GOLF / U.S. WOMEN’S AMATEUR : Voorhees’ Putt on 16 Sinks Sparks

The first match of the 93rd U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship on Wednesday at San Diego Country Club was supposed to pit the best player in the tournament against the worst.

Although Stephanie Sparks, a junior from Duke, was the last qualifier on the third playoff hole just before dark Tuesday, she proved a worthwhile opponent for medalist Heidi Voorhees.

Voorhees, a USC senior, needed to birdie Nos. 16 and 17 for a 2-and-1 victory.

There were only two sub-par rounds among the 294 played in the 36 holes of medal play, but familiarity apparently made the 6,263-yard course with rolling fairways a bit easier.

Voorhees was two under par, but the hot golfer was Sarah Ingram, a graduate of Duke.

Ingram had six consecutive birdies to beat 1973 amateur champion Carol Semple Thompson, 6 and 5. Ingram bogeyed the first hole and started her spree on the seventh. The sixth birdie put her 6 up, and she finished the rout with a par on No. 13.

“Once I made three birdies in a row, but I never had anything like this,” the 27-year-old Nashville housewife said. “I was hitting my irons brilliantly. Carol and I have played six or seven times, and she brings out the best in me. I just have to think I’m playing Carol all the time.”

Three-time champion Anne Sander, 55, of Santa Barbara squeaked through the first round with a 2-and-1 victory over Debbie Doniger, 23, of Connecticut. Sander last won in 1963.

Debbi Koyama, one of the favorites, rallied from 1 down at the turn to beat Tamara Dougan of British Columbia, 3 and 2.

Voorhees was 3 up on Sparks after seven holes, but Sparks made some brilliant recoveries to stay in the hunt. When she dropped a 15-foot birdie putt on the 13th hole and Voorhees missed a four-foot putt for a bogey on the 14th, it was suddenly a tight match.

“I thought I had a good chance to win,” Sparks said. “Then, on the par-five 16th, I thought I had caught her.”

Sparks had a seven-foot uphill putt for birdie, Voorhees a 15-foot curving downhill putt, also for birdie. Voorhees sank hers, but Sparks, obviously shaken, missed.

“That was the first putt I had all day that I felt I knew where it was going,” Voorhees said. “These greens are difficult if you are in the wrong position. I seemed to be in the wrong place all day.

“I knew it was going to be a hard battle. After all, Stephanie is a two-time All-American.

“It was a bit more than you would expect from a first match. But I’m still hitting the ball well, and that’s all I can ask.”

In the second round this morning, Voorhees will play Carri Wood of Mississippi State, who eliminated Victoria Boysen of Ft. Worth, 3 and 2. The winner will play again in the afternoon.

It wasn’t a perfect day for USC players. Although Jill McGill defeated Page Oeser of Phoenix, 6 and 5, Jennifer Biehn shot a 41 on the front nine and lost to Delphine Bourson of France, 3 and 2. McGill overcame putting problems to win.

Another impressive winner was Pernille Pedersen of Denmark, who was one under par after 13 holes in beating Sarah Jones of Sarasota, Fla., 6 and 5.

Local favorite Leta Lindley of Carlsbad was one under par through nine holes as she built a 4-up lead over long-hitting Caroline Peek, a Furman junior, then won, 5 and 3.

“I’ve been watching people outhit me since I was 10,” said Lindley, a senior at Arizona. “It’s a real confidence builder to get out early and win big in your first match.”