Two of best scholastic players in PIAA history teamed up Tuesday
to help Pennsylvania land in 13th place after the opening round of the final USGA
Women’s State Team Championship at The Club of Las Campanas’ Sunrise Course in
Santa Fe, N.M.
Katie Miller, the PIAA champion in 1999, 2000 and 2002 and
the runnerup in 2001 at Hempfield Area, and Aurora Kan, the 2010 PIAA champion
after runnerup finishes in 2008 and 2009 at Chichester, had the two counting
scores among the three women who made up the Pennsylvania team.
The 32-year-old Miller, a former North Carolina standout, and
the 23-year-old Kan, who starred collegiately at Purdue, teamed up in the U.S.
Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship earlier this year at The Dunes Golf
& Beach Club in Myrtle Beach, S.C., earning a spot in the match-play
bracket before falling in the first round.
Miller, who captured the Pennsylvania Women’s Amateur crown
for the second time in three years this summer at West Shore Country Club, fired
a 1-over-par 73 over the 6,183-yard, par-72 Sunrise Course. That total left her
among a group of eight players tied for eighth in the individual scoring.
But it is the team that matters the most in this event. Kan,
playing in her 11th USGA event, teamed with former Radnor High
standout Brynn Walker, a sophomore at North Carolina, and former Penn State
standout Ellen Ceresko to give Pennsylvania a third-place finish in the 2015
USGA Women’s State Team Championship at Dalhousie Golf Club in Cape Girardeau,
Mo.
The USGA has decided to discontinue the event after this
year, which is a shame. With players on college rosters not allowed to play,
the state teams are an eclectic mix of junior phenoms, recent college graduates
and veteran mid-amateurs and senior amateurs.
Kan carded a 78 Tuesday, which, combined with Miller’s 73
gave Pennsylvania a 7-over 151 total.
The third member of Team Pennsylvania is former Penn State
standout Katrin Wolfe, who is in charge of athletics compliance at
Pitt-Johnstown. The 35-year-old Wolfe finished just behind Miller in third in
the 2001 PIAA Championship as a high school standout at Westmont-Hilltop.
Wolfe, who fell to Miller in the semifinals of the state Women’s Amateur at
West Shore this summer, carded an opening-round 85, which the Keystone State
squad was able to toss.
Leading the way after Day 1 of the three-day event was New
York as Ina Kim, a 34-year-old former collegiate standout at Northwestern, and
New York Women’s Amateur champion Marianna Monaco of Yonkers each carded a
1-under 71 to give the Empire State a 2-under 142 total.
Kim, who returned to competitive golf last year after establishing
her career in finance, and Monaco are tied for third in the individual
standings.
Arizona is in second place at 1-over 145 as Thuhashini
Selvaratnam, the 2006 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur runnerup, matched par with a 72
and junior standout Ashley Menne of Surprise, Ariz. carded a 1-over 73.
Each of Florida’s three players carded a 1-over 73, whether
it was a 13-year-old phenom Alexa Pano or 39-year-old Meghan Stasi, the
four-time U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur and eight-time Philadelphia Women’s Amateur
champion or 44-year-old Tara Joy-Connelly, a dominant amateur player in
Massachusetts before relocating to Palm Beach Gardens.
That left the Sunshine State tied with two other states for
third at 1-over 146. Pano, Stasi and Joy-Connelly
are part of that group tied for eighth in the individual standings.
Riley Rennell, a 19-year-old who bypassed college golf to
pursue professional golf, but has not yet pulled the trigger, has the
individual lead with a 4-under 68 that helped Tennessee join Florida in the
group tied for third at 2-over 146. Junior standout Ashley Gilliam added a 78
for Tennessee.
North Carolina rounded out the trio of teams tied for third
at 2-over 146. Sarah Bae, who wrapped up her collegiate career at North
Carolina State last spring, matched par with a 72 and Courtney McKim, a member
of Alabama’s 2013 NCAA championship team, carded a 2-over 74.
Delaware, the youngest team in the field with three
Wilmington scholastic standouts representing the First State, is tied for 14th
with Michigan at 8-over 152.
Delaware was led by 15-year-old Phoebe Brinker, who fired an
even-par 72. Brinker, who plays at Archmere Academy, finished tied for 21st
in the Girls Junior PGA Championship at The Country Club of St. Albans in St.
Albans, Mo. this summer. Brinker is tied with North Carolina’s Bae and Arizona’s
Selvaratnam for fifth in the individual scoring.
Jennifer Cleary, a 16-year-old who plays at Tower Hill, carded
an 80. Cleary had an outstanding summer, finishing tied for 65th in
the Girls Junior PGA Championship and just missing match play in the U.S.
Girls’ Junior Championship at Boone Valley Golf Club in Augusta, Mo.
Esther Park, a 16-year-old who plays at The Charter
Wilmington Academy, added an 82. Park defeated Brinker in a playoff for the
Delaware scholastic title last spring.
New Jersey is a shot behind Delaware and Michigan in 16th
at 9-over 153.
The Garden State was led by Kelly Sim, a senior at the
Academy of the Holy Angels in North Jersey who has committed to Northwestern,
with a 76 and Tara Fleming, a 50-year old from Jersey City, with a 77. Fleming
is coming off a run to the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Championship at Waverly
Country Club in Portland, Ore. earlier this month.
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