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The Attack on the World Trade Center
The folding of Enron
The battle for Elian Gonzalez
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Candie Kung, of Chinese Taipei, outlasted Missy Farr-Kaye, of Scottsdale,
Ariz., 2 up, to win her first national title in the 25th United States
Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship at the 6,110-yard,
par 72 Kemper Lakes Golf Club.
For Kung, 19, the victory was
the high point of two grueling weeks of golf. Kung was runner-up in
the Women’s Western Amateur Championship the previous week and
played 17 rounds of competitive golf, or 282 holes, in 14 days.
Admittedly tired, Kung, who was also the medalist, was elated. “It
feels great,” she said. “You just have to keep fighting
in match play. Anything can happen.”
Kung and Farr-Kaye played consistent, conservative golf on the front
nine, taking few chances. Kung was 1 up at the turn and took a 2-up
lead at the 10th hole when Farr-Kaye couldn’t hole her putt for
par.
But Farr-Kaye, the 33-year-old mother of two, hung on. She birdied
both par-5 holes on the back nine to square the match at the 15th
hole.
Indecision on the 16th tee cost her the hole and the match. The 345-yard,
par-4 hole has a water hazard on the right and a fairway bunker on
the left. Farr-Kaye decided not to use a 3-wood from the tee as she
had earlier in the week.
“I knew that I might hit into the water with the driver, but
I knew the 3-wood wouldn’t go far enough to give me a good approach
to the green,” she said.
Her tee shot with the driver bounced into the hazard. Kung drove safely
with her 3-wood and easily won the hole with a par to go 1-up. They
halved the par-3 17th with pars, Kung taking her 1-up lead to the
difficult 354-yard, par-4 18th hole.
With water lining the left side, both players drove safely, then faced
a difficult approach shot to a flagstick tucked behind water fronting
the green. Kung scorched a 5-iron that hit the front of the green,
then hopped into the back fringe. Farr-Kaye’s 3-iron hit hole
high, then bounded into the back bunker.
Her sand shot rolled over the green, then Kung chipped to within three
feet of the hole. Farr-Kaye used a putter from the fringe from 25
feet away, and missed the long putt for par. Kung made her short putt
to take the hole and the match, 2 up
It’s Kung’s first big title. In addition to her second-place
finish in the Women’s Western Amateur, she was runner-up in the
1997 U.S. Girls’ Junior.
“I thought I was always going to be ‘Miss Runner-up,’”
Kung said.
Farr is the sister of the late Heather Farr, who won this title in
1984.
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