Natalie Yen & Asia Young Keep Winning

NICHOLS HILLS, Oklahoma - The pair of Asia Young of Bend, Oregon, and Natalie Yen of West Linn might just be a team of destiny.

The two went on to beat the 2021 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four Ball Champions in Savannah Barber and Alexa Saldana, 2 and 1, in their match play matchup on Monday at the 2025 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four Ball. Barber is a University of Oklahoma golfer and Saldana, a University of Houston junior.

“They’ve obviously gone all the way, in 2021,” Yen said. “And match play – it’s that whole thing, they didn’t necessarily have a high seed, but they’re an incredibly tough side to face. I knew that would be a tough match, but there’s no easy matches at USGA events.”

After going down by one on the first hole, they fought back to tie the match on hole 4 with a birdie. They would go on to take a lead one up lead after another birdie on hole 8.

But Barber and Salana battled back to tie the match again with a birdie of their own on hole 12.

Young had to take an unplayable lie after her drive on No. 13 landed right by a boundary fence, but the side salvaged a birdie to still tie the hole.

“I hit my drive, and I was kind of mad because I felt like I let the team down on the last hole, because I was really close to the green and made par,” Young said. “So, I tried to hit my drive really hard, and I hit too far left, and apparently there is a fence down there. But I was able to count on my partner to hit it to 1 foot, so that was nice.”

Both teams made bogies on 14, before Yen birdied holes 15 and 16 to put them two up and ultimately win the match 2 and 1.

It was those two birdies that changed the match in their favor.

“I felt like No .15 was the turning point, honestly,” Yen said. “Making that putt, you always want to be up when you’re in match play. That gives you a slight cushion, and [Asia] was in the bunker off the drive on No. 16. She made par, and that kind of opened me up after they were in with par to give it a good roll. I started seeing putts well later on in the round.”

After the round the duo were asked what their plans were for the rest of the day.

“We're going to go eat lunch, and I play the violin so I will probably go back and do some violin practice in my hotel room. I travel with it everywhere, it goes everywhere, literally.” Yen said. “I used to play in community orchestra. I haven’t played too much this year because I’m getting ready to move out to College Station, but yeah I used to play in orchestra, I have a teacher.”

Yen, who is homeschooled and 18, is headed to play golf at Texas A&M University this fall.

Young is 16, and a junior in high school with some homework to catch up on.

But after taking co-medalist in the stroke play portion of the Championship, these two seemed destined for something great.

Match play continues Tuesday with the Round of 16 and quarterfinals, beginning at 8:30 a.m. ET. The quarterfinal matches are scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. The semifinal matches and 18-hole championship match are scheduled for Wednesday.