Sewell Ready For U.S. Women’s Amateur
CORVALLIS, Ore. – Oregon State senior Lauren Sewell will compete at the 113th U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship in Charleston, S.C. this week and will have a familiar person carrying her bag -- Beavers’ assistant coach Kailin Downs.
Sewell qualified for the U.S. Women’s Amateur when she survived a playoff at a qualifier in Elum, Wash. on July 3. She shot a 4-over 76 at the Prospector at Suncadia course and then pared the two extra holes to earn one of the four automatic berths in the 60-player field.
The 113th U. S. Women’s Amateur Championship will be televised on the Golf Channel and feature 156 of the top women’s golfers in the world. The first two days feature 36 holes of stroke play and the top 64 will advance to match play beginning on Wednesday. The event will be played at the Country Club of Charleston.
"I'm going to play smart, play my game and use length to my advantage,” said Sewell, who will tee off at 7:30 a.m. ET off the 10th hole on Monday.
Downs, who will serve as Sewell’s caddie this week, knows her game well as she has been the assistant coach for the Oregon State women’s golf team since Sewell set foot on campus three years ago.
"The course is set up for long hitters, which is an advantage for Lauren,” Downs said. “The first two days are all about playing smart, making a lot of pars and putting yourself in a position to make the cut. Once match play starts it's a whole new ball game.”
The U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship marked the beginning of women’s competitive golf in this country. Along with the U.S. Amateur and the U.S. Open, the Women’s Amateur was one of the USGA’s first three championships conducted in 1895.
Sewell has played every tournament in her first three years at Oregon State and has a career scoring average of 77.23, currently the sixth best in school history. She shot a 1-under 71-70-71--212 at the Stanford Intercollegiate this past season to equal the third-lowest three-round score in school history and finish in a career-best tie for third place.
A native of Renton, Wash., Sewell has earned Pac-12 All-Academic honors the past two years with a 3.39 GPA in Psychology.