Totland, Chen Win U.S. Women’s Four-Ball Championship at Dunes Club

​They’ve known each other for more than half their lives, and it’s only fitting that they concluded their time together as amateurs as champions of the U.S. Women’s Four-Ball. 

Totland, who is a year older and turning pro, and Chen survived seven rounds, the last five in match play format, to win the 3rd annual U.S. Women’s Four-Ball Championship at the Dunes Golf & Beach Club. Their triumph was capped by a 4&3 win over Sammi Lee and Mary Ellen Shuman, a pair of teammates at the University of Georgia. 

“I wouldn’t want it any other way,” Totland said of concluding her amateur career playing alongside Chen. “Having Alice as a teammate and a friend has been such a blessing. To be able to have the honor of being her partner this week has been unimaginable. It was a perfect ending.”

Chen birdied two of the first three holes, propelling her team to an early 3-up lead, and it was a deficit Lee and Shuman were never able to overcome. 

“She balled out,” Totland said of Chen’s play. “She was the glue.”

After the slow start Lee and Shuman made a valiant effort to gain ground. They were two-down and appeared poised to cut the deficit in half on the par 5 eighth hole. Shuman was in the middle of the fairway for her approach while Totland and Chen found themselves in the pine straw. 

Shuman hit an indifferent shot that found the front of the green but left her with a roller coaster putt that she was unable to get close, eventually three-putting for bogey. Totland blasted out from under a pine tree and got up-and-down, winning the hole with a clutch four-foot for par. 

Lee and Shuman made one more push, cutting the deficit to two with a birdie on the 10th, but Totland hit the shot of match on 11, holing a bunker shot for birdie. Chen had hit her tee shot in the hazard and Lee had 6-foot putt for birdie, another seemingly good opportunity for the lead to be cut to one.

Totland jarred her shot and Lee missed the putt, pushing the lead back to three.  

“That was pretty cool,” Totland said with a laugh. “All week long my dad was like, ‘Come on guys, there has to be a chip-in, a hole out from the bunker.’ I hit it and I was like that sounds really good. I usually don’t look at my shots but I peeked up and saw it go in.”

Minutes later, Chen rolled in a 25-footer for birdie on the par 3 12th, pushing their lead to 4-up with six to go. Chen made a seven-footer for birdie on the 15th to close the match, giving the duo their first USGA championship. 

Both are ranked among the top 100 amateurs in the world and they were heavy favorites heading into the championship match. Lee and Shuman didn’t share the championship pedigree of their opponents, but played well all week in their first appearance in a USGA event. 

“We were going into it to have a fun week with our dads and it was everything we could ask for,” said Lee. “We came up a little short but it was a blast.”

In the semifinals earlier in the day, Chen and Totland were never seriously threatened in a 3&2 win against Jennifer Chang and Gina Kim in the semifinals. Lee and Shuman beat Kathleen Gallagher and Kendall Griffin 2&1 in the second semifinal.