We've already had one person from Western Kentucky win a USGA event this year, as Kenny Perry won the U.S. Senior Open a few weeks ago. Now we're hoping for another winner, as Emma Talley is competing in the U.S. Women's Amateur at the Country Club of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina.
This morning, Ms. Talley took on Tatiana Wijaya, a high schooler from Indonesia. This match was over almost as soon as it began. Talley won seven of the first nine holes, as she played the front nine in two-under par, while Ms. Wijaya went five over for the same stretch. Soon thereafter, Ms. Wijaya bogeyed the 11th hole to lose that hole -- and the match. At that point Ms. Talley was 8 up with 7 holes left, and she was onto the Sweet 16.
Ms. Talley's next match will start at 1 P.M. Central Time this afternoon. Her opponent will probably be Ally McDonald of Fulton, Mississippi, who is 3-up through 9 holes in her match against Maria Fassi of Mexico. Ms. McDonald plays for Mississippi State, and Ms. Talley plays for Alabama, so they are probably very familiar with each other. Eric will be interested to know that it's 275 miles from Itawamba Agricultural High School, where Ms. McDonald went to high school, to Ms. Talley's old stomping grounds at Caldwell County High School -- and you get to cross Tennessee on U.S. Highway 45, one of my favorite roads in the world.
Ms. McDonald just bogeyed the 11th hole, so she now leads Ms. Fassi by two holes with seven holes to play. This match is not over yet.
ReplyDeleteYEAH!!! YEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI can find very little information on Ms. Fassi, and the information I have found is all in Spanish.
ReplyDeleteHere was Emma Talley's tweet after her morning win:
ReplyDelete"Had a great round this morning! Playing for God!!! Excited for this afternoon! Proverbs 16:3"
YEAH!!!
ReplyDeleteIn my King James Bible, Proverbs 16:3 says,
ReplyDelete"Commit thy works to the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established."
This is a little clearer in the NIV:
"Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and He will establish your plans."
Matthew, can we add a Facebookish "like" option on the HP comments?
DeleteAlly McDonald birdies the 12th hole, and now leads by 3 holes with only six holes to go.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, the Taco John's in Princeton is top drawer!
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing – I mean literally nothing – I would rather do today than go to Princeton, get a bunch of tacos, go back to my parents' house, and watch the PGA all afternoon
DeleteAlly McDonald was still 3-up with four holes to go, but Ms. Fassi birdied the 15th hole to cut her lead to 2-up, and then birdied the 17th hole to cut her lead to only 1-up with one hole left.
ReplyDeleteEmma Talley's Twitter profile features Jeremiah 29:11.
ReplyDeleteIn the KJV, this verse reads:
"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end."
Here it is in the NIV:
"'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.'"
Those translations are pretty different, aren't they?
DeleteThey are different. Back in the 1970's, I once heard Foy Wallace, Jr. preach for almost 90 minutes on why Christians shouldn't use the NIV at all.
DeleteThe KJV is a word-for-word translation, which means that the translators just try to get as close as they can to the language of the original text. The NIV is a meaning-for-meaning translation, whereby the translators will tweak the language in order to get closer to what they believe is the intention of the original writer.
Wallace's point was that since the Bible is the inspired Word of God, we should stick as close to the original text as possible. On the other hand, defenders of the NIV would say that it is much easier for most folks to understand.
Personally, I use the KJV as much as possible -- that's what I grew up on, and it speaks to me like no other version. In that translation of Jeremiah 29:11, for example, I just love the phrase "thoughts of peace, and not of evil." That resonates for me in a way that terms like "prosper" and "harm" do not.
DeleteMeanwhile, Ally McDonald has double-bogeyed the last hole, and thereby lost her whole lead. She and Ms. Fassi are all square, and they are going to extra holes.
ReplyDeleteThe Marion desk of the Heath Post tells us that Ms. Talley was recently spotted practicing for the U.S. Amateur over at Paxton Park.
ReplyDeleteA scoop!
DeleteAlly McDonald is beaten. On the 1st extra hole, she made bogey and Ms. Fassi made par. After being down by 3 holes with only 4 holes to go, and being down 2 holes with only 2 holes to go, Ms. Fassi has come from behind to win the match in 19 holes.
ReplyDeleteWe are sad for Ms. McDonald, who is, after all, an SEC representative. But it just shows how difficult it is to reach the Sweet 16.
The match between Emma Talley and Maria Fassi will tee off at 1:30 Central Time. Given that we want Ms. Talley to win, we will not be live-blogging the match.
ReplyDeleteWell done, Go Heath! QUARTERS!
ReplyDelete