Song Takes 5-Up Lead Over Kim At Midway Point Of WAPL Final

Devens, Mass - Jennifer Song, 19, of La Cañada, Calif., has taken a 5-up lead over 17-year-old Kimberly Kim of Hilo, Hawaii, in the scheduled 36-hole championship match on Saturday at Red Tail Golf Club for the 2009 U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links Championship.

Looking sharp from tee to green, Song hit all 14 fairways and 16 of 18 greens, while Kim managed to hit only 12 of 18 greens. With the usual match-play concessions, Song shot 5-under-par 67 to Kim's 73.

The afternoon 18 is scheduled to start at 12:20 p.m. EDT.

Song started pulling away over the second nine of the morning 18. Leading by one hole at the turn, Song was conceded a birdie at the 13th hole after Kim missed the green with her approach and failed to get up and down for par. Then Song, last year's WAPL runner-up, won the final three holes, starting at No. 16 when Kim missed a 4-foot par putt. At the 346-yard 17th hole, Song stuck her approach from the fairway to 10 feet for a winning birdie.

And on the par-5 finishing hole, Kim came up short of the green with her third shot and three-putted from the fringe, missing a 6-foot par putt after Song watched her 7-foot birdie try slip to the right.

On the first nine holes, Song grabbed an early 1-up lead at the first hole by converting a 5-foot birdie putt. Kim answered two holes later by draining a 35-foot birdie from the fringe. This came after making a clutch 15-foot par save to halve the second hole.

Song regained her advantage at the seventh hole when Kim three-putted from 30 feet. A Song 10-foot birdie at No. 8 gave her a 2-up lead. But Song failed to get up and down for par from the front of the ninth green. Kim two-putted to win the hole.

Last year at Erin Hill, Song lost to Tiffany Joh in the championship match, 2 and 1. Kim also lost to Joh in the 2006 WAPL final at Walking Stick Golf Course, but came back later that summer to claim the U.S. Women's Amateur, becoming, at 14, the youngest champion in that event's history.

Prior to the WAPL, Song had been the runner-up at the Pacific 10 Conference, NCAA Regional and NCAA Division I Women's Championship. Song made a double-bogey 6 at the 72nd hole at the NCAAs to lose by one stroke to Purdue's Maria Hernandez. Song still was named the NCAA Freshman of the Year by the Golf Coaches Association of America.

Story written by USGA Digital Media staff writer David Shefter.