FORMAT: 36-hole stroke play / 6 rounds of matchplay
Unheralded Japanese teenager Ami Yamashita will be the No 1 seed when the matchplay stage of the Women’s British Amateur gets under way at Hunstanton tomorrow morning.
The World No 1351 recorded back-to-back eagles on her way to a course-record-equalling 66 (-7) today to edge out Italian Emilie Paltrinieri on countback for the top spot. Two other Italians will be seeded three and four while British Girls champion Hannah Darling moved up to sixth after a birdie-laden 69.
The 17-year-old high school pupil is playing in the UK for the first time and only qualified thanks to her victory in the Royal Junior tournament back home, a tournament run by the Nippon Kabaya Oyaho Holdings.
After holing from distance at the par five second, she slam-dunked her approach into the cup at the third and added four more birdies for good measure in getting to eight under overall.
Her total of 138 was matched by the French-born Italian, who posted her second successive 69 and she was delighted with how things were going.
“My short game was amazing,” said the 20-year-old, who won the Girls Amateur Championship in 2016. “I made some very long putts, which I’m happy about. And I mean, it’s a new tournament starting tomorrow. It’s matchplay, so it will be fun.
“I love matchplay. I think it’s fun. You can take a few aggressive lines, and you never know until the end. So I’m excited.”
Scottish star Darling was the leading British qualifier on five under although at one point she was two shots better off. Bogeys at 16 and 17 cost her a shot at finishing third overall but her 69 included eight birdies.
The Broomieknowe player said: “I did what I needed to do, and make the cut. That’s all you need to do right now. There was a lot of good stuff in there and it’s been a promising few days but obviously there’s a few things in there that I need to go and work on for tomorrow and for the next few days.”
She was not joined in the draw by reigning champion Louise Duncan, who was one of three recent Curtis Cup players to miss out on countback. Gloucestershire’s Caley McGinty and Irish hope Lauren Walsh were the others on three over.
However McGinty’s former England team-mate Rebecca Earl made it in by a shot in the most extraordinary of circumstances. The Bishops Stortford golfer, who earlier this month recorded her first ever hole one, birdied six of the last eight holes to get to two over par. That included a run of four straight birdies to finish for the 2019 English Stroke Play champion. At the last she holed out from a green-side bunker to close with a 71.
For the full list of qualifiers click here