Grace Lu’s run at the 101st New Jersey Women’s Amateur Championship ended one step short of the final, but the Rutgers golfer still put together a strong week at Essex Fells Country Club in Essex Fells, N.J.
Lu, an Edison native, reached Tuesday’s semifinal after knocking off 2024 Women’s Amateur champion Katie Li, a rising senior at Duke, in the quarterfinals. She then pushed Vanderbilt’s Angelina Tolentino all the way before Tolentino pulled out a 1 up win to advance to Wednesday’s championship match.
The quarterfinal against Li turned into a back-and-forth battle. The two traded holes early, then Lu grabbed control by winning Nos. 8 and 9 to go 2 up at the turn.
She stretched that edge to 3 up with birdies on 14 and 15, but Li answered with wins on 16 and 17 to cut it to one. Li needed a win on 18 to force extra holes, but both players made par, sending Lu through to the semifinals.
Against Tolentino, Lu again found herself in a tight match that swung several times. The lead changed hands over the first three holes before Lu rolled in a 15-foot birdie putt on the sixth to move 1 up. She held that advantage through the front nine, only for Tolentino to birdie the 10th and square the match.
From there, neither player gave much away. Holes 11 through 15 were all halved, and Tolentino finally broke through with a birdie on the 448-yard par-5 16th to take her first lead since the opening stretch. After the two split 17, the match came down to the last hole, where Tolentino made par to clinch the victory.
Lu’s summer success also includes a berth in this year’s 126th U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship, set for Aug. 4-9 at The Honors Course in Ooltewah, Tennessee. She became the first Scarlet Knight to qualify for the event since Leigha Devine in 2022.
During the 2025-26 season, Lu led Rutgers with a 73.50 scoring average across 12 tournaments and 35 rounds. She posted nine par-or-better rounds and carded a career-low 67 at the Westbrook Invitational in Peoria, Arizona.
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