Rachel Heck arrived in Los Angeles this week having not played but one competitive round in nearly a year. She hadn’t even practiced much this summer, recently completing her 17-day Air Force ROTC field training before cramming in some reps in the four days leading up to the 123rd U.S. Women’s Amateur at Bel-Air Country Club.
Now, she’s safely into match play for the fourth straight year at this championship.
“My mindset was that I can only control what I can control, and I need to focus on that,” Heck said Tuesday after shooting 70-67 to likely earn one of the top dozen or so seeds for the knockout stage, which begins Wednesday.