Morgan Pressel won’t be the only Boca Raton resident taking her swings at storied Oakmont, Pa., Country Club tomorrow during the first round of the U.S. Women’s Open.
Boca will also be represented by Jaye Marie Green, one of nearly 30 amateurs to earn their way into the field. Green, only 16, qualified for the Open in May with rounds of 72 and 73 (1-over par) at the sectional qualifier in Ormond Beach. After realizing she had made the Open field, the Florida Virtual School attendee was beside herself.
“I’m so excited I feel like I could run 10 miles,” Green said at the time.
Her breakthrough shouldn’t have come as a surprise. Green has been tearing it up on the junior circuit for the past two years. She won a Florida Junior Tour event at Inverrary Country Club in Lauderhill in November and notched five victories at South Florida PGA Junior events between 2008 and 2009. In four American Junior Golf Association events last year, she collected one victory and a pair of top-four finishes.
Green will tee off in the 12:30 p.m. group on Thursday and the 7 a.m. group on Friday, along with Esther Choe and fellow amateur Kelli Shean. Pressel, who played her first U.S. Women’s Open at age 13, is in the 7:33 a.m. group on Thursday and the 1:03 p.m. group on Friday, with Maria Hjorth Sweden and Candie Kung.
