Kentucky junior Jensen Castle fell backwards after hitting a bunker shot on 17 during her third-round match. She still made par and won the match on 18. (USGA Photo)
After winning two more matches at the U.S. Women’s Amateur in New York Thursday, Kentucky junior golfer Jensen Castle seemed surprised by where that put her.
“I didn’t realize I was that yet. It’s cool,” said Jensen when asked what he meant to be a quarterfinalist. “I mean, like match play is one match at a time. Doesn’t matter how many or where you are. Every match it’s a match, and that’s what I think of it as.”
Castle beat Sophie Linder 1-up and had a big 4-and-2 victory over Jenny Bae from the University of Georgia in the round of 16 Thursday. Not bad for a player who had to survive a 12-player playoff Tuesday just to get into the round of 64 as the No. 63 seed.
“I’ve been out all summer with a stress fracture in my rib and I haven’t played in any tournaments. I picked up a club for the first time like five, almost six days ago,” she said Tuesday after her opening match play upset win. “I came to this tournament with no expectations. I mean, my expectations were so low because like I haven’t touched a club at all.”
She certainly verified her own low expectations after the two wins Wednesday.
“I still have no expectations really. I have to go buy some clothes. I didn’t pack enough for the rest of the week,” Castle said. “But it’s just fun to be here, and you guys (tournament officials) have done such a great job running the event and it’s just awesome to be here.”
Castle did admit Wednesday that not playing for a while might turn out to be an advantage.
“A lot of people have been trying to put that in my head. They’re like, ‘Jensen, you are ready for this. You’ve been out the past two weeks mentally.’ And I’ve never taken a break longer than two days,” Castle said.
“So I can use that like as a help, but I don’t know. I wasn’t thinking that. I still have expectations but they’re so low because I haven’t touched a club. I’m just super excited and just to be here is amazing.”
Castle needed some amazing play Thursday to advance. After knocking off the No. 2 seed Wednesday, she was two down after 11 holes in her first match Thursday. She birdied three of the next four holes to take a lead and hit a remarkable shot from the lip of a greenside bunker to secure the win. A picture from the U.S. Women’s Amateur shows her almost falling backwards into the trap after the shot but she made par to keep the lead and made a 12-foot putt on 18 to win. She never was in trouble in the second match she won 4-and-2.
Castle made it to the round of 32 last year in this event. Kentucky teammate Marissa Wenzler, the other survivor of the 12-player playoff Tuesday, lost in the round of 32 Thursday. Wenzler, also a junior, won the stroke-play and match-play portions of the Western Women’s Amateur two weeks ago. She beat No. 1 seed Rachel Kuehn of Wake Forest in her first match Wednesday.
Castle had the lowest scoring average in school history as a freshman while Wenzler had the third-best. Both helped UK reach the NCAA Championship last season.
The Kentucky junior will play Emily Mahar of Virginia Tech at 1:20 p.m. EST today at Westchester Country Club’s West Course (par 72, 6,488 yards). Peacock TV will have live coverage of the quarterfinals from 2-5 p.m.
