FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — Princess Mary Superal won the U.S. Girls’ Junior on Saturday to become the first Filipino winner in U.S. Golf Association play, beating Mexico’s Marijosse Navarro on the 37th hole.
“I really didn’t expect it,” the 17-year-old Superal said. “I feel very, very proud.”
Superal won the par-5 36th hole with a 10-foot birdie putt to pull even and ended the match with a par on the first extra hole — the par-5 14th on Forest Highlands’ Meadows Course — after Navarro drove into the water.
It was the first final to go to extra holes since 2006 when Jenny Shin beat Vicky Hurst in 37 holes.
The 17-year-old Navarro rallied to square the match with birdie wins on the 32nd and 33rd holes and took a 1-up lead with a 6-foot putt for an up-and-down par win on the 35th.
“It was nerve-wracking,” Navarro said about her chip. “But like my caddie (Northern Arizona University player Jacquie LeMarr) said to me, ‘You’ve been practicing this all your life and just trust yourself.'”
After Superal holed her birdie putt on the 36th, Navarro missed an 8-footer.
“It was a difficult putt, but I wasn’t (confident),” Navarro said. “Since yesterday, I wasn’t putting very good.”
Superal played to the equivalent of 8 under, with the usual match-play concessions, and did not card her first bogey until the 35th hole. Navarro, a three-time Women’s Mexican Amateur champion who was sixth this year for Texas A&M in the NCAA tournament, was 7 under.
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