Auburn graduate student Megan Schofill will face LSU graduate student Latanna Stone in Sunday’s 36-hole final of the 123rd U.S. Women’s Amateur at the Bel-Air Country Club in a matchup of friends who have known each other since first meeting when they were in eighth grade.
“Obviously we both want to beat each other, but she’s a great person on and off the golf course,” Schofill said. “I think regardless of the outcome we’ll both be happy for one another.”
On Friday, Stone suffered what she described as “like muscle strain, like I could barely walk on it after the round.”
“I got treatment on it by the doctor up here, and he put some tape on it and I took some Advil,” Stone said. “I brought this icy spray to make it numb, but just doesn’t work.
“Once you climb up the hills it strains even more, and it’s only my right leg. It’s just a muscle strain, but feels like I got kicked in the leg by a horse. It’s actually awful.”
Stone said she was “going to get some treatment and ice it” Saturday “and do everything I can.”
“Just going to suck it up,” Stone said “I think I can make it. It’s not like I have a broken leg.”
Schofill is 21st in the women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking. Stone is ranked 34th.
Both were first-team All-SEC selections in 2023.
Play will begin at 9:45 a.m. and is scheduled to resume after a lunch break at 3 p.m. The Golf Channel will broadcast live 4-7 p.m. Admission is free.
Schofill advanced to the final with a 2 and 1 victory over Hailey Borja of Lake Forest, a fifth-year student at Michigan and former standout at Trabuco Hills High School in Mission Viejo, while Stone was a 3 and 2 winner over Stanford senior Rachel Heck in Saturday’s other semifinal.
Borja never led in her semifinal, losing a ball on her approach into the first hole. Schofill went 2-up with a 40-foot birdie putt on the par-3 third hole. Borja tied the match by winning the fourth and sixth holes.
Schofill, a 22-year-old from Monticello in Northern Florida, regained the lead with a hole-winning birdie on the 13th hole, while Borja re-tied the match with a hole-winning birdie on the 13th hole.
Schofill took the lead for good when she sank a 15-foot eagle putt on the par-5 14th hole, then added to her lead when she parred the par-4 15th hole which Borja bogeyed.
Schofill closed out the match by matching Borja’s pars on the 16th and 17th holes.
“It’s not over until it’s over, so I just kept on grinding and kept on trusting my game and all the practice and preparation for the tournament,” Borja said.
When asked Saturday to describe what it meant to reach the final of the U.S. Women’s Amateur, Schofill replied, “I feel like there is no words that can describe it. Every girl in this field, obviously that was their goal. I’ve had a great week so far. Obviously the ultimate goal is to go out there and try and play my best tomorrow, but regardless of the outcome I think it’s still a great week.
“I need to hold my head high, and just excited to play against Latanna.”
Stone, a 21-year-old from Riverview in West Central Florida, also never trailed in her semifinal. She won the par-5 first hole with a birdie. Heck evened the match by birdieing the par-4 second hole. Both golfers parred the third hole, then Stone took the lead for good by winning five of the next six holes.
Heck moved to within three holes of Stone with victories on the 13th and 15th holes, but Stone hit a tremendous tee shot on the par-3 110-yard 16th hole that allowed her to two-putt for par and clinch the victory.
“We (Stone and Heck) had so much fun today and we couldn’t stop laughing together,” Stone said on Golf Channel following the match. “This tournament is a marathon and I’m really grateful to have this opportunity (to play in the final). I can’t wait for tomorrow.”
Stone and Heck were teammates on the victorious U.S. team in the 2022 Curtis Cup, the biennial competition matching the U.S. and Great Britain and Ireland.
Stone defeated two other Curtis Cup teammates, Amari Avery and Rachel Kuehn, in the round of 64 and round of 32.
Stone attributed her success in the tournament to “just really like believing in myself, because I feel like I’ve had kind of a hard time believing in myself and thinking that I can do it.”