Silverdale’s Erynne Lee, one of two Americans left in the U.S. Women’s Amateur field at the start of the day, was ousted by Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn 5 and 4 in the quarterfinals at the Cleveland Country Club on Friday. Lee fell behind on the third hole and never did get the match square after that.
Jutanugarn, the No. 3 seed, will face No. 2 seed Lydia Ko of New Zealand in the semifinals. The 16-year-old Jutanugarn successfully defended her title last week in the Junior PGA Championship. She also won the Canadian Women’s Amateur this summer and the 2011 U.S. Girls’ Junior.
Jaye Marie Green of Boca Ratan, Fla., won and will face Nicole Zhang of Canada in the other semifinal match. Green’s now the only remaining American.
Lee, who will be a sophomore at UCLA, reached the semis in 2008 and has been to the quarterfinals the last three years. The Central Kitsap grad is an impressive 15-5 in match play at the Women’s Amateur.
Lee, 19, beat 2011 NCAA champ Austin Ernst, 20, of Seneca, S.C., 2 and 1, in the third round, and knocked off the current U.S. Junior Am champ, Minjee Lee of Australia, in the first round.
All eight quarterfinalists are exempt into the 2013 U.S. Women’s Amateur at the Country Club of Charleston.
