Mary Janiga of Wellington, Alexa Rivas of Miami, Jamie Freedman of Miami Beach and Ramya Meenakshisundaram of Jacksonville qualified for their first U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship on Thursday, July 13 at the Quail Ridge Country Club.
The quartet shot 1-under 71s on Quail Ridge’s South Course to earn spots in the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship to be held Aug. 7-13 at the San Diego Country Club in Chula Vista, Calif.
It appeared there would be a five-for-four playoff until Taylor Roberts of Parkland was disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard. The 15-year-old Roberts qualified for the U.S. Girls Junior Championship last week. She signed for a birdie at the 11th when she made a par.
“It’s a lesson learned,” Roberts said. “I normally go through [the scorecard] twice. I went through it too fast. I’m not the only person that has happened to.”
This was the fourth USGA event Janiga has qualified for — two Women’s Four-Ball and a Girls Junior, where she advanced to the Round of 16.
Janiga, who plays on the Mercer team, is familiar with Quail Ridge having played there frequently during her high school days at American Heritage in Delray Beach.
“This means a lot,” Janiga said. “I had [right] knee surgery last year, and I’ve spent a lot of time trying to recover from that.”
Meenakshisundaram, a senior at Atlantic Coast High School, also qualified for the Girls Junior this year.
“It’s huge,” she said. “This is probably the highest level of competition I have ever played in. Just to make it in the tournament is a huge honor.”
Freedman is a member of the Nova Southeastern golf team. Rivas is a senior at Palmetto High School.
