SCARBOROUGH, N.Y.— Upsets dominated the opening round of match play Wednesday at the U.S. Women's Amateur Championships.
Meredith Duncan, the 22-year-old defending champion from Shevereport, La., who had an asthma attack in the final round of qualifying Tuesday, was eliminated in a morning match. She lost to Australian Katherine Hull on the second extra hole of a playoff at the Sleepy Hollow Country Club.
Duncan wouldn't use the attack as an excuse.
"I knew I was in for a tough match, but I just missed a lot of putts," she said. "I had 5- to 10-footers on the second, eighth and ninth holes, and missed all of them. Making them would have meant either winning or halving the hole."
On the second extra hole, a 309-yard par-4, Duncan bogeyed from 8 feet. Hull lagged a 15-foot putt to within an inch and made par.
Duncan, headed for the LPGA qualifying school, took the defeat in stride.
"It's something I've wanted to do since I was 16," she said. "Now, I'll go home and get some rest."
Hull then was ousted by 16-year-old Aree Wongluekiet of Bradenton, Fla. The former U.S. junior girls' champion won 4 and 3. Wongluekiet then defeated Leigh Anne Hardin of Martinsville, Ind., another ex-U.S. junior champion, 2 up.
Courtney Swaim, the medalist from Sugar Hill, Ga., who set a 36-hole qualifying record of 135 on Tuesday, was upset by Elizabeth Janangelo of West Hartford, Conn., 2 and 1.
Swaim also is contemplating the LPGA tour, but she isn't as fired up as Duncan.
"If I had the means, I would stay amateur," Swaim said. "The golf here is as good as on the tour."
The 18-year-old Janangelo won her second match, against Sunny Oh of Torrance Calif., 4 and 3.
In-Bee Park, only 14 and the winner of this year's U.S. Junior Girls title, was a 3 and 2 loser to Millie Frankhauser of Columbus, Ohio, after defeating Lisa Ferrero of Lodi, Calif, on the 19th hole.
It took Carol Semple Thompson, who at 53 is the oldest player in the field, to stop the upsets.
Thompson, who won this title in 1973 and is a three-time champion of the U.S. Senior Women's Amateur, ousted Mallory Code of Tampa, Fla., 5 and 3, and then Lindsay Morgan of Walla Walla, Wash., 1 up.