Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Oklahoma’s Yujeong Son, right, and Jupiter’s Davey Dude win Dixie Amateur titles.
Nachmann finishes T-6
TAMARAC — Yujeong Son saved her best golf for last to pull away from her closest pursuers and win the Women’s Dixie Amateur by five shots.
The 15-year-old native of South Korea, who lives in Norman, Okla., and was playing in the Dixie for the first time, shot a 3-under 69 Thursday on the East Course at Woodlands Country Club.
That gave Son a fourround total of 7-under 281 and a tremendous sense of accomplishment.
“I think this is the biggest win this year,” Son said. “I hadn’t played that well in my last three tournaments, which were junior events, so I think this will be a big motivator.”
Linnea Strom of Sweden also shot 69 to move into a tie for second at 2-under 286 with Jennifer Chang of Cary, N.C., who birdied her last two holes to shoot 72.
“I didn’t have any idea at all what the scores were,” said Strom, 20, a sophomore who plays for Arizona State. “I wanted to play as good as possible to get second.”
After a bogey on the second hole, Strom had birdies at the ninth, 11th, 14 and 17th. Chang chipped in for birdie at the par-3 17th and made a 4-foot putt for birdie on 18 to offset bogeys at the seventh and 16th.
“I held in there,” said Chang, 17, an 11th-grader who has committed to play golf at Southern Cal.
Gina Kim of Chapel Hill, N.C., tied for the day’s best round, a 67, which moved her into fourth place at 287 with Mika Liu of Bradenton, who shot 71. Gabriela Coello of Venezuela shot the other 67, which was highlighted by a hole-inone on the 171-yard par-3 sixth hole.
The magical run ended for Elle Nachmann, the 13-year-old from Boca Raton who was tied for the lead the first day with Son, led Son by one after Tuesday’s round and trailed her by one heading into the final round.
Nachmann made only one birdie Thursday and had four bogeys, two on the last three holes, to shoot 75 and finish in a six-way tie for sixth at 288.
“My driver wasn’t going that straight,” Nachmann said, “and the greens played a little slow. I wasn’t getting the ball to the hole.”
Also tying for sixth were Alexa Pano, 12, of Lake Worth, who shot 71, and Katie Williamson of Boca Raton, who closed with a 69.
“I was 5 under going into 18 and got nervous,” said Williamson, 20, a freshman at Florida Gulf Coast University who played high school golf at Archbishop McCarthy and played in the Dixie for the third time. “It was a really good experience.”
Son played as if she had way more experience than her age would indicate. Playing with Nachmann and Chang, Son hit 14 greens. The only time she failed to get up and down to save par was on the 18th hole when her approach landed in a greenside bunker, but by then the tournament title was already hers.
She started off by saving par on the first hole with a chip to 3 feet. After twoputt pars on the next two holes, Son sank a 10-foot birdie putt on the fourth hole.
On the 460-yard par-5 fifth, she reached the green in two, hitting a 3-hybrid from 210 yards to 12 feet, and two-putted for birdie.
Son had two-putt pars on holes 10-13 and had a nice par save on the par-3 14th after she missed the green to the left, pitched to 4 feet and made the putt. She followed that with an 18-foot birdie putt on the par-5 15th and a 6-footer for birdie on the par-4 16th.