Past Champions Collide as Kim-Schaad Edges Chugg in Round of 64 Thriller

In one of the most anticipated matchups of the Round of 64, two past champions squared off Monday at Monterey Peninsula Country Club’s Dunes Course, each hoping to add another chapter to her U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur legacy. When it was over, 2019 champion Ina Kim-Schaad, of Jupiter, Fla., had outlasted 2017 champion and two-time runner-up Kelsey Chugg, of Salt Lake City, Utah, for a 1-up victory.

“I knew it was going to be a good match, obviously, Kelsey is such a good player,” said Kim-Schaad, who works as a mental performance coach for Fearless Golf. “We were both joking before we were playing that it sucks to have to play your friend so early on, but at least we’re going to have a good time. And true to form, she rattled off four birdies on the front nine. I knew there was going to be no giving up. We were both going to keep grinding.”

Kim-Schaad struck first, rolling in a birdie on the par-4 second hole to take the early lead. But Chugg, whose résumé includes runner-up finishes in 2018 and 2023, responded quickly — and decisively. The 34-year-old won three consecutive holes (Nos. 4–6), going 2 under over that stretch to build a 2-up advantage.

Kim-Schaad clawed one back when Chugg bogeyed the par-5 ninth, but gave it right back with a bogey of her own on No. 10. Unfazed, Kim-Schaad produced her best golf of the day on the next two holes, carding back-to-back birdies on Nos. 11 and 12 to tie the match for the first time since the fourth hole.

The two past champions halved the next two holes before Kim-Schaad surged ahead once more with a conceded birdie on the par-5 15th. Her lead was short-lived, as a bogey on the next hole allowed Chugg to even things once again. On the par-3 17th, Kim-Schaad steadied herself with a par to regain the advantage heading to the last.

On the decisive par-5 18th, Kim-Schaad found the front greenside bunker with her third shot, momentarily opening the door for Chugg to extend the match. But Chugg’s approach came up short of the bunker, missing an opportunity to put pressure on Kim-Schaad to convert an up and down. Chugg would miss her par putt and concede the match.

"You just really have to stay patient on this golf course, and not get frustrated when the putts don’t drop, because they are just so hard to read,” said Kim-Schaad. “I was getting a little grumpy out there yesterday, but I’m at Monterey Peninsula with my husband and my parents. Honestly, I want to just try to have a good time and enjoy the ride.”

The victory earns Kim-Schaad a spot in the Round of 32, where another formidable test awaits, 2021 champion Blakesly Brock, of Chattanooga, Tenn. Brock defeated Grace Choi, of Dallas, Texas, 2 and 1 in her match. Along with Kim-Schaad and Brock, Shannon Johnson was the only other past champion to advance, with two-time winner Julia Potter-Bobb, Chugg and Kimberly Dinh all losing.

What’s Next?

Match play continues Tuesday morning with the Round of 32 beginning at 7:30 a.m. PST, followed in the afternoon by the Round of 16. The first Round-of-16 match is scheduled for 1:15 p.m. Admission is free, and spectators are encouraged to attend.

Notable

• 2025 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur champion Dawn Woodard was one of four players to advance out of Monday morning’s 12-for-4 playoff for the final spots in the match play bracket. Woodard has now made the cut in all 22 of her U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur appearances.  

• Ching-Tzu Chen, 25, of Chinese Taipei, defeated Woodard 9 and 7. It is the largest margin of victory in a U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur match since Liz Waynick defeated Mary Jane Hiestand in the Round of 32 at Briggs Ranch G.C., in San Antonio, Texas by the same margin in 2012. Chen turned 25 years old on Oct. 1 and is the youngest in the field. 

• Others to advance from the three-hole playoff were 2022 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur champion Shelly Stouffer, Kirsty Hodgkins-Redner and Alexandra Vilatte Farret. Only Hodgkins-Redner advanced to the Round of 32, as she defeated Jessica Spicer, 5 and 4.

• There were 14 countries represented in the field to start the week, with ten advancing to match play. Those countries are Australia, Canada, Chinese Taipei, Czechia, Ecuador, France, Guatemala, Northern Ireland, People’s Republic of China and the United State of America. 

• A medalist/co-medalist has now lost in the Round of 64 four of the last five years, with Spicer losing to Hodgkins-Redner, of Australia.

• In one of four extra hole matches of the day, MPCC member and three-time U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur champion Lara Tennant, 58, defeated Dagmar Urbankova, 27, of Czechia. Urbankova took a 1-up lead to the 18th tee but ultimately missed a three-footer to seal the match. Tennant would win with a par on the first extra hole in front of a gallery of about 50 fellow-MPCC members. Tennant also had a new caddie on Monday: MPCC club champion Joy Robinson. Tennant’s caddie from stroke play was attempting to qualify for the 2026 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball.  

Quotable

“I think the crazier the greens, the more fun I have playing them. I think too being in the northeast, we have a lot of crazy greens, a lot of Seth Raynor courses where they are so diabolical. You have to get really creative. Even the 16th hole, where that pin was today, I had like 50 yards, and I just really needed to get it going and it funneled all the way down to the hole. But you can play some play some really fun shots if you’re in the right spots.” - Shannon Johnson on the Dunes Course greens

“She’s got experience, but I’ve got nothing to lose.” - Kate Granahan on seeing the draw and learning she’d face two-time champion Julia Potter-Bobb

“The wind started picking up in the middle, which made it super interesting, but yeah, we both just played really solid, consistent golf, and I just got lucky ultimately because there was one unforced error I took advantage of, and that was kind of the match.” - Kim-Schaad on the difference maker in her match against 2017 champion Kelsey Chugg

“The mindset was to get pars. When I have chances at birdies, try to make those. But I, this week, have been doing a very good job of playing the golf course, and not focusing on anybody else.” - Lara Tennant on the mindset of playing someone 30 years younger who hits it 80 yards further  

“My caddy is trying to qualify for the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball today, that’s been on his calendar since he agreed to caddy for me, so my very dear friend Joy [Robinson], who is a many-time club champion here, said she could caddy for me. She was wonderful today, just great support and a great friend.” - Tennant on her caddy change