UK golfer resumes 10-states-in-six-months journey in this week’s U.S. Women’s Open

Jensen Castle has been on a play-golf-and-see-the-country journey of late. This week means she must be in San Francisco.

A native of West Columbia, South Carolina, who plays for the University of Kentucky, Castle competed in Birmingham, Alabama; Columbus, Ohio; and Scottsdale, Arizona with her college teammates between mid-April and late May.

In between, she joined teammate Marissa Wenzler in the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball in Carrollton, Texas and journeyed to Pittsburgh to qualify for the U.S. Women’s Open.

Now, Women’s Open week at the Olympic Club in San Francisco is another chapter in a hectic schedule.

She wouldn’t have it any other way.

“The past few weeks ... this is actually my seventh week in a row and I didn’t realize it,” Castle said after her Monday practice round. “We were in Arizona and then Maridoe (Golf Club) in Texas and then Ohio the week after. It’s crazy, but I’m enjoying every minute of it.”

Crazy, maybe, but well worth the experience gained on what she plans to be a trek into professional golf — but that’s for later. She just completed her sophomore season at Kentucky, one in which she helped the Wildcats advance through the regionals to the NCAA Championship for the first time since 1992.

Castle found the Olympic Club’s Lake Course a typical USGA setup — very challenging.

“It’s so pretty,” she said. “The rough is extremely thick, but it’s scoreable. The greens are fast, which is how I like it. It’s going to be a great week.”

The tournament is “definitely the biggest I’ve played in, and a bigger step in my golfing career,” she said. “At the end of the day, it’s just another golf tournament, but there’s a lot better players here for sure.”

Castle made First Team All-SEC her freshman season, the first Kentucky female golfer so honored since 1989. Her second year? “Not as good,” she said, but she had taken strides in USGA events.

With Wenzler, she advanced to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Women’s Four-Ball. In the U.S. Women’s Open qualifying, she tied for the final spot, then beat a pro in a playoff.

“I had a good round when I qualified,” she said. “You have good days and bad days with golf, but I’m playing pretty solid, definitely.”

She opens the Women’s Open at 3:45 p.m. Eastern time Thursday in a pairing with LPGA pro Sarah Burnham and Chinese pro Ruoning Yin.

Castle, who hones her game under Bull’s Bay pro Rickey Sullivan, said she would head home after the Open, work at Columbia Country Club and get a little rest in, too.

“I’ll play in the (Carolinas Women’s) Four-Ball again this summer with Rachel Kuehn in Orangeburg (South Carolina),” she said. Then, her schedule includes the North-South (in Pinehurst, North Carolina), the Women’s Western (in Park Ridge, Illinois) and the U.S. Amateur (in Rye, New York).

That adds up to competing in 10 states between mid-April and early August. A lot of travel, she said, but a lot of experience against high-grade competition, too.

“Golf is busy and having fun,” Castle said. “I’m enjoying every moment.”

U.S. Women’s Open

When: Thursday through Sunday

Where: The Olympic Club in San Francisco

Thursday’s TV: 7-11 p.m. EDT (Golf Channel)

Purse: $5.5 million, with $1 million going to the winner

Defending champion: A Lim Kim