDON, Ore. (AP) — Kansas junior Lyla Louderbaugh reached the semifinals of the U.S. Women's Amateur on Friday by losing a 2-up lead with two holes to play against top-ranked Kiara Romero and then keeping her composure to win in 20 holes at Bandon Dunes.

Louderbaugh, a two-time Kansas Women's Amateur champion, advanced to face Brooke Biermann, a 3-and-2 winner over Arianna Lau of Hong Kong.

Stanford senior Megha Ganne held off Eila Galitsky of Thailand, 2 and 1, and next has a semifinal match against Ella Scaysbrook of Australia, who had the shortest match of the quarterfinals with a 5-and-4 win over Taylor Kehoe of Canada.

Louderbaugh seized control against Oregon junior Kiara Romero, the No. 1 amateur in women's golf, with a tee shot into 3 feet on the par-3 12th and a nifty pitch to tap-in range on the par-5 13th. She was 2 up when Romero missed a 30-inch par putt on the 16th.

And then it all unraveled it a strong wind off the Pacific Coast, with gusts in the 30 mph range. Louderbaugh sent her approach to the 17th over the green and into the bushes, and Romero hit her shot into 3 feet.

On the par-5 18th, after Romero hit driver off the fairway into the wind some 50 yards short of the green, Louderbaugh hit 7-iron from light rough, and the left-to-right wind sent her shot into the bushes again, effectively giving Romero the hole.

“I went to the bathroom and told myself, ‘Leading up the last two holes you were doing great. You don’t need to let the two misses affect you,'” Louderbaugh said. “I told my caddie to let me think on my own, go through the shots in my head. That helped me think straight.”

On No. 10, the first extra hole, Louderbaugh's 7-foot birdie putt hit the back of the cup and spun away. On the 20th hole, it was Romero who blinked. Her shot was off to the right, and the best she could do from there was pitch some 10 feet by the flag.

Romero missed her 10-foot par putt, and Louderbaugh two-putted from 20 feet to win.

“I was confident I could come out and beat her today,” said Louderbaugh, No. 249 in the women's amateur ranking.

Ganne had a 2-up lead early and was leading by one hole when she twice made 6-foot par putts to stay in the lead before Galitsky made one mistake too many.

Biermann was trailing until winning three straight holes, starting with a fairway metal into 3 feet into the wind on No. 11.

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