Four-Ball Champ Yen Starts Strong in Match Play at Girls’ Junior

Natalie Yen already etched her name into the USGA record books once this year – and she’s not done chasing history. The 18-year-old from West Linn, Ore., who captured the 2025 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball title in May, took the next step toward an even rarer feat on Wednesday at the 76th U.S. Girls’ Junior, winning her Round-of-64 match at Atlanta Athletic Club.

With another deep run over the next three days, Yen could become just the fifth female to win two USGA championships in the same calendar year.

"Match play is definitely different from stroke play, but none of my strategies really changed,” said Yen, who is headed to Texas A&M this fall. “I would say one of the highlights of the day for me was that I just felt like I made a lot of good 6-footers for par.”

After tying for sixth in stroke play on AAC’s Riverside Course, Yen continued her strong play with a 2-and-1 victory over Brynn Kort of Kingman, Ariz., the runner-up in the 2024 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball. Taking a 1-up lead with par on the second hole, Kort, who will be Yen’s college teammate in the fall, answered with a par of her own to win the fourth.

The match seesawed through Holes 5 to 7, with Yen emerging 1 up and adding to her lead with a par on the par-4 ninth. From there, the two tied every hole until Yen closed out the match on the 17th.

Yen advances to face Rachel Lee, 17, of Australia, in the Round of 32 Thursday morning. Lee defeated Madeleine Conser, of Portland, Ore., 4 and 3, on Wednesday. 

Her victory adds to an already impressive showing by the Australians in Atlanta. Of the six players who began the championship, five advanced to match play. In addition to Lee, Shyla Singh and Amelia Harris also won their Round-of-64 matches.

“Definitely trying to go for more pins out there today, but still trying to focus on my game, beat the course as usual,” said Lee about the transition to match play. “It was really nice to play with Maddie, always something new to learn from your playing partners. Yeah, it was just a great day out there.”

With heat indexes hovering near 100 degrees for the third consecutive day, conserving energy has become essential at Atlanta Athletic Club. No one managed that better on Wednesday than Southern Californians Kacey Ly, of Temple City, and Katelyn Kong, of Los Angeles, who each needed just 13 holes to eliminate their opponents.

“I know the first two days I played pretty well,” said Kong, a 2025 U.S. Women’s Open qualifier who will be a sophomore at the University of California-Irvine this fall. “I kind of just walked into today thinking it’s just another round of stroke play. If I play the course like I did the last two days, I think I’ll do pretty well. I haven’t played too much match play, but I thought it was fun.”

Round 2 of the championship concluded Wednesday morning following a suspension of play due to darkness on Tuesday night, which was the result of a nearly two-hour weather delay. Nine players completed the stroke play portion of the championship at 6-over-par 148, with the ensuing 9-for-4 playoff lasting five holes. Three of the four players went on to win their Round-of-64 matches: Mia Carles, Music Ponmani and Zilin (Grace) Xu.

The lone non-survivor was No. 64 seed Victoria Richani, of Lebanon, who was eliminated by medalist and top seed Grace Carter, of Jupiter, Fla., 5 and 3.

Asterisk Talley, of Chowchilla, Calif., the runner-up last year, moved a step closer to another appearance in the title match with a 5-and-3 win over Alexa Phung, of Forest Hills, N.Y.

In one of the more thrilling matches of the Round of 64, Chloe Kovelesky, of Boca Raton, Fla., a rising sophomore at Wake Forest and former U.S. National Junior Team member, eliminated current U.S. National Junior Team member Amelie Zalsman, of St. Petersburg, Fla., in 19 holes.

What’s Next

Match play continues on Thursday with the Round of 32 and Round of 16, beginning at 7:30 a.m. EDT. The Round-of-16 matches are scheduled to begin at 1:15 p.m. The quarterfinals and semifinals are scheduled for Friday, with the 36-hole final on Saturday set to begin at 8:30 a.m. and then continue following the lunch break.

Peacock will have live streaming of the semifinals on Friday beginning at 3 p.m. EDT with Golf Channel re-airing the broadcast at 9 p.m. Peacock also has live streaming of the afternoon portion of the championship match on Saturday at 3 p.m. EDT, and Golf Channel on a tape-delay basis at 9 p.m. Admission is free, and spectators are encouraged to attend.

Notable

• Iris Lee, the youngest to make match play at just 12 years old, fell 2 and 1 to Sam Daniels. Hailey Kim, 13, the next youngest, lost in 20 holes to Lauren Timpf, who was 3 down through the 12th hole.
  
  
• Three matches went to extra holes during Wednesday’s Round of 64: Isabel Emanuels, 17, of Austin, Texas def. Michelle Xing, 16, of Canada on the 19th hole; Lauren Timpf, 18, of Macomb, Mich., defeated Hailey Kim, 13, of Simi Valley, Calif., on the 20th hole; Chloe Kovelesky, 18, of Boca Raton, Fla., def. Amelie Zalsman, 16, of St. Petersburg, Fla.
  
  
• Just one of the three Georgians in the field advanced to match play, with Thanana Kotchasanmanee carrying the torch for the locals. She defeated Raegan Denton, of Australia, 1 up.
  
  
• Three members of the U.S. National Junior Team have advanced to the Round of 32. They include Asterisk Talley, Emerie Schartz and Anna Fang. The program, started by the USGA in 2024, exists to foster the next generation of America’s golf talent.
  
  
• Eleven countries, including the United States, were represented at the start of match play. The U.S. led the way with 43 competitors, while Australia had five, Thailand four, Canada three and the People's Republic of China and Hong Kong, China had two apiece. Chinese Taipei, Japan, Lebanon, Mexico and Singapore each had one representative.

Quotable

“It’s just hard coming from runner-up [last year] and starting all the way over this year, but it’s good to get through the first match and take it one match at a time. I feel like being good at match play is something that I always take with me to these kinds of events.” – Asterisk Talley on her return to the Girls’ Junior following her loss to Rianne Malixi in the 2024 championship match

“It’s in really good conditions, the greens are some of the fastest I’ve played, and the distance too, this is the furthest I’ve played... I just hit my 5-iron 200 yards, as a point of reference. So yeah, I think so.” – Lucinda Wu on Atlanta Athletic Club’s Riverside Course and whether it suits her game

“I’ve never played in Georgia, so that was new. The heat was definitely a rude awakening, but I love it. It’s a great course, and the USGA just hosts the best events possible.” – Katelyn Kong on making her first appearance in the U.S. Girls’ Junior

"It means a lot… just being able to compete with all these great [players], and being able to finish at the top means a lot...I've been putting in a lot of work and I stuck to my game plan." – Grace Carter on earning medalist honors in her championship debut

“I’ve known Brynn probably since I was 6, she was 5. Growing up, we’ve always been pretty good friends. We play, see each other across the country a lot. When we committed back in 2023 [to Texas A&M], it was a new level of excitement that we were going to go to college together. Playing with her today, it was a lot of fun. We’re living pretty close to each other, so we talked about planning to decorate my apartment, because she’s mostly decorated, but I still have some work to do.” – Natalie Yen, on playing against friend and future teammate Brynn Kort

“It is [special]. It is. I’m actually from Atlanta originally, Johns Creek. I grew up a mile away. So it just means so much that I’m here.” Isabel Emanuels on returning to her hometown to compete in the Girls’ Junior

“We actually tried chipotle yesterday, and that was very good.” – Rachel Lee, of Australia, on exploring America’s fast-food options, after trying Wing Stop earlier in the week