Saso dream run ends in semis

Fifth-ranked Jillian Bourdage came through with a clutch putt and a superb rescue shot in the stretch that keyed a 2-up victory over top seed Yuka Saso of the Philippines in the US Girls’ Junior match play championship on Friday (Saturday in Manila) at SentryWorld in Stevens Point, Wisconsin.

Bourdage blew a 2-up lead with five holes left as Saso came roaring back, but the American from Florida banged in a 16-foot birdie putt on No. 16 to regain the lead she never lost again.

The win shoved Bourdage to a title match with China’s Lei Ye, the No. 7 seed who birdied her first three holes and never gave Nicole Whiston a chance for a 3&2 win in the other semifinal.

Whiston threatened one last time with a birdie on No. 15 but flubbed a birdie putt from close range on the 16th, enabling Ye to run away with the win.

Bourdage hit a solid 4-hybrid approach shot from 174 yards on the last hole to within six feet and clinched the 2-up victory as Saso conceded the match after muffing her birdie bid from just about the same distance.

“That one felt really good,” Bourdage said of her putt on the 17th. “I just had to trust myself.”

With the match square and after both parred the par-3 16th, Saso failed to match Bourdage’s spectacular approach shot on the 17th, her iron shot landing some 20 feet left of the cup.

She came up short in her birdie try and Bourdage took the cue and knocked in that lead-grabbing putt.

That ended Saso’s pursuit of the crown that most thought would be hers following her dominating performance in the stroke-play eliminations and an equally impressive showing in the first three stages of the knockout phase.