By the end of a 100-degree day at the BanBury Golf Club in Eagle, Idaho, Morgan Pressel advanced with a 7 and 5 victory over Carr, a rising senior at The O’Neal School.
The 16-year-old Carr was one-under-par through eight holes against Pressel in a battle of the 2004 North and South Junior Amateur (Carr) and North and South Women’s Amateur champions, but still found herself 2-down.
Carr qualified for the match play field of 64 on Monday and Tuesday by finishing tied for 25th with rounds of 73-71—144. In her first-round match in the morning, she birdied three of her first six holes on the way to a 3 and 2 win over Angela Oh of Maple Shade, N.J.
“I was so excited about making match play,” Carr said by phone Thursday just before heading home. “I didn’t just make it, I was two-over par. I was playing the best golf I played all summer.”
Pressel has applied to become a member of the LPGA Tour after nearly winning the most exciting U.S. Women’s Open in many years. She finished tied for second after Birdie Kim holed out of a bunker on the 72nd hole.
In five LPGA events this year, the 17-year-old has five top-25 finishes and would rank 20th on the money list were she a professional.
Before a large gallery, Carr went to the 390-yard ninth hole against Pressel, still feeling she was in the match even though she was two-down.
“The wind was in my face and she had been out-driving me by about 30 yards,” Carr said. “I swung harder than I should have and hooked it into the water.”
Carr made a six while Pressel was notching her fourth of six birdies for the match. On the 385-yard 10th, Carr missed the fairway with her drive and hooked her second shot into the water, taking another double bogey.
Pressel won five holes in a row ending the match after the 13th hole.
“There was water on every hole,” Carr said, “and the rough was thick. I wasn’t used to that. It was a beautiful course.”
Carr was unable to defend her title in this week’s North and South Junior Amateur held at the Pinehurst Resort because of the conflict with this nation’s top amateur championship for girls.
Pressel is signed up to defend her North and South Women’s title on Aug. 8-14. She has also applied for an exemption to the LPGA Tour’s 18-year-old eligibility requirement.
She first gained national notoriety by qualifying for the 2002 U.S. Women’s Open at Pine Needles as a 12-year-old.
This is her fifth attempt at winning the U.S. Girls’ Junior Amateur championship.
The fifth seed for match play at BanBury after rounds of 66-68—134 in qualifying, she was wary after the first three seeds were beaten on Wednesday, including the medalist Taylore Karle.
“People are going to be out to get me, but hopefully I can hold on,” she told The Idaho Statesman. “I’m out to get them, all of them, all 63 of them.”
Carr’s successful summer includes a win in the Carolinas Junior Championship. Back in May, she was a member of The O’Neal School’s state champion golf team. She is currently the top-ranked junior girl in North Carolina.
She feels the U.S. Junior Amateur experience is going to be a confidence builder.
“I wondered if I would hold up under the pressure of playing Morgan with all the people watching,” she said. “I thought I held up pretty well.”
