Song Edged in Singles in Spain

By Steve Galluzzo | Sports Editor

Through the first four holes of her singles match Tuesday, September 19, in the PING Junior Solheim Cup at La Zagaleta Golf Club in Spain, Anna Song was locked in and on her way to earning a much-needed point for the United States.

One of three captain’s picks selected by Team USA pilot Amy Alcott, the Palisades Charter High School junior and reigning LA City Section individual champion desperately sought to contribute after failing to win her foursome and four-ball matches September 18 with her respective playing partners Kathryn Ha of Virginia and Megan Meng of New Jersey.

Song birdied the third hole and eagled the fourth to go 2 up on Denisa Vodickova of the Czech Republic. As can happen over the course of an 18-hole round, however, fortune swung and the European birdied No. 5 and No. 6, and then suddenly it was all square.

Song eagled the seventh to regain the lead, but Vodickova birdied the eighth. Both parred the ninth but a bogey at 10 found Song trailing for the first time.

A bogey at 15 following Vodickova’s birdie at 14 dropped the American three holes behind, and despite a birdie of her own at 16, she lost 2 and 1, and finished winless in the two-day event pitting the best juniors from Europe and the USA from 12 to 18 years old.

Europe carried an 8.5 to 3.5 lead into Tuesday’s singles action consisting of 12 matches, each worth one point.

The Americans won five and halved another but ultimately lost 15-9, ending their hopes of winning for the third straight time on foreign soil, having captured the cup in 2015 in Germany and 2019 in Scotland.

Team Europe won the 2021 edition at Sylvania Country Club in Toledo, Ohio. The USA still leads the series, which began in 2002, by a count of 7-4-1.

Song is currently ranked 19th by American Junior Golf Association and placed eighth with a three-day total of 227 at the Dustin Johnson World Junior at Myrtle Beach in March, two weeks after winning the Fortinet Girls Invitational at Stanford on February 17.

Another captain’s pick, Cerritos High senior Jasmine Koo earned two and a half off a possible three points for Alcott’s squad. The USC commit teamed with Yana Wilson of Nevada to square Europe’s Nora Sundberg and Anna Canado in Monday morning’s foursomes, then paired with Anna Davis of Spring Valley to prevail 3 and 2 over Sundberg and Meja Ortengren in the four-ball afternoon session. On Tuesday, Koo beat Spaniard Andrea Revuelta 2-Up in singles.

Santa Margarita Catholic High’s Leigh Chien, a Stanford commit, lost both her foursome and four-ball matches Monday but rebounded to take her singles match 3 and 2 Tuesday against Sweden’s Josefin Widal.

Freshman Asterisk Talley of Chowchilla High near Merced earned half a point by virtue of her draw with Spanish Amateur champion Rocio Tejedo while Ha and Ryleigh Knaub of Florida also notched singles victories Tuesday.

Song fired a record six-under par 67 in the City Finals at Balboa last fall and carded a one-under 36 over nine holes at Woodley Lakes to lead Palisades to victory over West Valley League rival Granada Hills on September 6.