With local on bag, Lyla Louderbaugh upsets No. 1 Kiara Romero in U.S. Women's Amateur quarters

NBC Sports

6 days ago

BANDON, Ore. – Lyla Louderbaugh had just lost two straight holes to send her U.S. Women's Amateur quarterfinal match with Kiara Romero to extra holes.
But before heading back to Bandon Dunes' 10th tee on Friday evening, the rising Kansas junior retreated to the clubhouse restroom for a reset.
'I just needed to get off the golf course,' said Louderbaugh, who before walking back out the door looked into the mirror and said aloud to herself, 'You've got this.'
Two holes later, she had toppled the world No. 1 amateur.
Louderbaugh, a native of Buffalo, Missouri, will now play fellow Missourian Brooke Biermann, a Michigan State grad, in Saturday's first semifinal. The winner of that match will meet either Stanford's Megha Ganne or Aussie Ella Scaysbrook in Sunday's 36-hole final.
Those are the four competitors left.
As for local caddies, however, there is just one standing: Louderbaugh's looper, Robin Oliver.
Oliver, 55, is a 10-year veteran at the famed resort, which claims roughly 600 caddies. Oliver started in an office before changing roles after only a year. 'I needed to come back to the grass,' said Oliver, whose caddie roots trace to his middle-school days looping at Maple Bluff in Madison, Wisconsin, home of Jerry Kelly.
This is Oliver's third USGA championship, having also worked the 2019 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball and 2022 U.S. Junior Amateur. This is his first time, however, that his player won a match.
'These events are fun, they're stressful,' Oliver said. 'This is even more stressful than the other ones because we're making it pretty deep.'
Before meeting Louderbaugh, Oliver did his research. What he found was a player who has broken out in recent months, starting with her closing 66 to finish fourth in the Jayhawks' regular-season finale in April. She then won the NCAA Columbus Regional by a whopping eight shots over eventual NCAA individual champion Maria Jose Marin, followed by another win this summer at the Kansas Women's Amateur.
Oliver was surprised when he walked onto the range last weekend to discover that Louderbaugh, a former basketball player, is pushing 6 feet tall. After their first practice round together, he asked her, 'You're here to win, right?'
Louderbaugh replied, 'Yeah.'
To which Oliver responded: 'Well, let's do it.'
Unless needed, Oliver mostly stays out of Louderbaugh's way, especially during her warmup. It's not uncommon for them to not chat until the first tee.
'The more information you give out there, the more it can get in people's head,' Oliver said, before joking, 'I'm just trying to keep her low key and not make her mad at me.'
Adds Louderbaugh: 'We're pretty used to each other. He understands when I want his help on the greens and when I don't want his help on the greens.'
Their new relationship was tested down the stretch, as Louderbaugh, 2 up with two holes to play on Romero, hit shots into penalty areas on both holes, including at the par-5 18th hole, where the lefty's third shot from the rough came out well right of her intended line and extremely hot, flying the green and disappearing into a gorse bush. Oliver lamented a couple of mis-clubs during the match, though Louderbaugh was quick to take responsibility.
She's thankful to have Oliver by her side, especially in 30 mph gusts.
'There's definitely a reason they have local caddies out here,' Louderbaugh said. 'There are so many shots you don't see if you don't have a local because there are a lot of areas that you don't see from some spots that are perfectly good angles to different pins.'
Case in point: She pounded a drive well left on No. 10 in overtime to set up a deft pitch into the fan, though her 10-footer to win horseshoed out of the cup.
Then on the par-4 11th, she was some 30 yards behind Romero off the tee but put the pressure on the Oregon junior by knocking a long-iron through the stiff breeze and right at the flag, her ball trundling about 40 feet past. Romero set up to attack the flag, but she left her approach right, short-siding herself. Louderbaugh lagged close before later rolling in the short clincher.
Louderbaugh has trailed in each of her four matches so far this week – and for 25 of the 69 holes she's played (she's won 27 holes).
In some ways, she relishes that position.
'I like being kind of like the underdog, and nobody knows my name,' Louderbaugh said, 'but I'm here to make a place for my name.'
And Oliver wouldn't mind adding his name to the list of Bandon locals who have looped for USGA champions. Though Tyler Strafaci had his dad, Frank, on the bag at the 2020 U.S. Amateur, locals have caddied for the winners of the other three events – 2007 U.S. Mid-Amateur, 2015 U.S. Women's Amateur Four-Ball and that U.S. Junior three years ago.
'There's that pressure on me from the shack,' Oliver said. 'I mean, there are 600 guys over there that are rooting for us. The old school caddies who have been here for 20-plus years, they're like, 'Bring it home.''
That's the goal.