It certainly was a tumultuous stretch run, but Jennifer Kupcho of Westminster attained goal No. 1 at the U.S. Women’s Open: She made the 36-hole cut.
And that wasn’t easy, with a “9” on her card — plus two double bogeys — on Friday at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J. And that’s after getting about five hours of sleep on Thursday night and playing 22 holes in rainy conditions on Friday.
As Jennifer’s father/caddie, Mike, said by phone Friday evening, “It’s been a wild day and a half.”
The three-time CWGA Player of the Year climbed into the top 15 on the Women’s Open leaderboard as she was 4 under par through 11 holes in round 2 after finishing off a 2-over-par 74 in the first round.
But the Women’s NCAA runner-up from Wake Forest endured a major roller-coaster ride as it began to rain hard during the late portion of her second round. Specifically, Kupcho’s last five holes went this way: double bogey, par, birdie, quaduple-bogey 9, and a bounceback birdie. That’s 4 over par during that stretch, but the final-hole birdie, on the par-4 ninth, kept her from packing her bags due to a missed cut.
As it is, the 20-year-old, currently No. 10 in the women’s amateur rankings, stands in 52nd place heading into the weekend. Her eventful even-par 72 on Friday — which featured six birdies — put her at 2-over 146, 10 strokes behind leader Shanshan Feng.
The stretch on Friday featured two long-range birdies from off the green as she putted in from 25 feet on the seventh hole (her 16th) and from 75 feet on her last to make the cut.
In between was the quaduple-bogey 9 on the 533-yard eighth hole (her 17th). There, she pushed her drive far enough right that she hit a provisional, but she ended up finding her original ball. From extremely wet rough, her second shot went into the rough on the other side of the fairway. With a nearly plugged lie, she chipped out to the fairway. Her fourth shot didn’t get past the green’s false front and the ball rolled back down — as did her subsequent putt. Then she hit two chips and two putts. Add it up and it was a 9 without a penalty shot.
“We went from really good to not so good,” Mike Kupcho said. For a while earlier on Friday “it seemed like she could go really low.”
On No. 9, Jennifer Kupcho’s 414-yard finishing hole, she hit a 6-iron from the right rough, then miraculously holed the 75-foot putt that had to go through a lot of fringe-like area along with green.
It’s believed that the last player who grew up in Colorado to have made the cut in the U.S. Women’s Open was Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Jill McGill, who finished 37th in 2004.
Kupcho, making her second straight U.S. Women’s Open appearance, is tied for third place in the competition for low-amateur honors. Hye Jin Choi of South Korea leads the amateur standings at 138 (69-69, sharing second overall), while American Lauren Stephenson is the No. 2 am at 144.
Meanwhile, the other two players with significant Colorado ties competing this week missed the cut — to the low 60 players and ties — on Friday. Current University of Colorado golfer Robyn Choi went 76-77–153 and former Buff Emily Childs 77-80–157.
Here are the round-by-round scores for each of the competitors with strong in-state connections:
Advances to Weekend
Jennifer Kupcho, Westminster 74-72–146
Missed 36-Hole Cut
CU golfer Robyn Choi 76-77–153
Former CU golfer Emily Childs 77-80–157
For all the scores from the U.S. Women’s Open, CLICK HERE.
