St Michael’s Kelsey Bennett has marched into the second round of the matchplay at the US Women’s Amateur with a 3 & 1 win over 61st seed Jieni Li early this morning.
The 22-year-old from Mollymook, who entered the knockout as the fourth seed, was impressive in the encounter, rolling in five birdies in a blemish-free round against her Chinese Opponent.
She will now face Japan’s Nika Ito in the round of 32 tomorrow morning.
“I’m really liking the course,” Bennett said after her win. “The greens aren’t too tricky to read, and the course is a lot like Hunstanton, where I played British Amateur.
Bennett will be hoping to go a few matches deeper than her British Amateur performance, where she lost her quarter-final match against eventual finalist Sweden’s Louise Rydqvist on the 20th.
“I just played solid all day, where I miss-hit a shot, I got it back straight away, either with a good chip or a good putt,” she added.
Australia’s other competitor in the matchplay phase, Western Australia’s Madison Hinson Tolchard also progressed with a 2 & 1 win over another Chinese opponent, Yixian Guo. She will meet American Annabell Pancake in the next round.
