Bandon, Ore. - Lauren Cate (St. Augustine, Fla.), a rising senior on the three-time defending Atlantic Sun Conference champion Stetson women's golf team, completed an outstanding week of golf at the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links Championship on Thursday by reaching the final 16 in match play, surviving pre-qualifying, 36 holes of stroke play and two hard-fought match play victories to do so.
The WAPL was conducted at the magnificent Bandon Dunes Golf Resort on Oregon's Pacific Coast, a four-course complex named the #1 golf resort in the nation by GolfWeek Magazine.
Cate began her run back on June 5 when she shot 76 to take third place in a qualifier at The Links at Boynton Beach in Boynton Beach, Fla. Seven players advanced to Oregon from that location, including Daytona State's Ericka Schneider and USF's Shena Yang as well as Cate.
155 golfers began the 36-hole stroke play portion of the WAPL on Monday with the top 64 advancing to match play. Cate rebounded from an opening 83 with a three over par 74 on Tuesday to come in at +15 in a tie for 48th place and make the cut by two strokes.
The #51 seed in match play due to her qualifying score, Cate pulled a shocker right away by defeating 14th-seeded Ani Gulugian 3 & 1 in Wednesday's first round. Gulugian, who plays collegiately for 2011 NCAA champion UCLA, finished the 2010-11 season ranked 38th nationally in the GolfWeek.com Sagarin ratings. Cate, a Second Team All-Atlantic Sun and A-Sun All-Tournament Team honoree in 2010-11, was #315 in those ratings.
A hard-fought 1-up win over Wanasa Zhou, a Chinese junior golfer, followed Thursday morning, advancing Cate to the Round of 16 against another UCLA Bruin, nationally 19th-ranked Second Team All-American Tiffany Lua. A back-and-forth affair saw Cate go two holes down early before rallying back to square the match and take a 1-up lead after 14 holes. Eventually, however, Lua would re-take the lead and hold off Cate with a half on the 18th hole for a 1-up victory over the Hatter.
In 2011-12, Stetson is slated to return the entire five-woman contigent that captured a third straight A-Sun title, including Cate, two-time A-Sun Player of the Year Alexandria Buelow (Palm City, Fla.), and A-Sun All-Freshman Team selection Mallory Viera (Howey-in-the-Hills, Fla.).
