PLAYER TO WATCH
Name: Ya-Ni Tseng
Age: 16
Residence:
Golfweek/Titleist ranking: N/A
One week after winning the U.S. Women's Amateur, Morgan Pressel got taken down by a giant killer. Ya-Ni Tseng, who beat Michelle Wie to win the 2004 U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links Championship, defeated Pressel on the 39th hole to capture the North and South Women's Amateur Championship Aug. 14 at Pinehurst No. 2. The 16-year-old Taiwan native won with a routine par on the third playoff hole after Pressel failed to get up-and-down out of a greenside bunker. "This was a lot harder (than beating Wie)," Tseng told The Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer with a laugh. "I only had to play 36 holes against Michelle. Playing 39 is harder. "Morgan played so well this afternoon. I was nervous the whole time. I just tried to stay focused and stay up with her." Tseng took a 3-up lead early in the afternoon round before Pressel rallied to square the match by winning three consecutive holes. Tseng regained the lead with a birdie on the par-5 10th before Pressel made eagle on the par-5 16th to pull even again. Pressel, 17, missed a 20-footer for birdie on the final hole that would have won the title in what could have been her last amateur competition as an individual. The U.S. Women's Open runner-up has applied to join the LPGA and will be allowed to attend qualifying school this fall. She plans to play in two LPGA events, the Wendy's Championship for Children Aug. 25-28 and the State Farm Classic Sept. 1-4, followed by the U.S. Junior Solheim Cup, an amateur team event, Sept. 5-7. On the third playoff hole, Pressel hit her approach into a bunker, then landed her third shot 9 feet from the pin but missed the putt. Tseng two-putted from 30 feet for the victory, then fell to her knees and buried her face in her hands. "It was definitely extremely exciting the whole way," Pressel told The Observer. "It was a great crowd and a great gallery. It was truly a lot of fun, and I don't say that too many times when I lose." Both players also were pushed to extra holes in Saturday's semifinals. Pressel fought back after being 2 down with three to play against University of Mississippi coach Meghan Bolger, making birdies on Nos. 16 and 17 to square the match, then winning with another birdie on the 20th hole. Tseng won her match against University of Washington senior Paige Mackenzie with a par on the 19th hole. Pressel, Golfweek's top-ranked amateur and the tournament's defending champion, was trying to become the second player to win the U.S. Women's Amateur and the North and South Women's Amateur in the same year. Meredith Duncan won both events in 2001. (Staff and wire reports)

NEWS AND NOTES

* The Canon Cup, an American Junior Golf Association team event bringing together the top 40 juniors in the nation, was not close heading into the final round. And the West squad, which led by seven heading into the last day Aug. 11, made sure it didn't get any closer. The West won four of the first five matches on the way to a convincing 301Ž2-191Ž2 victory at the Capital City Club. The decisive point of the competition was earned when Roberto Galletti Jr., of Clayton, Calif., defeated David Yujin Chung of Fayetteville, N.C., 3 and 2. "It feels really good to have earned the point," said Galletti, who has verbally committed to UNLV. "But I didn't have any bigger part than the rest of my team. We all worked hard out there." Building on its commanding 18 1Ž2-11 1Ž2 lead after two days of play, the West won 11 of Thursday's 20 singles matches and halved two matches. Ten boys and 10 girls made up each team, with the East and West being divided by a traditional border ­ the Mississippi River. Team members were selected based on an AJGA points system that rewarded them for top finishes in national junior golf events. The West was powerful throughout the week, led by three players who went undefeated throughout the competition. Amanda Blumenherst of Scottsdale, Ariz., Kyle Stanley of Gig Harbor, Wash., and Hsiao-Ching Lu of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., went 3-0-1. (All players earned a half-point for the Day 2 afternoon matches, which were canceled because of weather). It was Blumenherst's final AJGA event before heading to Duke University. "This is so exciting, but at the same time so sad," said the three-time Rolex Junior All-American. "The AJGA has been my summers since I was 13 years old. It will be sad to move on and leave all this fun behind." The victory returned the Cup to the West after a one-year absence. The West team had won three consecutive matches before the East team rallied for a 251Ž2-241Ž2 victory at Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, Md. Following the West's fourth victory in the past five years, the East now leads the overall series, 8-7-1. Past Canon Cup players include current pro standouts Tiger Woods, Charles Howell III, Grace Park and Paula Creamer. (Staff and wire reports)

* Ten of the 12 players for the U.S. team for the Ping Junior Solheim Cup have been named, led by Morgan Pressel, the reigning U.S. Women's Amateur champion and runner-up at the U.S. Women's Open. The 10 players made the field based on an American Junior Golf Association points system. The team was to be completed Aug. 15 with two captain's picks. The European team also was to be named Aug. 15. The event is patterned after the Solheim Cup, with 12 top junior girls from the United States taking on their European counterparts. The event, tied 1-1, will take place Sept. 5-7 at The Bridgewater Club in Westfield, Ind. This is the second Junior Solheim appearance for Pressel, of Boca Raton, Fla., who helped the U.S. to a 17-7 victory at the inaugural event in 2002. Pressel missed the 2003 event, a 12 1Ž2-11 1Ž2 European victory in Sweden, because of the death of her mother. Four players on this year's U.S. team reside in California: Sydney Burlison, Mina Harigae, Sydnee Michaels and Jane Rah. Other players on the team are Kimberly Donovan of Hopkinton, Mass., Megan Grehan of Mamaroneck, N.Y., Esther Choe and Taylor Karle of Scottsdale, Ariz., and Catherina Wang of Orlando, Fla. The American team will be captained by nine-time LPGA winner Colleen Walker. (Staff reports)

* (By Ron Balicki, Wheaton, Ill.) He was the youngest U.S. player in Walker Cup history. Perhaps too young, pre-match skeptics had suggested. But Brian Harman, an 18-year-old University of Georgia freshman and Golfweek's former No. 1-ranked junior, justified his selection by being the only player to charge through the Walker Cup without a loss. Playing in three matches ­ he sat out the first-day singles competition ­ Harman won two and halved the other. It was his singles victory Aug. 14 at Chicago Golf Club that helped set the tone for the Americans' 12 1Ž2-11 1Ž2 victory, the first for the U.S. since 1997. Playing in the second group, the former U.S. Junior champion scored a 6-and-5 victory over Wales' Rhys Davies, a first-team All-American as a junior at East Tennessee State and the No. 3 player in the final 2004-05 Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings. "I live for big matches like this," Harman said. "That's my life. I dream about that kind of stuff. It's been an incredible week. The fans here were great and so very supportive. "It's something I'll always remember." Harman's Day 2 foursomes triumph with Anthony Kim ­ a 4-and-2 decision over Scotland's Lloyd Saltman and Richie Ramsay ­ provided a crucial point for the Americans, but the half-point he and Kim notched the previous day was just as important. Harman and Kim were 3 down after 10 holes, but battled back against Davies and Nigel Edwards. U.S. captain Bob Lewis later said it may have been "the biggest half-point of the match." Coming into the Walker Cup, Lewis was aware of Harman's ability. But he found out more as he watched the youngster compete. "He was extremely impressive," said Lewis, a member of four winning U.S. Walker Cups as a player. "He obviously has a lot of talent, and he certainly brought it out this week and handled himself very well. "He was a horse out there." Harman wasn't the only teen to make an impression at Chicago Golf Club. England's Oliver Fisher, 16, the youngest Walker Cup player ever, showed he had plenty of grit. Fisher finished with a 1-2-1 record. He scored a 2-up victory over Michael Putnam in the first day of singles when he birdied four of the last five holes. Then in the third singles match Sunday, also against Putnam, he rolled in an 18-foot birdie putt on the final hole to ignite a dramatic GB&I rally. "It was an amazing week," said Fisher, who will play in the U.S. Amateur Aug. 22-28 at Merion Golf Club. "It was great being around these guys and playing in front of such big crowds. Everything was just fantastic." Everything fantastic, as it turned out, included the two youngest players on both sides. Youth, at the 2005 Walker Cup, definitely was served.

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