These recent college grads waited to turn pro. The U.S. Women's Amateur is one reason why

07/08/2024 13:00

TULSA, Okla. — Anna Morgan had an opportunity to turn professional in December.

The then-fifth year senior at Furman was the most accomplished golfer in school history and arguably the best in the history of the Southern Conference. She had nothing more to prove at the collegiate level, though she felt as if her business wasn’t finished as an amateur.

She wanted to make her second Arnold Palmer Cup team. She wanted a shot to win the U.S. Women’s Amateur. She wanted to earn a spot on the Curtis Cup team at Sunningdale next month.

Morgan checked the first box, and the next two are to be determined.

U.S. Women’s Amateur: Photos

Morgan is one of numerous recent college grads in the field this week at the 2024 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Southern Hills Country Club. Instead of turning pro after her college career wrapped up in the spring, she remained an amateur to get one last shot at amateur glory. Morgan was on the winning American Palmer Cup team in Ireland, and now she’s on to match play at the U.S. Women’s Amateur, where a win would guarantee her a spot on the Curtis Cup team for the first time.

“It was the driving reason, honestly,” Morgan said of her decision to put turning pro on hold. “Just the potential of the Curtis Cup, whether I get that opportunity or not, and this week to prepare myself against some of the best was pretty much the main reason I wanted to stay amateur.”

Morgan made match play as the 25th seed and will face No. 40 Anna Fang at 10 a.m. ET Wednesday in the Round of 64.

She’s far from the only recent college graduate taking on Southern Hills this week hoping for a chance to make the Curtis Cup team. So is defending U.S. Women’s Amateur champion Megan Schofill, who will be the No. 14 seed in match play.

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Another is British Women’s Amateur winner Melanie Green, who planned to turn professional after the Palmer Cup in Ireland, but her plans changed when she won the biggest title of her career.

“I wasn’t even in the Palmer Cup, and then I won the British,” said Green, who finished her career at South Florida this spring. “I got exempt into some things, and I said I can’t quite pass these opportunities up.”

For Rachel Kuehn and Latanna Stone, playing in the Curtis Cup is something they’ve done before and want to do one last time.

Kuehn had the clinching point in the 2022 Curtis Cup at Merion, and the next spring she went on to win the team national title with Wake Forest as a senior. She returned for her fifth year, and now, she’s relishing one final run in the U.S. Women’s Amateur, an event she won medalist honors at in 2022.

“I’m definitely very excited turn pro and I can’t wait to get there, but at the same time, I’m focused on this week more than anything,  Kuehn said. “Hopefully I play well enough this week to get a spot in London.”

Kuehn spent nearly a month in Europe earlier this summer playing the British Women’s Amateur, Palmer Cup and the Amundi Evian Championship, an LPGA major, before coming back to the United States.

For Stone, who finished runner-up in the U.S. Women’s Amateur last summer to Schofill, she didn’t see any cons in waiting to turn pro.

“I think this is good prep still,” Stone said of her summer amateur schedule, which included the Palmer Cup. “There are still a lot of great players out here, and most of them are doing the same thing I’m doing.”

The Curtis Cup (think Solheim Cup for amateurs) is set for Aug. 30-Sept. 1 at Sunningdale in England. The U.S. team has won the past three events. Three players, Zoe Campos, Jasmine Koo and Catherine Park have earned their spot on the team, with five more spots up for grabs.

The winner of the U.S. Women's Amateur, if American, will earn a spot on the team. That means there could potentially be only four spots up for grabs for the likes of Kuehn, Stone, Green and Morgan, on top of numerous young players who are highly ranked in the World Amateur Golf Ranking.

That’s why one last summer as an amateur was so important, and living on Tulsa time is the first step in punching a ticket across the pond later this month.

“You only get amateur golf once,” Morgan said. “Professional is always going to be there, in my mind. Just to have the opportunity for some of these last amateur events that I probably won’t have another opportunity for, I didn’t want to look back and regret anything.”