Booth Sets Record at U.S. Amateur

Kellee Booth has a special desire to win the U.S. Women’s Amateur title. After all, it’s just about the only amateur championship her mother never won.

“I definitely have a big goal in mind this week,” Booth said. “I want to do this week what my mother couldn’t.”

Booth shot a six-under-par 66 Wednesday at Barton Hills Country Club in Ann Arbor, Mich., shattering all stroke play qualifying records to run away with medalist honors.

Booth’s mother, Jane Bastanchury Booth, was on three Curtis Cup teams in the early 1970s but never won a United States Golf Assn. title.

Booth, 22, from Coto de Caza, completed 36 holes of stroke play at six-under 138, two strokes better than Pearl Sinn’s record set in 1988. The 66 was two strokes better than the mark shared by four players and also broke the day-old course record of 70.

“I’m really excited,” Booth said. “I hit the ball great and I was hitting it right near the flag all day.”

All seven of Booth’s teammates from last month’s victorious U.S. Curtis Cup team qualified for the 64-player field which begins match play today on the 6,277-yard, par-72 Barton Hills Country Club course.

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Fountain Valley’s Candie Kung took the lead after the second round Wednesday at the Annual Independent Insurance Agent Junior Classic at Oak Tree Country Club in Edmond, Okla.

Kung shot a three-over 73 on the 5,835-yard course and leads first-round leader Brittany Straza of Fort Myers, Fla., by two shots.

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Corona del Mar’s Nadia Vaughan upset 20th-ranked Kavitha Tipirneni of Galloway, Ohio, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, in a backdraw match at the USTA girls’ 16s National Championships at the Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego.

Vaughan fell into the backdraw Tuesday after losing to second-ranked Kelly McCain of Largo, Fla., 6-1, 6-1. Vaughan will play another ranked player, No. 9 Danielle Schwartz of Livingston, N.J., in another backdraw match this morning at 9 a.m.

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Makai Makena of Costa Mesa, Wyatt Simmons of Huntington Beach and Evan Slater of San Clemente won their heats Wednesday during the first day of the Kaitin Team Challenge on the south side of the Huntington Beach Pier.

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Mission Viejo’s Erica Sorgi finished a point ahead of Goodwill Games platform gold medalist Laura Wilkinson of Spring, Texas, to take the lead after the three-meter springboard preliminary round Wednesday at the U.S. National Summer Diving Championships in Atlanta.

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John Ross-Duggan of Newport Beach and crew Corky Aucreman (Newport Beach) and Waldo Esparza (Tampa, Fla.) won the The Hartford 1998 World Disabled Sailing Championship Wednesday in Newport, R.I.

Duggan’s team needed to finish ninth or better in the last of seven races to win the championship over 17 teams from 15 countries. Duggan’s team finished just seconds ahead of an Irish team for ninth.

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The Associated Press contributed to this story.