The 93rd Women’s Amateur Championship was held at Chartwell Golf and Country Club on July 14th through July 17th. There were 50 entries with 48 advancing to match play. The weather gave us just one small glich with storms on Wednesday afternoon forcing the cancelation of play. Two matches had to be concluded on Thursday morning early while the other matches started as scheduled. The winners then continued in their flights as expected.
The Championship flight was won by Maia Schechter defeating Bryana Nguyen 4 & 2. It was a University of North Carolina pairing. Maia will be a senior on the golf team and Bryana is an incoming freshman. Maia started strong winning the first 2 holes before Bryana won the 3rd. Maia won the next 2 to lead 4 up after nine. On the back Maia won the 10th hole with Bryana coming back to win holes 11 & 12 tied the next 3 untill hole # 16 which Maia won with a birdie to close out the match 4 up. The two had a great time walking, talking sharing information about school, yet still were in competition. A delight to witness by all. Maia had advanced by defeating Jordan McKelvin, Baralee Theinthong, and Andrea Kraus. Bryana had won over Stephanie Bosdosh, Rachel Lee and Lisa Schlesinger. Five of those golfers were a part of the MSGA-WD junior programs, this speaks well of our effort.
First Flight was won by Jordan McKelvin over Connie Isler. Connie was the medalist in Monday’s qualifying round and the only player to manage a sub-par round of 70. The players tied the first 2 holes before Jordan won 3 & 4, then holes 5, 6 to go 4 up after nine. On the back, the 10th hole was squared before Jordan lost the 11 but won 12. Tying the 13 & 14 Jordan again lost 15 to bring the match back to 3 up. After tying the 16th Jordan won the match 3 up with 2 holes to play. A well contested match.
In Second Flight Becky Gossard and Bonnie Fry both played beautifully. There were very few tied holes during their match. Becky, was 2 up after 9 holes. Bonnie’s game really came around after number 10 and it seemed like she could come back from being 3 down. Even par or under was the norm for their match on the back, Becky chipped in for a birdie on #15 to go dormie. Bonnie hit two great shots to the 16th green, but didn’t win the hole, so Becky won the match 3 & 2.
Third flight opponents were Josephine Jung (Mt. Hebron High School) and Krystal Sung (Magruder High School). The match was all square following the 3rd hole after Krystal won #2 with a birdie and, Josephine won #3 with a par. Sung won #4 and the match stayed with her 1 up through the 8th hole. On the par 5 #9, Krystal was on the green in 3 and Josephine in 4. Jung holed out for a 6, but Sung’s putter let her down and Jung won the hole making the match all square after 9. On #10 Sung won with a par but Jung immediately squared the match at 11 with a conceded birdie. Josephine won the next 2 holes with pars, and rolled in a long putt for par on #14, coming out of the bunker to tie the hole and go to #15 2 up. Krystal won 15, 16 to square the match. 17 was halved with bogeys, so the girls teed off on #18 all square. Jung hit the par 5 in 3 shots and Sung was right in front of the green in putting range in the same amount. Krystal was away and putted short of the pin. Josephine cozied her ball up to the hole for a concession of par, and Krystal‘s balky putter once again defied her, ending this exciting match. Krystal consistently out drove Josephine, but Josephine’s short game helped her win the match.
Fourth Flight was a solid match between Chelsea Harris, Hobbit’s Glen and Marlies Empey, Eisenhower Golf Club. Marlies took the lead winning the first hole and maintained it until Chelsea came back and won the 9th hole making the match all square after 9. Chelsea won 10, Marlies won 11 but Chelsea went ahead with a birdie on 12 to take the lead. Chelsea retained the lead for the remainder of the match winning on #17 2 up. It was a good match with both players having some great golf shots.
The speedy twosome of Elizabeth Barth-Williams (Bretton Woods GC) and Karen Woods (Bowie GC) were the lead match on day 4 for the Fifth flight. They finished 9 in 1 hour and 40 minutes. Their fast play did not take away from their games. Elizabeth took the first hole to go 1 up. Karen came back on the par 3 second hole with a par to square the match. Karen won holes 3 and 4, and then Elizabeth won holes 3 and 6 to square the match again. They remained all square after pars on 7. Karen won 8 and Elizabeth won 9. Making the front nine all square. Staring on the back nine, Elizabeth took a 2 hole lead after 11. She went 3 up after 13 and held that position until she became dormie after the 15th hole. Karen then took 16 and 17 to remain one down going into 18. Both hit good shots on 18 to lay Karen just short in 3 and Elizabeth on and close in 3. Karen’s chip ran long and her putt sleds past. Elizabeth’s putt was close for a conceded par to win 18 and the match 2 up.
-Reported by Marilyn Snight
Click below to review results:
Championship
First
Second
Third
Fourth
Fifth
