It is an older and wiser Brynn Walker who will have a
starting time when the ShopRite LPGA Classic tees off Friday at the Seaview
Hotel & Golf Club’s Bay Course in Galloway Township, N.J., across the bay
from Atlantic City.
The North Carolina senior matched par on the Bay Course in
Monday’s open qualifier for the annual LPGA stop at the Jersey Shore, then
bested Rachel Drummond of England on the second hole of a playoff to earn a
spot in the field for the first time since the week before she graduated from
Radnor High in 2016.
It was the sixth time that Walker has tried to qualify for
the ShopRite and early on tournament officials exempted her into the Monday open
qualifier, allowing her to bypass the Sunday amateur qualifier.
The Sunday amateur qualifier, dubbed the Battle on the Bay,
was won by Rolling Green Golf Club’s 13-year-old phenom Sydney Yermish, who
carded a 2-over 73 and earned the opportunity to play in Monday’s open
qualifier. More on her later.
Australian Eunice Kim, who plays on the Symetra Tour, earned
the other ticket into the field for the ShopRite by claiming medalist honors
with a 1-under 70.
Walker and Drummond each carded an even-par 71 and headed
out to the 10th hole for a playoff. Both players made bogey to
extend the playoff. Walker shrugged off the temporary setback.
“I’ve played enough golf to know not to let mistakes like
that bother me,” Walker, winner of the 2014 and 2015 PIAA Class AAA crowns at
Radnor, told The Press of Atlantic City. “You just deal with it and move
on.”
Walker then parred the 18th hole to finish the
playoff.
Walker, who plays out of St. Davids Golf Club, is a much
more experienced player than the 18-year-old kid who teed it up in the ShopRite
in 2016. She and her U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship partner
Madelein Herr, a Council Rock North standout, had just completed a run to the
quarterfinals at the Streamsong Resort’s Blue Course.
But other than that, there weren’t a whole lot of
competitive opportunities for a high school senior that spring. This year
Walker will be coming off the spring portion of her junior season at North
Carolina. It ended in disappointing fashion for the Tar Heels as they failed to
advance out of the NCAA East Lansing Regional with a 13th-place
finish, but Walker has already played a lot of golf in high-leverage situations
– that’s a term the baseball guys use these days when they bring in a reliever
with guys on base on the road -- in 2019.
I’ve had a few parents of college golfers tell me that their
junior year is the most demanding academically, so Walker is probably happy to
have that behind her.
Three years ago, Walker started on the back nine at
Seaview’s Bay Course and was 9-over after six holes and promptly rattled off
four straight birdies in a pretty remarkable display of resilience for a high
school kid playing in an LPGA event for the first time.
Walker carded a roller-coaster ride of an 80 in that opening
round before adding a 4-over 75 in the second round for a 13-over 155 total
that missed the cut.
Before this spring’s NCAA regional, Walker put two pretty
good rounds together in a U.S. Women’s Open qualifier at Forsgate Country
Club’s Banks Course. Her 3-over 145 total didn’t get her to last week’s
National Open at the Country Club of Charleston, but it was a pretty solid showing.
Yermish also teed it up at Forsgate. Her appearance in the
U.S. Women’s Open qualifier came on the heels of an ultimately disappointing
showing in the Drive, Chip & Putt National Finals at Augusta National Golf
Club the Sunday before the Masters.
Yermish, competing in the Girls 12-13 age group, bombed her
drive and won that portion of the competition, but fell out of contention with
a poor chip and was in the middle of the pack in the putting. Yermish finished
with 17 points to finish fifth.
But she was on television on the first Sunday of April at
Augusta National, so it’s hard to judge the whole experience as anything but a
success.
After surprising probably everybody but herself with her
2-over 73 in Sunday’s amateur qualifier at the Bay Course, Yermish carded a
10-over 81 in Monday’s open qualifier to finish in a tie for 24th in
a field populated by pros and top college players.
Yermish is going to be tough competing against girls her age
this summer. After earning a trip to the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship last
summer, Yermish has done nothing but keep improving.
Just missing out on the playoff involving Walker and
Drummond in Monday’s open qualifier was Sam Wagner, the Easton native and
former Florida standout. Wagner finished fourth with a 1-over 72.
Two years ago Wagner earned medalist honors in a U.S.
Women’s Open qualifier at Hidden Creek Golf Club in Egg Harbor Township, N.J.
and promptly turned pro. She made her pro debut in the U.S. Women’s Open at
Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J.
Wagner has struggled as a fledgling pro. She was coming off
a tie for 47th at 1-under 212 in the Valley Forge Invitational, the
Symetra Tour event at Raven’s Claw Golf Club in Limerick Township that wrapped
up Sunday. I’m planning to do a little more extensive look back at the second
playing of the Valley Forge Invitational in a post later this week
It was a homecoming at Seaview for Baltimore Country Club
teaching pro Joanna Coe, a Mays Landing, N.J. native and Oakcrest High School
product. Coe finished in a tie for eighth with a 3-over 74.
It’s been a pretty successful 2019 for Coe, who got it
started with a victory in the PGA Women’s Stroke Play Championship in Florida
early in the year. She was the highest female finisher in the PGA Professional
Championship at Belfair in Bluffton, S.C. in April. Coe and Overbrook Golf Club
assistant pro Ashley Grier were the first women ever to play four rounds in the
PGA Professional Championship.
Coe will tee it up later this month in the KPMG Women’s PGA
Championship, an LPGA major, at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn.
It is the second straight appearance in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship for
Coe.
The KPMG Women’s PGA Championship comes to the Philadelphia
area next year when it is staged at Aronimink Golf Club, the Donald Ross gem in
Newtown Square.
Also in the group tied for eighth at 3-over 74 was Walker’s
old scholastic rival, Jackie Rogowicz, who wrapped up an outstanding career at
Penn State this spring. Rogowicz was a two-time District One champion at
Pennsbury.
Rogowicz and Coe earned the two tickets into the ShopRite
field in the open Monday qualifier a year ago.
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