NORMAN, Okla. – Amateur Squad member Maddie Szeryk carded a school record 63 (-8) at the Belmar Golf Club on Sunday to climb 13 spots into a tie for third at the Schooner Fall Classic.

The 20-year-old Allen, Tex., product reeled off five straight birdies en route to a bogey-free round to break the school record of 7-under par—one in which she had previously tied in 2014. Szeryk also became the first Texas A&M athlete to record a 63 in a round.

On the strength of Szeryk’s final round charge, the Aggies climbed up the leaderboard to finish tied for sixth at 19-over par. Florida State won the tournament at 829 (-23), with the Seminoles’ Morgane Metraux taking home medalist honours at 12-under par.

Szeryk and the Aggies will return to action from Oct. 9-10 at the Jim West Challenge in The Woodlands, Tex.

RIVIERA MAYA, Mexico – On the strength of Garrett Rank’s 69 (-2), the Canadian contingent climbed inside the Top-10 for the first time in Saturday’s final round of the 30^th World Amateur Team Championship to close the tournament in a tie for ninth at 12-under par.

Playing on the Mayakoba El Camaleon Golf Club, Rank, 29, led the Canadian trio to a team score of 2-under par on the day, coupled with Jared du Toit’s even-par 71. Collectively, Rank was the leading Canadian at the event. The Elmira, Ont., product finished at 1-under par (74-72-70-69) to hold an individual share of 35^th.

Kimberley, B.C., native Jared du Toit finished two strokes behind Rank at 1-over par (71-70-75-71). The 21-year-old Arizona State senior closed at T44. Teammate Hugo Bernard of Mont-St-Hilaire, Que., was disqualified because of a scoring error in his final round.

“Our guys gave it their best this week and I’m proud of the fight they put up to get inside the Top-10,” said Ingram of the Canadian squad, who stood tied for 27^th following Wednesday’s opening round. “An unfortunate mistake with Hugo’s scoring, but we’ll look at it as a learning experience for everyone.”

Australia extended their commanding lead, closing with a final-round team score of 6-under to win the tournament at a record score of 38-under par, 19 strokes ahead of runner-up England. The victory marks the fourth time Australia has come out on top at the World Amateur.

Austria and Ireland rounded out the top-3, sharing third place honours at 18-under par.

Australia’s Cameron Davis was the lone player to tally four rounds in the 60s, earning him medalist honours at 17-under par, with teammate Curtis Luck finishing second at 15-under.

A biennial competition, the World Amateur Team Championship has been played since 1958, with the winner taking home the Eisenhower Trophy. The United States won the 2014 title in Karuizawa, Japan, by two strokes over the Canadian contingent of Corey Conners (Listowel, Ont.), Taylor Pendrith (Richmond Hill, Ont.) and Adam Svensson (Surrey, B.C.).

In 28 appearances at the World Amateur Team Championship, Canada has captured the Eisenhower Trophy on one occasion (1986) and earned runner-up honours five times.

Click here for full scoring.

RIVIERA MAYA, Mexico  ─ Led by Team Canada’s Hugo Bernard of Mont-St-Hilaire, Que., the Canadian contingent had its best day Friday at the men’s World Amateur Team Championship.

Playing in the morning wave, Canada improved its standing 12 places with an 8-under 136 and is now tied for 11th. Bernard, the 2016 Canadian Amateur champion, carded a 66, while Garrett Rank, who works as a National Hockey League official, had a 70.

Bernard birdied three of the four par 3s. He struck an 8-iron to within 8 feet at No.8 and hit a three-quarter pitching wedge to set up another birdie at No. 15.

“He’s a wonderful iron player,” said Doug Roxburgh, who has served as the Canadian captain seven times. “I have only seen him hit a couple of irons that were not directly at the pin. He’s a big, strong guy who takes advantage of his length.”

Jared du Toit, Kimberley, B.C., the best trio in the first two rounds, tallied a 3-over 75, which didn’t count for Canada. After 54 holes, Canada has a cumulative score of 10-over 420.

Australia took a nearly insurmountable 16-stroke lead after 54 holes with a team score of 32-under-par 398 at the par-72, 6,888-yard Iberostar Playa Paraiso Golf Club.

Ireland moved into second place at 16-under par after registering a third-round 135.

England, Austria and Poland are tied for fourth at 13-under.

A biennial competition, the World Amateur Team Championship has been played since 1958, with the winner taking home the Eisenhower Trophy. The United States won the 2014 title in Karuizawa, Japan, by two strokes over the Canadian contingent of Corey Conners (Listowel, Ont.), Taylor Pendrith (Richmond Hill, Ont.) and Adam Svensson (Surrey, B.C.).

In 28 appearances at the World Amateur Team Championship, Canada has captured the Eisenhower Trophy on one occasion (1986) and earned runner-up honours five times.

Click here for full scoring.

RIVIERA MAYA, Mexico – The Canadians struggled to make up any significant ground on Thursday’s second round at the 30^th World Amateur Team Championship, carding a team score of 140 (-2) on the par-71, 6,771-yard/6,187-meter Mayakoba El Camaleon Golf Club to sit T23.

For the second straight day, 21-year-old Jared du Toit led the Canadian trio with the team’s lowest score. The Kimberley, B.C., product was scoring well until running into trouble on his 11^th and 12^th holes, where he carded a respective bogey and double-bogey. du Toit, a senior at Arizona State, finished the day at 1-under par to hold a share of 37^th individually.

The second-counting score of the day came from the reigning Canadian Men’s Amateur champion, Hugo Bernard, who matched du Toit with a 1-under 70. The Mont-St-Hilaire, Que., native now stands in a tie for 52^nd place. Rounding out the Canadian contingent was Elmira, Ontario’s Garrett Rank. The 29-year-old has yet to find his groove, posting a 72 (+1) to share 80^th place.

Collectively, the Canucks sit at 2-under par for the tournament, and will look to make up ground in tomorrow’s third round. Rank will tee-off first for the Canadians on moving day, slated to start at 7:45 am EDT, followed by Bernard at 7:55 am EDT and du Toit at 8:05 EDT. The squad will be paired up with Netherlands and Germany.

Australia nearly matched the 36-hole scoring record and vaulted to an eight-stroke lead after the second round in the 30th World Amateur Team Championship (WATC). Harrison Endycott and Cameron Davis each fired 5-under 66s at the Mayakoba El Camaleon Golf Club.

The Australians, who began the day one stroke behind first-round leader Scotland, posted a 10-under 132 at Mayakoba. Australia’s two-round total of 19-under-par 267 is one off the WATC record established by the USA in 2012. Curtis Luck, the 2016 U.S. Amateur champion, added a non-counting even-par 71. The best two scores from each country’s three-man team are used.

“The mindset was to be as competitive as we can,” said Australian captain Matt Cutler, whose team also equaled the lowest second-round score in WATC history. “You talk about having an opportunity to win. If we play well, we have a chance to win, so that has been our focus.”

Endycott, who has won this year’s Porter Cup and was a quarterfinalist at the Australian Amateur, holed a 10-foot birdie putt on the par-4 18th to cap his team’s performance. He used an 8-iron to set up two of his six birdies at Nos. 9 and 15, but his play was propelled by a run of four consecutive birdies on his inward nine in the first round.

“That was a huge confidence booster,” Endycott said. “Yesterday things weren’t going my way early on. I just wasn’t hitting good shots, and I was struggling to get feels. Making a few good putts from good positions says you can go do this.”

Davis, who finished second in both the Asia-Pacific Amateur and Australian Amateur last year, recorded seven birdies on his scorecard for the second consecutive day. He birdied Nos. 4, 5, 6 and 7 on his outward nine and has the best 36-hole individual score at 10 under after opening with a 67 at the par-72, 6,888-yard/6,386-meter Iberostar Playa Paraiso Golf Club.

“We are full of confidence,” Endycott added. “We all believe in the three of us. As long we keep building that momentum like we are doing at the moment, it is going to be a good week.”

Maverick McNealy, who won the 2016 Mark H. McCormack Medal as the top-ranked amateur player, reeled off five consecutive birdies on his inward nine at Iberostar to advance the USA into second place at 11-under 275.

McNealy, a first-team All-American at Stanford University, and Scottie Scheffler, a junior at the University of Texas, each carded 3-under 69s. Scheffler also closed well with birdies on three of his last five holes.

“We had a nice finish with Maverick making five in a row on the back nine, and we’re very pleased,” said USA captain Paul Caruso. “There was a little bit of weather and wind at the start, but once it calmed down, we played good golf.”

The USA appeared to be fading midway through the round in its quest to win its third consecutive WATC championship. McNealy, who was the Pac-12 Conference Player of the Year for a second time, started on No. 10 and bogeyed three of his opening four holes.

“I got off to an atrocious start, so Brad (Dalke) came over and gave me a little pep-talk,” McNealy said.  “I feel like I played really solidly after those first four holes. I’m glad I managed to hold the round together.”

Switzerland moved into third at 10-under 276 with an array of closing birdies and an eagle at Mayakoba. Jeremy Freiburghaus, who shot a 3-under 68, birdied four of the last six holes. Mathias Eggenberger, who helped Team Europe win this year’s Palmer Cup, shot a 69. His round was highlighted by a 32-foot eagle putt at the par-5 seventh.

“We are more than pleased,” said Toni Matti, who is serving as Switzerland’s captain for a sixth time. “Golf is never ending. It’s always until the finish that you can make some birdies and some eagles.”

Poland counted a 2-under 69 from Adrian Meronk and a 1-under 70 from Mateuz Gradecki, positioning them in fourth at 9-under 277. Meronk, who was an All-America selection at East Tennessee State University in 2015-16, took advantage of the par 5s on the inward nine at Mayakoba. He had an easy up-and-down for birdie at No. 13 and made a 15-footer for another birdie at No. 15.

“I am kind of use to it because I was a leader in college as well,” said Meronk about his role as a playing captain. “It’s been always good for me, and I hope we finish strong.”

Scotland was one stroke behind at 8-under 278. The first-round leader struggled to a 2-over 144. Robert MacIntyre, the runner-up at this year’s Amateur Championship at Royal Porthcawl, had an even-par 71, while Grant Forrest added a 73. Forrest’s topsy-turvy round included a triple-bogey at Mayakoba’s par-4 first hole, his 10th hole, and a 60-foot eagle putt from the fringe at No. 5.

“It was one of those days where it couldn’t have gone much worse,” Forrest said. “It’s just what happens sometimes, and you have a tough time when the putts don’t go in.”

Austria and Ireland are tied for sixth at 7-under 279. Austria’s Markus Maukner and Michael Ludwig each carded 2-under 70s at Iberostar. Maukner improved from his first-round 80 by making five birdies against three bogeys. Jack Hume, of Ireland, fought back from a two-stroke penalty to post a 2-under 70, and teammate Paul McBride had a 73.

“There is good spirit in the team,” said Austrian captain Tobias Schmied. “You saw that today when a player who didn’t score too well yesterday improved his performance today for the good of the team.”

Spain, which was tied for third after the first round, had difficulties making the transition to the Mayakoba El Camaleon course. The team’s second-round score of 3-over 145 left them at 281 in a tie for 12th. Manuel Elvira, who is a junior at the University of Central Florida, shot a 71 and Ivan Cantero had a 74.

“This is a PGA Tour golf course,” said Elvira about a venue which will host the OHL Classic at Mayakoba in November. “It was a real tight golf course, and the greens are more difficult. It’s tougher to score on this course than the other one.”

Joshua Ho, of Singapore, produced the low round of the championship with a 7-under 65 at Iberostar. Ho, who was 11 strokes better than his first-day score, and Gregory Foo’s 70 helped improve their team’s standing 26 places and into a tie for 12th at 281.

A biennial competition, the World Amateur Team Championship has been played since 1958, with the winner taking home the Eisenhower Trophy. The United States won the 2014 title in Karuizawa, Japan, by two strokes over the Canadian contingent of Corey Conners (Listowel, Ont.), Taylor Pendrith (Richmond Hill, Ont.) and Adam Svensson (Surrey, B.C.).

In 28 appearances at the World Amateur Team Championship, Canada has captured the Eisenhower Trophy on one occasion (1986) and earned runner-up honours five times.

Click here for full scoring.

RIVIERA MAYA, Mexico –  The Canadian contingent of Jared du Toit, Hugo Bernard and Garrett Rank struggled out of the gate in the 30^th World Amateur Team Championship, posting a collective score of even-par (144) to hold a share of 27^th after the first round.

The trio was led by 21-year-old Jared du Toit of Kimberley, B.C., who carded a 71 (-1) on the Iberostar Playa Paraiso course—one of two courses in rotation this week. Individually, the Arizona State senior sits T34, five off the pace.

Team Canada’s second-counting score of the day was registered by Hugo Bernard of Mont-St-Hilaire, Que. The 21-year-old reigning Canadian Amateur champion scored a 1-over 73 to find himself in a tie for 77^th through 18 holes of play. 29-year-old Garrett Rank of Elmira, Ont., recorded a non-counting 74 (+2), fighting back after slipping with a double and triple bogey in his first five holes.

Connor Syme shot a 6-under 66 to help Scotland take a one-stroke lead over Australia after the first round of the World Amateur Team Championship.

Walker Cup player Grant Forrest added a 68 at Iberostar Playa Paraiso to give Scotland a 10-under 134 total, with only the best two scores counting for the three-man teams. Robert MacIntyre had a 69.

The 20-year-old Syme topped the individual standings along with Poland’s Adrian Meronk. A rangekeeper at Drumoig Golf Centre in St. Andrews, Syme won the 2016 Australian Amateur.

Cameron Davis led Australia with a 67, Harrison Endycott had a 68, and U.S. Amateur champion Curtis Luck shot 69, also opening at Iberostar Playa Paraiso in the rotation with Mayakoba El Camaleon.

Spain was third 8-under at Iberostar Playa Paraiso. Mario Galiano shot 67, Manuel Elvira 69, and Ivan Cantero 71.

The two-time defending champion United States was tied for seventh at 5 under. Oklahoma’s Brad Dalke opened with a 67 at Mayakoba El Camaleon, Stanford’s Maverick McNealy had a 70, and Texas’ Scottie Scheffler a 73.

A biennial competition, the World Amateur Team Championship has been played since 1958, with the winner taking home the Eisenhower Trophy. The United States won the 2014 title in Karuizawa, Japan, by two strokes over the Canadian contingent of Corey Conners (Listowel, Ont.), Taylor Pendrith (Richmond Hill, Ont.) and Adam Svensson (Surrey, B.C.).

In 28 appearances at the World Amateur Team Championship, Canada has captured the Eisenhower Trophy on one occasion (1986) and earned runner-up honours five times.

Click here for full scoring.

WELLESLEY, Mass. – Judith Kyrinis, 52, of Thornhill, Ont., will be playing in the first match Wednesday at the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur – one of 13 national championships conducted annually by the United States Golf Association.

Kyrinis, who was medalist during qualifying, outlasted 54-year-old Robin Burke of Houston, in 20 holes before having an easier time in the Round of 16 Tuesday, with a 4-and-3 win against Evelyn Orley, 50, of Cardiff, Calif.

Kyrinis advanced despite an inflamed right elbow, which she said wasn’t a factor.

“It bothered me my first match more than anything,” she said. “This morning was not my best ball-striking, but I was better this afternoon, so that’s good to see.”

The quarterfinals will begin at 8 a.m. EDT on Wednesday; the first semifinal match is scheduled to start at 12:45 p.m.

Kyrinis is the last Canadian standing. Three Canadians fell in the Round of 32.

The competition consists of 36 holes stroke play followed by six rounds of match play, with the 18-hole championship match scheduled to take place Thursday, Sept. 22.

Canada’s best are gearing up to take on the world’s top talent on Wednesday when competition begins for the Men’s World Amateur Team Championship at the Mayakoba El Cameleón Golf Club and Iberostar Playa Paraiso Golf Club in Riviera Maya, Mexico.

The Canadian trio will be led by Kimberley, B.C., product Jared du Toit, who currently stands as Canada’s top-ranked male on the World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR) at No. 26. He’ll be accompanied by Team Canada Amateur Squad teammate and reigning Canadian Amateur champion, Hugo Bernard of Mont-St-Hilaire, Que.

Rounding out the squad is 29-year-old Garrett Rank of Elmira Ont., who will be riding on the strength of his recent third-straight victory at the Canadian Mid-Amateur Championship.

Canada is paired with Japan and Spain for the opening rounds, with Bernard drawing the tournaments opening tee-slot at 7:15 am EST. Rank will follow at 7:25 am EST, while du Toit will go at 7:35 am EST.

The squad will be under the direction of Team Canada Men’s Head Coach, Derek Ingram, alongside non-playing team captain Doug Roxburgh.

A biennial competition, the World Amateur Team Championship has been played since 1958, with the winner taking home the Eisenhower Trophy. The United States won the 2014 title in Karuizawa, Japan, by two strokes over the Canadian contingent of Corey Conners (Listowel, Ont.), Taylor Pendrith (Richmond Hill, Ont.) and Adam Svensson (Surrey, B.C.).

In 28 appearances at the World Amateur Team Championship, Canada has captured the Eisenhower Trophy on one occasion (1986) and earned runner-up honours five times. In 25 appearances at the Women’s World Amateur Team Championship, Canada has earned runner-up honours four times.

Click here for pairings.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Team Canada’s Grace St-Germain made an immediate impact in her first collegiate event on Sunday, finishing T2 at the Lady Falcon Invitational at her new home base (and campus).

St-Germain, 18, posted a 1-over 145 (72-73) in the 36-hole event, to help lift the Falcons to a convincing 14-stroke victory over runner-up Florida Tech. The event marks the first collegiate tournament for the Daytona State freshman, who has spent the last two years as a member of Team Canada’s Development Squad. She finished three strokes behind teammate Jiwon Jeon of South Korea, who closed at 2-under par (72-70).

With the strong finish, the Ottawa native shows no signs of slowing down after an impressive summer campaign which featured a win at the Ontario Women’s Amateur and a runner-up at the Quebec Women’s Amateur. St-Germain will tee-it-up next with the Falcons from Sept. 23-25 at the Lady Paladin Invitational.

The Falcons are listed as a Div I school under the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA)—an association dedicated to America’s two-year collegiate programs.

Click here for full scoring.

Wearing a violet shirt and a white cap under a blue-gray sky, Judith Kyrinis, of Canada, needed to make a 4-foot putt on Wellesley Country Club’s 18th green on Sunday to post a red number.

She missed, but the 52-year-old Kyrinis still earned medalist honors in the 55th U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Championship with her second consecutive round of even-par 74 on the 6,049-yard Wellesley (Mass.) Country Club layout.

Kyrinis led by two strokes after the first round; her 36-her total of 148 was five strokes better than Kim Eaton and two-time champion Ellen Port.

“We all joke that you should four- or five-putt on the final green if you’re going to be the medalist,” said Kyrinis, the runner-up in the 2014 championship. “But I’m OK with it. It means I played well.”

Her joke was a reference to the difficulty that medalists have in going on to win the championship. The last medalist to win was Carol Semple Thompson in 2002.

Her challengers didn’t have such worries; they were more concerned with moving up the leaderboard and qualifying for match play. Eaton, 57, of Mesa, Ariz., had just one birdie in her first 30 holes.

“I just have a hard time making birdies on this golf course,” she said.

Eaton overcame that problem on the 446-yard, par-5 13th by making a 40-foot eagle putt from short of the green. She still may have had just one birdie, but she also owned the lowest round of the championship, a 2-under 72.

One of 13 national championships conducted annually by the United States Golf Association, 10 of which are strictly for amateurs, the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Championship consists of 36 holes stroke play followed by six rounds of match play, with the 18-hole championship match scheduled to take place on Thursday, Sept. 22.

The Round of 64 will begin at 8:30 a.m. EDT on Monday.

The final four spots were determined by a six-woman playoff. Jen Holland, 53, of Branford, Conn., clinched the final spot by making an 18-inch putt in the gloaming at 7:04 p.m. EDT, well after the sun had set at 6:48.

“That was the longest foot-and-a-half putt I have made in my life,” said Holland as she received congratulatory hugs from fellow competitors.

Other players who had finished earlier had to wait longer to see whether they would be playing on Monday.

On the 18th hole, defending champion Karen Garcia, 53, of Cool, Calif., made a 6-footer for bogey that she approached as if it were a putt to win the championship.

“It might make the difference between me making the cut and not,” said Garcia immediately after shooting 84 for a two-round total of 163. “I was leaking on the way in.”

After posting 91 in the first round, her worst competitive score in 41 years,  Martha Leach, 54, of Hebron, Ky., came back to shoot 75. Thanks to her 16-stroke improvement, her 91 was the second-highest score by any player qualifying for match play in championship history. (Sally Tomlinson shot 92 in qualifying for match play 10 years ago.)

Pam Kuong, 55, of Wellesley Hills, Mass., also went lower in the second round, albeit not as dramatically as Leach. Playing in front of a hometown gallery, Kuong had difficulty judging the speed of her putts until her last five holes. She made birdies on four of them to shoot 78, six strokes better than her first round.

“There were neighbors, friends from work, clients of mine, fellow Charles River Country Club members, a bunch of other competitors from [Massachusetts Golf Association] events,” said Kuong, last year’s runner-up. “I went through a stretch where I had four-putts and three-putts, I was like, well, since my friends are still following me, I can’t give up.”

When Garcia, Leach and Kuong finished their rounds around lunchtime, they all thought their scores – 15-over 163 for Garcia, 18-over 166 for Leach, 14-over 162 for Kuong – would place them near the cutline.

They had different plans for Sunday afternoon. Garcia would practice her putting, Leach would watch football and Kuong was hosting a barbecue at her house for some of her fellow championship competitors. But all would have an activity in common.

“We’re all going to be following the scores on the computer,” said Kuong.

The leader board brightened for them as the afternoon progressed. When Kuong had finished at 12:20 p.m., she was tied for 62nd place. By the time play finished, she had moved into a tie for 30th.

Notable players qualifying for match play include 2009 champion Sherry Herman, 2010 champion Mina Hardin, 2004 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion Corey Weworkski, 2005 Mid-Amateur champion Mary Ann Hayward and 2016 USA Curtis Cup captain Robin Burke.

USGA champions Anna Schultz (2007 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur), Diane Lang (2005, ’06 and ‘08 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur) and Robin Donnelly (1989 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur) failed to qualify.

Judith Kyrinis, of Canada, already owns a triple crown of national championships this year. She is going for the grand slam at the 2016 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur.

The winner of the 2016 Canadian Women’s Mid-Amateur, Mid-Master and Senior championships, as well as the runner-up in the 2014 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur, Kyrinis, 52, shot even-par 74 on Saturday, which gave her a two-shot lead after the first round of stroke-play qualifying at the 6,049-yard Wellesley (Mass.) Country Club.

Marilyn Hardy, 54, of Houston shot 76 and five players, including Laura Coble, 52, of Augusta, Ga.; Lynn Cowan, 53, of Rocklin, Calif.; and Lisa McGill, 57, of Philadelphia, are three strokes behind Kyrinis.

“I left a couple right on the lip today,” said Kyrinis, who made three birdies but had additional opportunities, including on her final hole of the day, the par-5 ninth, where she missed a 7-footer for birdie. “But it’s good to get it close to the hole around some of these pins.”

Featuring sloped greens, several of which sit well above the fairway, Wellesley requires precise approach shots, which were difficult to control in the wind.

“It’s playing tough,” said Coble, who lost to Kyrinis in the Round of 32 of last year’s championship. “It’s fair, but the winds are kind of tricky and the greens are pretty sporty. You just have to place your ball in the right area to not have to play defensively.”

One of 13 national championships conducted annually by the United States Golf Association, 10 of which are strictly for amateurs, the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Championship consists of 36 holes stroke play followed by six rounds of match play, with the 18-hole championship match scheduled to take place on Thursday, Sept. 22.

The championship match falls on the first day of autumn, and Kyrinis would like to welcome the new season with a continuation of her extremely successful summer. The nurse from Thornhill, Ontario, won her second consecutive Senior Women’s North & South Amateur at Pinehurst (N.C.) Country Club in mid-August. Less than two weeks later, she won her three of her country’s national championships, which were held concurrently at Wolf Creek Golf Resort in Alberta.

“Those were significant wins,” said Kyrinis. “So I was coming here with a lot of confidence.”

Those victories took place in stroke-play events. But as her Round-of-64 loss to Susan Wooster – despite besting her in stroke-play qualifying by six strokes – in last week’s U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur at The Kahkwa Club demonstrated, a match-play championship requires a different path to victory.

While earning medalist honors is notable, it is rarely a prerequisite for victory. The last stroke-play medalist to win this championship was Carol Semple Thompson, in 2002. For the field, the goal on Sunday is to find a way into the top 64 and a spot in the match-play bracket.

“What’s the saying – ‘You don’t have to play great, you just have to play well enough,” said Sue Cohn, 53, of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., the runner-up in 2013. “You just have to be patient.”

Cohn weathered a start in which she made bogeys on four of her first eight holes, rebounding to make birdies on the 10th and 12th holes to shoot 3-over 77.

Other notable competitors who placed themselves in position to advance to match play include two-time champion Ellen Port, 54, of St. Louis, who shot 4-over 78; defending champion Karen Garcia, 53, of Cool, Calif., who shot 79; and 2010 champion Mina Hardin, 56, of Mexico, who shot 80.

Hometown favorite Pam Kuong, 55, of Wellesley Hills, Mass., attracted the largest crowds during her round of 10-over 84. No doubt, they will return on Sunday to cheer on last year’s finalist as Kuong continues her attempt to qualify for match play in the second round of stroke play, which is scheduled to begin at 7:30 a.m. EDT.