123rd Women’s North & South Amateur Match Play Bracket
125th Men’s North & South Amateur Match Play Bracket
By Alex Podlogar
Pimchompoo “Pinky” Chaisilprungruang was near the 10th tee of Pinehurst No. 2 having suffered through a 32-minute break in the stupid sun as play was backed up during the 123rd Women’s North & South Amateur.
A few hours earlier, she had gotten a trophy. A smaller version of the ultimate Putter Boy trophy was in her hands after she emerged from a playoff Thursday morning to earn medalist honors. Over two days between No. 2 and Pinehurst No. 7, Pinky – and yes, we will refer to her as Pinky going forward, which we, uh, she will explain later – shot 6-under for those medalist honors, but more importantly, had quickly became a player tournament officials, volunteers, fans and media members had begun to share stories about.
Honestly, people were starting to root for Pinky. Hard.
OK, back to the 10th tee.
Pinky was at the 10th tee. There had been the frustrating delay that couldn’t have been avoided. She was undeniably the top seed in this venerable championship. LPGA Tour founders won this championship. Major championship winners and LPGA Tour stars have won this tournament. Freaking Babe Zaharias won this tournament.
Pinky, though, was 4-down – 4-down! – in her match with Jie-En Lin, a 14-year-old phenom from Taiwan who decided she wasn’t going to miss a fairway or a green on Thursday. Or, when she did miss a green, like when she was Rossed on the 9th hole those agonizing 32 minutes before, Lin just up and chipped in for birdie before the rest of group had even scaled the small hill to the green. Pinky applauded the shot.
So, to summarize: The medalist was 4-down at the turn, had a terrible wait before resuming her round, it was hot, humid and miserable, and while playing fine, wasn’t at her very best.
She could not have been happier.
Repeat: in this very moment, after what happened next, Pinky could not have been happier.
Warming up next to the 10th tee, Pinky watched across the way as Taylor Kehoe teed her ball on the 137-yard, par-3 9th. A club change later – from 9 iron to pitching wedge – Kehoe leaned into her tee shot.
She thought it was short.
She was only partially right.
The ball landed 3 feet short of the pin, took two hops, and went in. Ace.
Tournament officials, a rules official, a caddie and several others cheered. It was Kehoe’s first hole-in-one, and it was done on Pinehurst No. 2 during the Women’s North & South Amateur. The Michigan State senior was overcome with joy.
And then…
“TAYLOR!”
“TAYLOR!”
A voice from the 10th tee. A diminutive 19-year-old with a driver in her hand had raced further from the tee, and about halfway to the 9th tee.
“TAYLOR!”
Kehoe finally noticed Pinky jumping and waving at her.
“Pinky!”
“YES, TAYLOR!”
And then a little dance.
It should be said, the medalist of the 123rd Women’s North & South Amateur fought valiantly, making a birdie and an eagle coming in, but she still lost 2 & 1 to Lin on Thursday and is eliminated from the championship.
But, friends, allow us to say one thing:
There is plenty of time this week to revel in the triumphs of this and the men’s 125th playing of this championship.
Today, friends, we are going to celebrate something else.
Today, we celebrate the triumph of the spirit in this grand game.
This is the Pimchompoo “Pinky” Chaisilprungruang Story.
“It is a custom in Thailand to be given a nickname when you are born,” Pinky tells us. “My aunt came up with it, and my mom liked it. So, I just go by Pinky because, well, really, my name is too long. It’s the whole alphabet.”
“Charming” or “What a delight” must’ve already been taken.
“The word that just comes to my mind about Pinky is joy,” says her college coach, Charlotte’s CC McMahan. “She just has this infectious joy.
“She has such a deep desire to connect with people. The relationship part of her personality is so high. She’s been loving playing summer golf because she’s meeting new people, making new friends – even within a day of meeting them.”
Well, surely, Pinky and Kehoe are longtime friends. Played a lot of rounds together. Know each other intimately. No wonder Pinky was so happy for her.
“Oh, no,” Kehoe says. “We met and played in the same group on the first day Tuesday, and she is just, like, the sweetest person ever.
“Her little dance was awesome.”
“I played with Taylor the first day, and she was so nice to me,” Pinky says. “We talked. We had fun. We laughed. And I just thought that, when she made a hole-in-one, I wanted to clap and go talk to her.
“So I yelled her name, because I saw that it was just too far to go for a hug.”
People, this story is real.
And we’re just getting started.
During Wednesday’s second round of medal play Pinky hit a masterful approach shot into the 12th green of Pinehurst No. 2. This comes as no surprise. Pinky never finished outside of the top 10 in regular season college matches this year. She won twice. She was the conference’s player of the year. She won a week ago at the Southwestern Amateur. And, like, she did shoot a 4-under 68 on No. 2.
Back to Wednesday and the 12th hole. Only a smattering of people were following the group, but those who were there were certainly appreciative, so a few golf claps and “Nice shots” floated between the pines as Pinky approached her ball.
After finishing the hole, Pinky thanked her modest gallery for their kind words and gestures.
OK, hold on. She didn’t just thank them.
She went up to them.
Individually.
In that, she walked up to them and personally thanked them.
This did not resonate as anything out of the ordinary for Pinky.
“Did I do that?” she asked when prompted about it a day later. “Really?! I guess I did. Ha!”
“She just really gets joy from connecting to other people who support her,” McMahan says. “They clap for her, and she just wants to connect back with them. She wants to show gratitude for that.
“She is just such a special, special young lady.”
On the 16th tee Thursday, 3-down with three to play, Pinky changed her golf ball. She noted it to the official and Lin and the rest of the pairing. “Same kind of ball,” Pinky said. “Same markings – it says ‘Pinky’ and has two hearts.”
Back to the tee she went.
Pinky made eagle with a ridiculous approach from more than 200 yards to extend the match. Talking with McMahan after the round, the question is posed – Does Pinky have any idea just how much game she has, how talented she is?
McMahan doesn’t waste a second.
“No. That’s part of what makes her that competitive is that she doesn’t even realize how good she is.”
Her time ran out though, as Lin was brilliant throughout. She closed out the match with a tidy par on 17.
“I played well today, but she really played better,” Pinky said. “She deserved it.”
With this much ability, sure, Pinky shouldn’t necessarily be down this much in a Round of 32 match, even in this field. It’s something they are working on at Charlotte. Pinky didn’t play match play growing up in Thailand, and even had to be taught the rules and nuances of it by her college coaches and teammates.
And, oh, then there’s that other thing.
Yeah, the kindness.
“She’s kind of amazing as an athlete because her competition is not so much a high priority as is her joy of just playing the game,” McMahan says. “We think that’s kind of why she doesn’t really thrive in match play yet. She kind of wants to root for her opponent.”
Even as she fell 4-down, Pinky didn’t slump her shoulders. She didn’t slam a club against the bunker sand or back into her bag. She sure as hell didn’t curse.
“I just don’t see why I should do that,” Pinky says. “It’s not going to make things better. I just feel like, with a smile, not only will I play better, then people are going to like me more. That’s why I don’t get mad.”
Pinky says after a taste of No. 2 and, in her words, “the elite competition,” she will be back to Pinehurst and the North & South. After all, look at all the new friends she’s made.
“I like North Carolina,” she says.
“Well, I mean, it gets too hot.
“But you can play year-round.”
