On No. 2, anything can happen.

Match Play Bracket

Donald Ross’s turtleback greens can break your heart. They can sour your soul. They can infuriate you, perplex you, confound you, rob you of everything you thought you knew about putting and golf.

They can also exhilarate you. They can amaze you. They can let you in on all of the subtle secrets that make Pinehurst No. 2 what it has been, what it is today, and what it forever will be.

And for a select few, they can place one into history.

“This would mean everything (to win the North & South),” Emilia Migliaccio said moments after prevailing in her quarterfinal match to advance in the 120th Women’s North & South Amateur on Friday. “I’m from North Carolina, this is the biggest event in North Carolina, and I think it’s one of the biggest events in the country behind the U.S. Amateur. I strongly believe it’s at least the second-most competitive field. It would be awesome to say I have won here.”

And, to think, by the end of her round Friday, the last place Migliaccio probably wanted to be was anywhere with a putter in her hand.

Yet, that’s what Pinehurst No. 2 can do to you.

“He was like, ‘OK, but it might leave you up there with 5 feet downhill.’ But I was like, ‘I think it’s going to snap.’”

It snapped. And fell.

“I just decided on that line, and it looked good the whole way. But it was unreal to watch it go in,” she said, incredulously. Sambach eventually took a 3-up lead, made five birdies in one six-hole stretch, and beat her college teammate Jennifer Cleary, 2&1.

Look what No. 2’s greens did for Anna Morgan. This championship’s runner-up a year ago, Morgan looked skyward as she walked down the hill from the tee to the 17th green, knowing her ball was 60 feet away from the cup. She pulled her purple Paladins hat down hard over her eyes, believing her hopes of a chance to return to the championship match were finally dashed on a day she…made…nothing.

“I said to my caddie, ‘Do I need to start putting with my wedge?’” Morgan said.

“He was like, ‘OK, but it might leave you up there with 5 feet downhill.’ But I was like, ‘I think it’s going to snap.’”

It snapped. And fell.

“I just decided on that line, and it looked good the whole way. But it was unreal to watch it go in,” she said, incredulously. Sambach eventually took a 3-up lead, made five birdies in one six-hole stretch, and beat her college teammate Jennifer Cleary, 2&1.

Look what No. 2’s greens did for Anna Morgan. This championship’s runner-up a year ago, Morgan looked skyward as she walked down the hill from the tee to the 17th green, knowing her ball was 60 feet away from the cup. She pulled her purple Paladins hat down hard over her eyes, believing her hopes of a chance to return to the championship match were finally dashed on a day she…made…nothing.

“I said to my caddie, ‘Do I need to start putting with my wedge?’” Morgan said.

One-down to Southern Cal’s Cindy Kou, Morgan had not led since Kou tied the match on the second hole. Morgan had just lost a chance to win the 16th with a birdie, but missed. Time was running out.

And then…

“On long putts, we’ve been talking more about speed,” Morgan said. “So, we just picked a spot, and next thing I know I drain a 50-plus-footer.”

Kou, blindsided, blocked her tee shot on 18 into the trees on the right. Morgan laced a drive down the middle. A two-putt par and, improbably, a win to find herself still standing.

“Probably one of the clutchest putts I’ve made, oh, ever?” she said.

“It’s a little bit of relief, to be honest. But excited. But a relief. I am kind of a little amped up right now. I feel like I could go run a mile.”

Migliaccio might’ve wanted to go run and hide. In total control of her match against Australia’s Justice Bosio, the acclaimed amateur had a chance to go 4-up with just four holes to play. But her par putt lipped-out harshly on 14.

On 16, still 2-up, Migliaccio had a 4-footer for birdie to close out the match.

Miss.

On 17, her lag putt down the hill settled left of the hole, about 2 ½ feet away. Bosio had her mark it.

Another miss. Her caddie shrieked.

On to 18.

Migilaccio, now just 1-up, tugged her approach shot left of the green, leaving her with a delicate chip to a back-left pin perilously close to the ridge that has sent many an attempt back to the player’s feet. (Thank you, Mr. Ross.)

But, well, it wasn’t on the green. Migliaccio pulled a wedge.

“I was like, ‘All right, I’m not on the green, so I’ll be fine,’” she quipped. “Let’s see how close I can chip it.”

She never needed her putter again, nearly holing the chip and earning a 1-up win to go back to the semifinals for the second time in the last three years.

“I love the feeling of competition. There’s nothing like it,” said Migliaccio. “There’s nothing like being, you know, a little nervous over a 3-footer. You don’t really get that stimulation anywhere else.”

You do at Pinehurst. Especially on No. 2.

And then some.

120th Women’s North & South Amateur
July 10-16, 2022
Pinehurst No. 2
Round of 32 Match Play
July 14, 2022

• No. 1 Hannah Levi d. No. 32 Maria Jose Marin, 1up
• No. 16 Emilia Migliaccio d. No. 17 Kary Hollenbaugh, 3&2
• No. 25 Monet Chun d. No. 8 Isabella Fierro, 4&3
• No. 9 Justice Bosio d. No. 24 Sarah-Eve Rheaume, 5&4
• No. 4 Xin Kou d. No. 29 Rachel Kuehn, 4&3
• No. 13 Bailey Davis d. No. 20 Ting Hsuan Huang, 2&1
• No. 28 Michaela Morard d. No. 5 Kayla Smith, 4&2
• No. 12 Anna Morgan d. No. 21 Chloe Schiavone, 4&3
• No. 31 Caroline Craig d. No. 2 Emma Schimpf, 5&4
• No. 15 Melanie Green d. No. 18 Jackie Lucena, 1up
• No. 7 Megan Schofill d. No. 26 Amber Park, 3&2
• No. 10 Sadie Englemann d. No. 23 Malia Nam, 5&4
• No. 3 Zoe Antoinette Campos d. No. 30 Michelle Liu, 4&3
• No. 19 Amanda Sambach d. No. 14 Zoe Slaughter, 2&1
• No. 27 Jennifer Cleary d. No. 6 Kirsten Rudgeley, 2&1
• No. 11 Casey Weidenfeld d. No. 22 Sophie Linder, 19holes

Round of 16
July 15

• No. 16 Emilia Migliaccio d. No. 1 Hannah Levi, 1up
• No. 9 Justice Bosio d. No. 25 Monet Chun, 3&1
• No. 4 Xin Kou d. No. 13 Bailey Davis, 6&5
• No. 12 Anna Morgan d. No. 28 Michaela Morard, 2up
• No. 15 Melanie Green d. No. 31 Caroline Craig, 1up
• No. 7 Megan Schofill d. No. 10 Sadie Englemann, 21 holes
• No. 19 Amanda Sambach d. No. 3 Zoe Antoinette Campos, 3&2
• No. 27 Jennifer Cleary d. No. 11 Casey Weidenfeld, 1up

Quarterfinals
July 15

• No. 16 Emilia Migliaccio d. No. 9 Justice Bosio, 1-up
• No. 12 Anna Morgan d. 4 Xin Kou, 1-up
• No. 7 Megan Schofill d. No. 15 Melanie Green, 2&1
• No. 19 Amanda Sambach d. No. 27 Jennifer Cleary, 2&1

Semifinals
July 16

• No. 16 Emilia Migliaccio vs. No. 12 Anna Morgan 7 a.m.
• No. 7 Megan Schofill vs. No. 19 Amanda Sambach, 7:08 a.m.

Championship
July 16

• TBD, 12:45 p.m.