Seong clinches 2nd girls’ crown

PARAMUS, NJ, July 24, (AP): Eun Jeong Seong rallied to beat Andrea Lee 4 and 2 on Saturday in the US Girls’ Junior to become the first player to successfully defend the title since Hollis Stacy in 1971.

The 16-year-old South Korean overcame an early five-hole deficit to join Stacy (1969, ‘70, ‘71), Judy Eller (1957 and ‘58) and Nancy Lopez (1972 and ‘74) as the only multiple winners. Admitting that she had not heard of Stacy, Seong noted, “My mom was born in 1971.”

Seong won last year in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

“It’s a little bit different feel than last year,” Seong said. “Last year, it was a little bit hard. But I trusted myself today, and I have confidence. This morning was so hard because I was losing 5 down, but it’s OK because I had a lot of holes (left).”

The 17-year-old Lee, from Hermosa Beach, California, will be a freshman at Stanford this fall.

“It was really nothing much I could do,” Lee said. “She played really well in the afternoon, and I played well in the morning, but obviously I just had to end it well, and I wasn’t able to do that.”

Seong was 5 down through 13 holes in the 36-hole match, and had a 3-up margin at after 18 holes. Seong, second in the 2014 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links, won Nos. 19, 22 and 23 to square the match, and took her first lead with a 7-foot birdie putt on the 29th.