Kristen Gillman was 16 when she headed to the U.S. Women’s
Amateur at the Nassau Country Club in Glen Cove, N.Y. on Long Island in 2014 to
play in the biggest event of her life.
“I was playing in the Women’s Amateur for the first time, I
had no expectations,” Gillman said via Skype Tuesday as the hype for this
year’s U.S. Women’s Amateur at Rolling Green Golf Club started to build at
media day. “I went there to have as much fun as I could.”
By the end of the week, Gillman and Canadian teen Brooke
Henderson were the last two standing. And when Henderson, who turned
professional later that year and already has an LPGA victory under her belt,
won the 17th and 18th holes, Gillman was 2-down at the
break of the scheduled 36-hole final.
“I just said to myself, you didn’t come all this way, eight days and all these matches, to lose,” Gillman said. “I just had to keep fighting.”
“I just said to myself, you didn’t come all this way, eight days and all these matches, to lose,” Gillman said. “I just had to keep fighting.”
And fight she did. Gillman would fall 3-down with 10 holes
to go when she unleashed a furious finishing kick that included five birdies
and gave her a 2-up victory. Her name is inscribed on the Robert Cox Trophy
along with the greats of the game.
The victory also took her to the game’s biggest events, last
summer’s U.S. Women’s Open at Lancaster Country Club chief among them, and to
team events around the world. And she doesn’t officially matriculate at Alabama
until later this year.
“I was rooting for Alabama (at last week’s NCAA
Championship) and I’m excited to get to there and try to help them,” Gillman
said.
Gillman will be headed for Springfield, Delaware County to
tackle the 6,259-yard, par-71 William Flynn design that is Rolling Green Golf
Club beginning Aug. 1. It is 60 days away and the preparations are reaching a
fever pitch.
Gillman will not be the only teen-age former champion in the
field as last year’s U.S. Women’s Amateur final saw Hannah O’Sullivan of
Chandler, Ariz. defeat Sierra Brooks of Sorrento, Fla., 3 and 2, in a battle of
17-year-olds. O’Sullivan is headed to Southern California while Brooks will
play her college golf at Wake Forest.
The other star of the championship will be the golf course
itself as the USGA returns to Rolling Green for the first time since the 1976
U.S. Women’s Open, won by World Golf Hall of Famer JoAnne Carner, her eighth
and final USGA victory.
Flynn made full use of the elevation changes on the property
(they aren’t kidding about the Rolling part) and the greens are borderline
diabolical.
“The greens here, Flynn leaves the players above the hole
time and time again,” tournament director Shannon Rouillard said Tuesday.
It is the second of four USGA events that will be staged in
Pennsylvania this year with the U.S. Open returning to Oakmont Country Club for
the ninth time, the U.S. Mid-Amateur being staged at Stonewall in northwest
Chester County and the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur slated for The Kahkwa Club in
Erie.
“Pennsylvania is so rich in golf, so rich in the history of the
game with so many classic golf courses,” Rouillard said. “We just can’t help
but keep coming back to Pennsylvania and to the Philadelphia area in
particular.”
You can see 156 of the best women players in the world, free
of charge, beginning Aug. 1 at Rolling Green. Parking will be at nearby
Cardinal O’Hara High School.
There will be 36 holes of qualifying for match play Aug. 1
and 2. The field will be whittled to the 64 players who qualify for match play,
which gets under way with the first round Aug. 3. Second- and third-round
matches will be Aug. 4, the quarterfinals will be Aug. 5, the semifinals Aug. 6
and the scheduled 36-hole final will be Aug. 7.
Visit the tournament website www.rggc2016.com for information,
opportunities for corporate sponsorship and updates as the U.S. Women’s Amateur
gets closer.
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