For the second day in a row, Sofia Rivera finished strong at the U.S. Women’s Open.
But it wasn’t enough for the 16-year-old rising Beachside High senior to make the weekend at the Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif.
Rivera pitched in for birdie at the par-4 18th hole on June 5 to close out a 74. She finished with a 7-over 149 and will miss the cut, which was projected to be 4-over when she signed her scorecard. Rivera finished her first round 75 with a birdie at No. 9.
Riviera was tied for 113th when she finished with perhaps five hours of golf left.
Her final birdie was set up with a 211-yard drive that missed the fairway slightly to the left. She then knocked her second shot from 222 yards to the front of the putting surface and pitched in from 68 feet.
It was Riviera’s fourth birdie of the day. She drained a putt of 36 feet, 4 inches at the par-4 second hole, made a 16-footer at the par-3 sixth and a tap-in from 3 feet at the par-5 11th.
Pitch-in follows improbable par putt in round one
Rivera had another highlighted moment from the first round that made Golf Channel. At the famed par-3 sixth hole, with a bunker in the middle of the green, Rivera left her tee shot on the front of the green, with the pin in the back. Her uncle and caddie, two-time PGA Tour winner Russell Knox used the course knowledge he gained from playing the PGA Tour event at Riviera to plot a course for par.
Knox gave Rivera a line around the left side of the bunker, with the ball curling around behind the hole. She made a 5-foor pat putt.
Rivera had an up-and-down day with her putter in round two
Rivera also made two nice up-and-downs for par at Nos. 3 and 4 in the second round But she put pressure on her putter at other holes, three-putting from 43 feet for bogey at No. 5 and missing par attempts of 15 feet at Nos. 1 and 8, one of 10 feet at No. 9 and 20-footers at Nos. 12 and 15.
Rivera hit six fairways and eight greens. She was also the low player in her group, beating fellow amateur Addie Dobson by five shots and Japanese amateur Natsumi Hayakawa by seven, and topped two-time U.S. Open champion Yuka Saso by two shots.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Sofia Rivera caps her first U.S. Open experience with a long birdie pitch
Reporting by Garry Smits, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Garry Smits, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union | USA TODAY Network
