Aneka Seumanutafa — Youngest Maryland State Women’s Amateur Championship

On Wednesday, July 15th at Argyle Country Club, 16 women out of 44 participants qualified for the Championship Flight with flights 2-5 filled with 7 players each. Youth was evident in the stroke play qualifying with Aneka (Clustered Spires Golf Club) shooting the low round of the day, 73, followed by a Maret student, Julia Calomiris (Congressional) with a 75.

Saturday July 18th saw the 5th flight tee off at 8:00 followed by the remaining flight, with the Championship match at 9:10. No sooner had Aneka and Shannon McKew (msga-eclub and Southern Florida) reached the first green, when the lightening detection system sounded, and all matches returned to the clubhouse. On her way to this Championship match, Shannon defeated college-bound Micaa Thomas, UVA student, Adriana Dial, and Becky Gossard of West Virginia Wesleyan. Aneka, a rising high school freshman, bested Anita Venner, and in an exciting match with Connie Isler, was 1 down at the 17th tee, and shot birdie, eagle to Connie’s pars to win the match, 1 up. She next defeated veteran Lisa Schlesinger on the 16th hole to advance.

After returning to the course after a delay of a little over an hour, Shannon drew first blood in the match with a birdie on #3, but Aneka answered with wins on the 4th, 5th, and 9th holes to make the turn at 2 up.

Shannon got the match to -1 after a par on #10 but couldn’t match Aneka’s birdie on #12. She then birdied tough, uphill par 3 #13 to return to 1 down. Aneka subsequently returned to +2 after a birdie on #15 and stayed on top as both players bogeyed #16 and parred #17 to end the match 2 and 1.

At 14, Aneka became the Maryland State Amateur Champion in addition to winning the Jr. Girls Championship this year at Bretton Woods Recreation Center. She made match play in the US Junior Girls Championship where she won two matches, will be competing in the USGA Amateur in August, and she will represent Maryland on the USGA state team this September.

Reported by Melly Tucker with assistance from Anita Venner

1^st FLIGHT

With four birdies, Rachel Lee, a rising sophomore Marketing major at Delaware, won her match over veteran Deb Pearson on the 16th hole. Although Rachel was never down in the match, the front 9 see-sawed with Rachel going one up and Deb bringing it back to all square. Both players birdied the hardest hole on the front 9, #3, after the rain delay. Rachel went 2up after the 6th hole, then Deb brought the match back to all square on the 9th hole with Rachel’s lip-out putt on the 8th and some erratic play on the 9th. Rachel then settled down and played very consistently, halving or winning each hole from then on, winning the match 4 and 2.

Reported by Carolyn Hudson

2^nd FLIGHT

The 2nd flight match was between Carol Davis-Lillie, a seasoned player from Argyle Country Club, and Lena Capoccia, a junior player from TPC Avenel at Potomac Farm.

The match went back and forth through 6 holes with Davies-Lillie going one up, then back to all square. On hole #8, Capoccia made a move to go one up and remained there until she again won #11 to go two up. Davies-Lillie came back on hole #12 with a great shot from a side hill lie to put her in position for a nice approach shot. The match went to all square on #15 when Capoccia’s tee shot went astray. Davies-Lillie won #s 16 and 17 to end the match two and one.

Reported by Bonnie Lennox

3rd Flight

The final of the 3rd Flight was contested by Janice Calomiris and Christine Brown both from Congressional Country Club. The match started with the players halving the first two holes, then going back and forth for the lead. Calomiris won the 6th and 7th holes, and from that point, Brown couldn’t quite get it back. After Calomiris won #10, putting her 3 up, the remainder of the holes were halved until Calomiris sunk a great par putt on #15 to win the match 4 and 3.

Reported by Rebecca Krimski

4^th Flight

The 4th Flight match was between Elizabeth Barth-Williams of Bretton Woods and Paula Harris of the Wake Robin Golf Club. Elizabeth took the 1st hole and maintained a 1 up lead until the 6th hole when she went 2 up. At the conclusion of the 9th hole, Elizabeth was 1 up, and her lead increased to 2 up following the 11th hole. It held until the 14th hole when Paula took the hole. They traded wins over the next two holes, and after #16 Elizabeth was 1 up. When Paula won the 17th hole, the match was all square and remained that way after #18. Elizabeth won the match on #1, the only finals match to go extra holes. It was an exciting match until the end.

Reported by Patsy DiMuzio

5^th flight

The match in Fifth Flight was between 2 fairly new golfers, Michelle Livernois, a five year player, and Kristina Demmick, who has only played one year. Both are long ball hitters but each had a few penalties.

The players traded the first few holes, then Kristina won holes 3 and 5 before losing 6, but then went on to win 8 and 9 and go 3 up after 9 holes. Michelle lost #10 due to a penalty but came back to win 11. On #12, both were on the difficult hole in regulation. Michelle just missed her birdie, and from the back of the green Kristina holed her birdie putt. Michelle put her tee shot OB on 13 to go 5 down with 5 holes to go. She had a great par on #14 to continue the match but both players parred #15 to end the match. Kristina won 4 up with 3 to go.

Their comment was, “Wait until next year; we’ll be in the 3rd Flight!