Sabrina Iqbal of San Jose captured the 50th California Women’s Amateur Championship with a 4-and-3 victory over Anna Zhou of Palo Alto at Pebble Beach Golf Links.
The 15-year-old Iqbal, a junior at Pioneer High, trailed for only two holes in her five matches.
“It’s awesome to win and do it at Pebble Beach,” said Iqbal, who joined a champions list that includes Juli Inkster, Patty Sheehan, Amy Alcott, Natalie Gulbis, Emilee Klein, Jennifer Johnson, Shelly Hamlin, Amy Fruhwith, Andrea Gaston and Mina Harigae.
“This is one that I wanted to win. It’s great to be a part of that list. I putted really well today. Anna played well, too. It was fun.”
Zhou, a sophomore at Harvard, never trailed in her four previous matches, but Iqbal took a 1-up lead on the opening hole. Zhou got back to all-square when Iqbal three-putted for a double-bogey on the eight, but the winner never trailed.
Ibqal, who has committed to Texas Christian, took the lead for good by winning the ninth hole with a par and sank a 10-foot birdie putt on the 10th to go 2 up.
After finding greenside bunkers on the next two holes, Iqbal got up-and-down for pars to maintain her lead and stretched it to 3 up with an 11-foot birdie putt on the 13th.
When she holed another birdie put on the 15th hole, it was over.
Iqbal, who won the NCGA Junior Championship and the San Francisco City Championship earlier this year, played the last seven holes in 3-under-par.
In the semifinals, Iqbal defeated Katherine Zhu of San Jose, 2 and 1, and Zhou downed Kaho Monica Matsubara of San Diego, 4 and 3.
