Wake Forest sophomore Emilia Migliaccio, the Atlantic Coast
Conference’s Rookie of the Year during an outstanding freshman campaign in
2017-’18, appears ready for the spring portion of the 2018-’19 season as she
captured the title in a playoff with Stanford recruit Angelina Ye in the 64th
Harder Hall Women’s Invitational, which wrapped up Saturday at the Harder Hall
Golf Club in Sebring, Fla.
Migliaccio, coming off a strong fall campaign that included
an impressive four-shot victory over a strong field in the Ruth’s Chris Tar
Heel Invitational at the University of North Carolina’s Finley Golf Course in
Chapel Hill, N.C., birdied the 72nd hole to catch Ye at 1-over 289
and then prevailed on the third hole of a playoff when Ye yanked a 5-iron shot
out of bounds.
Migliaccio of Cary, N.C. drilled a gap wedge from 117 yards
away to three feet and converted the birdie try at the last to complete a
1-under-par 71 over a tough Harder Hall layout that yielded very few sub-par
rounds in some typically windy and chilly South Florida January weather.
Migliaccio, who has risen to No. 21 in the Women’s World
Amateur Golf Ranking, was solid throughout, building a one-shot lead through 54
holes with a 1-over 73 in Wednesday’s opening round, an even-par 72 when the
temperature plummeted and the winds came up in Thursday’s second round and a
1-over 73 in Friday’s third round.
Ye had the best round of the tournament Saturday, making
five birdies in a sparkling 4-under 68 that almost stole her the championship.
Ye had matched Migliaccio’s opening-round 73, but struggled to a 78 in
Thursday’s tough conditions before bouncing back with a 2-under 70 Friday that
got her back into contention.
Ye is a native of China who moved to South Florida to attend
the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla. She teamed with fellow teen Yuchon Chang of
Chinese Taipei to reach the final of last year’s U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball
Championship before falling to the Colorado State pair of Katrina Prendergast
and Ellen Secor, 1-up, at El Cabellero Country Club in Tarzana, Calif.
Another teen phenom who is playing out of IMG in Bradenton
these days, Annabell Fuller, a member of the Great Britain & Ireland Curtis
Cup team last summer, shared third place with one of Migliaccio’s ACC rivals
and a fellow North Carolinian, Anna Redding, a senior at Virginia from Concord,
N.C., at 5-over 293, four shots behind the top two.
Fuller finished up with a solid 1-over 73 Saturday. Her
final assignment in GB&I’s 17-3 loss to a loaded U.S. team in the Curtis
Cup Match at Quaker Ridge Golf Club was a singles match against Kristen
Gillman, who would go on to win her second U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship
later in the summer and will begin 2019 on the LPGA Tour. Fuller lost 5 and 4,
but the experience a young player gains by taking on somebody of Gillman’s
stature on an international stage is immeasurable.
Redding had a share of the opening-round lead with an
even-par 72 and finished up with a 2-over 74. She was the runnerup to
Migliaccio in another of the Orange Blossom Tour circuit’s series of women’s
amateur events, The Women’s South Atlantic Amateur Championship, better known
as The Sally.
The 2019 Sally tees off Wednesday at Oceanside Country Club
in Ormond Beach, Fla, although Migliaccio won’t be able to defend her title as
she has to hustle back to Wake Forest.
Redding seems to save some of her best stuff for the Pinehurst
Resort. She was a quarterfinalist in last summer’s North & South Women’s
Amateur and is a tough customer at Pinehurst No. 2, the Donald Ross masterpiece
which will host this summer’s U.S. Amateur.
A couple of North Carolina Tar Heels teed it up in the Harder
Hall, Mariana Ocano, a junior from St. Petersburg, Fla., and junior Brynn
Walker, a two-time PIAA champion at Radnor High who plays out of St. Davids Golf
Club.
Ocano fired a 1-under 71 in the final round to get a share
of seventh place with South Florida teen phenom Latanna Stone at 298. Stone, a
17-year-old from Valrico, Fla. who has committed to LSU, was one of the three
co-leaders after the opening round at even-par 72, struggled a little in the
middle two rounds, but again matched par in the final round with a bookend 72.
Walker, trying to kick some rust off her game, was one of
four players who finished tied for 13th at 307. After opening with a
75, Walker skied to an 80 in Thursday’s tough conditions before finishing up
with a pair of 76s.
Ocano and Walker have high hopes that the Tar Heels can
return to the NCAA Championship this spring at The Blessings Golf Club in
Fayetteville, Ark. after they came up just short of advancing out of last
spring’s San Francisco Regional. North Carolina is No. 32 in the midseason
rankings by Golfstat.
Mixing it up with the youngsters at the Harder Hall was
four-time U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur
champion Meghan Stasi, the 40-year-old South Jersey native who resides
in Oakland Park, Fla. and won the Harder Hall in 2014.
An eight-time winner of the Women’s Golf Association of
Philadelphia’s Match-Play Championship, Stasi matched par in the final round
with a 72 to finish alone in 12th at 306, a shot ahead of Walker and
the three others tied for 13th.
Stasi reached the quarterfinals of last fall’s U.S. Women’s
Mid-Am before dropping a 3 and 2 decision to defending champion Kelsey Chugg at
Norwood Hills Country Club in St. Louis.
China’s Tuan-Yi Chiang, a junior at Baylor, finished alone
in fifth place at 295, two shots behind Annabell Fuller and Redding. Chiang
matched par in the final round with a 72.
Yoon Min Han, a South Korean teen, was another shot behind
Chiang in sixth place at 296. Han was one of the three co-leaders following the
opening round when she fired a 72. She struggled a little in the middle rounds
before finishing up with a bookend even-par 72.
Annabell wasn’t the only Fuller in the field as older sister
Samantha also earned a top-10 finish, ending up alone in ninth at 302, a shot
behind Stone and Ocano.
The 19-year-old Samantha Fuller once considered turning pro
after high school before injuries slowed her journey. She plays at NAIA power
Keiser University in West Palm Beach, Fla. and plans to head for UNLV and
Division I golf at the end of the summer. She finished up with a 3-over 75.
Sarah Bae, a native of South Korea who moved to Pinehurst,
N.C. as a youngster, and Maria Donado, a freshman at the University of
Alabama-Birmingham from Colombia, shared 10th place at 303, a shot
behind Samantha Fuller. Bae finished up with a 76 while Donado carded a
final-round 79.
Joining Walker in the group tied for 13th at 307
were Ffion Tynan, a junior standout from Wales, Riley Smyth, a freshman
teammate of Redding’s at Virginia and, like Miglicaccio, a native of Cary,
N.C., and Sebring home girl Kendall Griffin, a sophomore at LSU who has been
playing in the Harder Hall since she was 10.
Tynan bounced back impressively from an opening-round 82
with an even-par 72, one of the better rounds in Thursday’s tough conditions.
After a 2-over 74 in Friday’s third round, she finished up with a 79.
Smyth finished with a solid 2-over 74 and Griffin posted a
4-over 76 in Saturday’s final round.
Kathy Glennon, the reigning Missouri Senior Women’s Amateur
champion from Wildwood, Mo., was a four-shot winner of the Forever Forty-Nine
Division with a 315 total. After stringing together consecutive 77s in the
first three rounds, Glennon carded an 84 in Saturday’s final round.
Diane Lang tried to rally with a final-round 77, but settled
for runnerup honors at 319.
Merion Golf Club’s ageless Liz Haines – she turned 70 at
some point last year – finished 12th at 341. After a solid 80 in the
third round, Haines struggled a little with a final-round 89.
Elin Tynan won the Ben Roman Marge Burns Flight by eight
shots with a 246 total. After rounds of 81 and 80, she finished up with an 85.
Clate Aydlett and Becky Krakowski shared second place at
254. Aydlett had a final-round 84 and Krakowski caught her for second with a
solid 80.
Shannon Smith was a three-shot winner of the Ben Roman Tish
Preuss Flight at 278 after a final-round 92. Shelly Barkei was the runnerup at
281 after a final-round 94.
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