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 “After the first round I just kind of sat on the putting green and looked at my ball and tried to convince myself that I was still a good putter,” said Joh, who was 2-down to incoming USC freshman Jennifer Song after 18 holes of the 36-hole championship at Erin Hills Golf Course in Erin, Wis. That motivational technique paid off, as Joh, a San Diego native, caught fire with her flatstick near the end of the final match last Saturday, June 21, and defeated Song 2 and 1 for her second Public Links title in three years. “I think back when I first won it, I didn’t really know what I was doing. I think I stumbled into it,” said Joh, who also won the 2006 crown at Walking Stick Golf Course in Pueblo, Colo. “I think winning this time around when I really wanted it, it was that much more meaningful.” Song, a Korea native and co-low amateur at last year’s U.S. Women’s Open, did not trail until the 33rd hole of the final. Joh went 1 up on the par-4 15th with a birdie from 15 feet, and Song couldn’t keep pace when she failed to convert a birdie from 12 feet. Song faltered on the very next hole, three-putting from 25 feet while Joh made par to go dormie. Joh sealed her victory over Song with a par on the 17th, the 35th hole of the match. She needed 31 holes when she won in 2006. The other four two-time winners of the Women’s Public Links are Kelly Fuiks (1977, ’78), Lori Castillo (’79, ’80), Pearl Sinn (’88, ’89) and Jo Jo Robertson (’95, ’97). Joh faced plenty of strong competition from Southern Californians during the match-play portion of this year’s championship at Erin Hills, which will host the 2011 U.S. Amateur and is rumored to be a potential site for a future U.S. Open. In the first round, she defeated Murrieta’s Wonjoo Choi 3 and 2, setting up a second-round showdown with UCLA teammate Sydnee Michaels, a Temecula resident. Joh won by the same 3 and 2 margin. After a closer 2 and 1 triumph over Jaye Marie Green in the third round, Joh was pitted against incoming Long Beach State freshman Lee Lopez in the quarterfinals. Lopez, of Whitter, lost 3 and 2. The next to fall was semifinalist Tiffany Lua, a Rowland Heights resident who will be a freshman at UCLA in 2009 – immediately after Joh completes her tenure with the Bruins. Joh soundly defeated Lua, an incoming senior at Los Altos High School, 4 and 3. After handling golfers with Southland ties in four of her first five matches, Joh faced another in the final. Song will join reigning NCAA champion and USC in the fall as one of the school’s most highly-touted recruits ever. “It’s really not something that concerns me at all,” Joh said of UCLA’s rivalry with the Trojans. “It was on my mind, but not like that.” For the latest on golf news in Southern California, check back daily to Southland Golf. |
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