Blair Lamb falls in semifinals

PINEHURST — Australian Kristie Smith defeated Flat Rock’s Blair Lamb 3&2 in Saturday’s semifinals of the Women’s North and South Amateur Championship on Pinhurst No. 2.

Lamb, a former East Henderson standout, took a 1-up lead with a birdie on the fifth hole, but Smith, the low amateur in this year’s MSF Women’s Australian Open, soon took control.

No. 4 seed Smith pulled even after Lamb’s bogey at the par-3 6th and then collected back-to-back birdies on the eighth and ninth holes to take a 2-up lead at the turn.

She went 3-up with a birdie on the 13th and then answered Lamb’s scrambling biride on the 16th with a birdie of her own to close the match.

Smith will battle Georgetown’s Chelsea Curtis today for the title. Curtis, a rising senior, defeated Louisville’s Cindy LaCrosse 5&4 on Saturday.

Lamb, the 2007 Southern Conference champion, was the tournament’s No. 33 seed. She is a rising junior at Furman University.