Tiffany Joh Wins USWAPL

Tiffany Joh defeated Jennifer Song, 2 and 1, to win the 2008 U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links Championship on Saturday at Erin Hills in Erin, Wisc.

Song, an 18-year-old with dual Korean and U.S. citizenship, won the first hole of the 36-hole finals. And while the 21-year-old T-Joh, from San Diego, Calif., squared the match a couple different times, Song never trailed until the 33rd hole.

Song led 2-up after nine of the morning 18; Tiffany squared it on the 13th, but Song took the lead back and led 2-up again at the end of 18. On the 30th hole, Tiffany parred to Song's bogey, cutting Song's lead to 1-up.

It was the start of four wins in five holes for Tiff. They halved the 31st, Tiffany won the 32nd to square the match, then won the 33rd to go 1-up and the 34th to go 2-up. When they halved the 35th, Tiffany won the title.

It is the T-Joh's second win in this USGA championship. She also won in 2006, and is now one of only five golfers to win the Women's Publinx more than once.

View the match scorecard, or visit the USWAPL homepage for more news to come.

Update: From the USGA article:

“It means everything,” said Joh, who dedicated her title to the father of her college roommate (Beth Wallace), Chuck Wallace, who died six weeks ago of cancer. “I think back when I first won it, I didn’t really know what I was doing. I was just kind of out there thinking, oh, bonus rounds. I get to play another round. I think I stumbled into it. Afterwards, I realized how much it did for my confidence.

“I think winning this time around when I really wanted it, it was that much more meaningful.”

And the lede to Beth Ann Baldry's nice article on Golfweek.com:

Tiffany Joh hasn’t changed much since the last time she won the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links. She still downplays her abilities, still looks at each victory as a lucky break more than deserved reward.

C’mon Tiffany, deep down you must have thought of yourself as one of the favorites this week?

"Really, really, really deep down," said Joh, the 2006 WAPL champion and a U.S. Curtis Cup player. "Like very deep down, like core of the earth deep."