There will be a new victor at the U.S. Girls Junior this year.
Defending champ Erica Shepherd’s late rally wasn’t enough to turn the tide, and the Center Grove senior was upended by 26th-seeded Valery Plata of Colombia, 3 and 2, during the second round of match play on Thursday afternoon at Poppy Hills Golf Course in Pebble Beach, California.
The seventh-seeded Shepherd fell behind early when Plata birdied the first hole and then found herself facing an almost insurmountable deficit when she lost four straight holes midway through the round (8 through 11).Â
Down five with seven holes remaining, Shepherd surged back to win three holes in a row herself on 12, 13 and 14, but Plata parred the 15th to go back up by three holes and then squared the 16th to clinch.
Ahead by one when her first-round match against No. 58 seed Elizabeth Caldarelli was suspended after six holes Wednesday, Shepherd finished the job with ease earlier on Thursday, winning the 11th and 12th holes and then taking the 15th to close out the match, 4 and 3.
She then had plenty of time to wait while Plata battled her way past Phoebe Brinker, winning the final two holes to pull out a 2-up victory.
Shepherd will be back in action next week at the AJGA Wyndham Cup in Plymouth, Massachusetts. She will find out later this weekend whether she has compiled enough points to clinch a spot on the United States’ Junior Ryder Cup team, which will compete against the European squad in Paris this September.
