The two high school seniors teamed up to card a 5-under-par 65 on Fayetteville Country Club’s par-70 layout on Thursday, Oct. 5.
By: Chris Werner
USGA P.J. Boatwright Jr. Intern
October 10, 2023
Anna Kate Nichols and Claire Henson, from Little Rock and Henderson, Tennessee, respectively, qualified for the 2024 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship on Thursday, Oct. 5 at Fayetteville Country Club.
The high school seniors teamed up to card a 5-under-par 65 on the par-70 layout, converting five birdies and counting 13 pars in the best-ball team format.
“We played really well,” Nichols said with her qualifying medal in hand. “We had a couple bad holes each and we kind of managed to cover each other and minimize the damage. We avoided bogeys, which was I think, in the end, what kind of saved us because we made plenty of birdies.”
The duo collected two birdies on the front nine — on holes five and nine — and three straight on the back side on holes 15, 16, and 17.
“I think we both really thrived under the pressure,” Henson added. “Whenever one of us had a bad hole, the other one picked us up, so we were a good team together.”
Nichols and Henson — headed to SEC powerhouses Arkansas and Vanderbilt in the fall — will play in their second USGA Championship each when the 2024 four-ball rolls around May 11-15 at Oak Hills Country Club in San Antonio.
Nichols played in the 2023 Four-Ball Championship with current Mississippi State freshman Avery Weed, and the pair advanced to the match-play portion of the event, being outed in the Round of 16.
Henson teed it up at the 2022 U.S. Girls’ Junior and advanced to the round of 64 in match play.
“I think just knowing what you're getting into, USGA events are always amazing,” Henson said. “It's a great time. So I think knowing what you’re getting into will make it less intimidating.”
“I'm so excited to go back,” Nichols added. “This was my favorite tournament I played in like ever this last year, so getting to go back again next year is going to be so much fun.”
The teams of Jordyn Arts and Morgan Gaupet and Dawn Woodard and Meghan Stasi — the 2024 Curtis Cup Captain — each finished four shots behind Nichols and Henson.
Woodard and Stasi earned first alternate and Arts and Gaupet took second alternate after the two teams played a sudden-death playoff on FCC’s ninth hole. The group played the par-3 four times before a winner was determined.
