Medalist & Two-time Champion Taylor Totland Gains Women's Am Semis

When it comes to match-play, Taylor Totland of Hollywood welcomes the opportunity.

Totland, seeking to become just the second to win as many as three consecutive NJSGA Women’s Amateur Championships, won both of her matches on Wednesday to advance to the semifinals of the 91st Women’s Amateur at 5,885-yard Upper Montclair Country Club in Clifton.

Totland, 36-hole stroke-play medalist medalist on Tuesday with a 3-under 69-72-141, defeated 16th-seeded Allison Herring of TPC Jasna Polana, 5 and 3, in the morning and topped ninth-seeded Kate Granhan of Ridgewood, 4 and 2, in the afternoon to advance to the semifinals.She will square off against Noelle Maertz of Hyatt Hills, a recent graduate of Wagner, who defeated Alyson Wentworth of Architects, 1 up.

In the other semifinal, former champion Alice Chen of Neshanic Valley meets former LPGA Tour player and 2015 NJSGA Mid-Amateur champion Tara Fleming of New Jersey National.

MATCH-PLAY BRACKETS PHOTO GALLERY

“I really don’t get to play match play, only in this event and in the U.S. Amateur if you get past stroke play. I welcome it. This will be good practice for the U.S. Amateur next week at Rolling Green (Springfiield, Pa.) ,” Totland said.

She will be playing in her fourth U.S. Amateur and has twice advanced into match play, but has yet to reach the second round of that stage.

“It’s all mental . If you take off the brakes, you give your opponent a chance to come back on you. It’s fun. I like the part where if you double, you just shake off the hole. In match play, you’ve got to have the will to win. You need that to succeed in this game.”

There is a downside, said Totland, a rising senior at Furman University who has earned All-American honorable mention..

“For me, it’s mentally exhausting. You have to focus on every single shot. You could be up two or three holes, and with a couple bad swings, you could be all even again,” said Totland, who will enter Q-School this fall, but not turn pro for a year.

Against Herring, she won hole four, five and six, two with birdies, for a three-hole margin.

Herring’s college teammate, Alice Chen of Neshanic Valley, who won the event in 2013, also advanced to the semifinals.

“I like match play. It gives you the freedom to be more aggressive than normal. It’s a different format and you’re playing against someone else not the golf course,” said Chen, who has also won two Women’s Public Links titles.