17-year-old Ashley Yun left San Diego CC on Monday afternoon with a rather pedestrian 75 on her scorecard. Two days and 36 holes later, she’s the 2022 SCGA Women’s Amateur Champion.
An absolutely electric 67 on Tuesday gave Yun the outright tournament lead at -2 going into her final 18 holes. She steered the ship home with an extremely steady 71 on Wednesday and cleared the field by four strokes.
Yun showed zero nerves the entire closing round. She bombed a drive down the middle on No. 1, hitting her first of 10 fairways. One hole later she picked apart a par 5 and carded a birdie to extend her lead to two shots. No one would get closer to her the rest of the day.
Yun’s nearest pursuers were walking with her in the final group. Aloysa Atienza and Shannon Tan started the final round just one shot off the lead. But unfortunately for them, Yun was never coming back. Yun played her first six holes at -2 and didn’t miss a single fairway before finally hiccuping on No. 7 with a three-putt bogey. Neither Atienza nor Tan could capitalize as they made bogey and double bogey, respectively.
The most special part about Yun’s final round was how calm, collected, and consistent it was. Yun hit 10/14 fairways, 11/18 greens, and only needed 31 putts to get around San Diego CC; a truly amazing feat considering the size, undulations, and speed of the putting surfaces at Chula Vista’s historic gem.
If there was ever a hope for the field it surely was extinguished on the back nine when Yun recorded back-to-back birdies on 14 and 15. At the time, she made her way to 16 up five with just three to play; a formality if there ever was one.
Yun capped off her championship trek by two-putting for par from 45-feet above the hole in front of a sizable gallery. The moment highlighted a victory spurred on by relentless consistency and an innate ability to block out pressure.
