The Colombian golfer Maria Jose Marinat just 17 years old, gave another great display of character on Friday to come back from a match play duel that she was losing with two holes to go and moved into the top four of the US Women’s Amateur, one of the majors of amateur golf.
According to the criteria of
Marín qualified for the semifinals of the tournament on Friday, defeating American Anna Davis on the third playoff hole and will now seek a place in the final on Saturday, starting at 7:30 in the morning, Colombian time, against the also American Asterisk Talley, fifth seed.
It is worth remembering that the Colombian was the number one in the draw and medalist of the tournament by finishing first in the two rounds of the medal play format, of which the best 64 enter the direct elimination draw.
Now, Marín is looking to become the third Colombian to reach the final and then the second to win the tournament. In 1996, María Isabel Baena played the last match of the tournament and lost to American Kelli Kuehne, 2/1.
In 2007, María José Uribe became the only Latin American to win the title, defeating local Amanda Blumenherst. Uribe will fight for a medal this Saturday in the final round of women’s golf at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Marín, born in Guanajuato (Mexico), but the daughter of Colombian parents and resident in Cali since the age of 3, once again came back from a duel to qualify, as she had done in the round of 16, against the American Maisie Fischer, whom she beat by 1up after being three holes down at the halfway point and two down at the 15th. She won on the 16th, 17th and 18th.
This was the duel in which María José Marín reached the semi-finals
Now, in the quarter-finals, he had a very close duel with Davis, in which he only managed to get the advantage on the decisive hole, the 21st, the third of the play-off. He started off losing on the 1st, equalled on the 5th with a birdie, and then came an incredible head-to-head: he lost the 7th hole, won the 8th, went back to being one down on the 9th and equalled on the 10th.
A bogey by the Colombian on the 15th gave Davis the lead again, but Marín managed to save par on the 18th, where her rival made a double bogey, thus forcing extra holes.
The forces were even on the first two playoff holes, and on the third, a double bogey by Davis decided the duel in favor of Marin, a sophomore at the University of Arkansas.
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