Watertown, Connecticut (July 10, 2024) – It turned into a grind but in the end, Yvette O’Brien (Greenwich CC) held on to win the 3rd Connecticut Girls’ Junior Amateur hosted by Watertown Golf Club.
“It feels great to win in Connecticut, and sleep in my own bed,” said Yvette O’Brien who spends part of the year in Boca Raton, Florida and attends Grandview Preparatory School. “I have all my friends here that I’ve played with from my U.S. Kids days, so it’s just a really great feeling.”
O’Brien began the final round at 4 under and led by as many as five shots and still led by four with three holes remaining but one hole nearly flipped the result.
Sitting at level par and four shots ahead of Juyeon Paek (YOC Connecticut) as the final group reached the par-5 16th it looked as if despite some struggles O’Brien was going to cruise to the title. However, Paek had other ideas.
Both players hit good drives and had green light yardages to attack the pin. Slightly away Paek, playing from 183 yards out, went pin-seeking with her second shot and hit a remarkable shot that rolled to within five feet of the pin.
Looking to respond O’Brien found the green but was facing a tricky 40-footer from well above the hole. Showing respect for the speed of green O’Brien’s eagle putt came up short, her birdie try rolled well by, and when her par putt burned the edge and she tapped in for bogey the door that had been slammed shut on the rest of the field since an opening 6 under 65 had suddenly been left ajar.
With an opportunity to kick open the door, Paek did just that rolling in her five-foot eagle try to in a blink pull within one shot.
Now for the first time all week, the outcome seemed to be in doubt. However, O’Brien had all the answers. Despite a pulled drive into the left rough on the par-4 17th, she was able to secure a par, and then on the closing par-4 18th she bombed her drive and then flipped a wedge to 15 feet. After Paek missed a long birdie try all O’Brien needed to do was two-putt to secure her second Connecticut Girls’ Junior Amateur title and she did just that.
After her round, O’Brien talked about how she regained her focus after her lead was trimmed to one shot. “I just knew I had to get the job done. Obviously, it’s golf, so you’re going to have good holes and bad holes, I’ve been down before, and I know that I could finish birdie-birdie, so I just had to keep looking forward to the next shot and not get too down on myself, even when it was tough.”
In the end, O’Brien shot rounds of 65-73-76 to finish 1 over and one shot better than Paek (+2). Her first round 6 under 65 was highlighted by a hole-in-one on the par-3 15th.
“I was just trying to take it one shot at a time,” O’Brien, a TCU commit said. “I had a rough front nine, but I just tried to keep my head on straight. The wind did pick up later in the day and I had a little more trouble, but ultimately I got the win, so it feels great.”
O’Brien did get off to a shaky start but birdies on Nos. 5 and 12 helped her right the ship and maintain her advantage. Another key to her success was keeping big numbers off her scorecard as for the week O’Brien never recorded worse than bogey.
O’Brien’s ability to limit the big numbers on her scorecard speaks to the growth of her game in the two years since she first won the Connecticut Girls’ Junior Amateur in 2022. “The first year I played,” O’Brien said. “It was at two different courses, but I shot 77-76 and I remember someone asked me, ‘how do you win with a 77-76?’ And I was like, I don’t know. I didn’t have an answer, but my score this year just shows you the progress that I’ve made throughout the years and how much I’ve been practicing, just trying my best to get better, and giving it 110%. It feels great to see progress. ”
The top five was rounded out by Arabella Lopez (Redding CC) at 16 over in third place while defending champion Annie Dai (Fairview Farm) and Laniah Moffett (EClub of Connecticut) shared fourth at 17 over.
About the Connecticut State Golf Association
The Connecticut Girls’ Junior Amateur is one of 20 championships conducted by the Connecticut State Golf Association. The CSGA functions as an extension of the USGA and provides stewardship for amateur golf in Connecticut. Founded in 1899, it is the country’s oldest state golf association and conducts over 60 Championships, Qualifiers, and One Day Tournaments throughout the year.
