LAS VEGAS (Aug. 31, 2026)–The team of Ashley Wen-Xinyu Zhang carded an eight-under-par 64 to qualify for the 12th U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball event. The one-day qualifier was held Aug. 31, 2026, on the Sunrise-Canyon nines at Spanish Trail Country Club. The championship tournament will be held May 15-19, 2027, at Farmington Country Club in Charlottesville, VA.–by Bill Bowman
Kuree Little and Addison Hines fired a 67 and are the first alternate team while Ariya Soldwisch and Sarah Mutai are the second alternate team after firing a 68.
Wen-Zhang overcame a slow start to earn their spot in the national tournament as they opened the 18-hole qualifier with a bogey on the first hole.
After a par on the third hole to remain at plus-1, the duo got hot….red-hot.
They put up nine birdies over the final 15 holes–including the final three holes–to win by three strokes.
“We had never played together in a four-ball format so we weren’t quite sure how to work as a team,” Wen said. “We had played individually but not as a team.”
But they quickly got their gameplan together.
“We realized that someone has to sacrifice…like putting first and having a tap-in par so the other one can be aggressive,” Wen said. “We did our best on the back nine and made quite a few putts. We did hit a lot of fairways and if one of us missed, the other was in the fairway. We minimized our mistakes.”
And the putts seemed to keep falling…from everywhere.
“We made one 25-footer on the last hole and that was really exciting,” Wen said of the putt that finished off the run of three straight closing birdies. “We had some that were 10-15 feet and others that were in close. We both putted well.”
Wen, a senior from Southern California, and Zhang, a sophomore from Northern California, will now move on to the USGA national spotlight.
“We’re very excited,” Wen said. “We just want to go out and play our best. We won’t be focusing on results. If we play our best, good results will follow.”
U.S. Women’s Four-Ball Qualifying
Wen-Zhang, 64
Little-Hines, 67
Soldwisch-Mutai, 68
