Merion Golf Club’s Catherine Elliott-Powell finally made the
match-play bracket in her third straight appearance in the U.S. Women’s
Mid-Amateur Championship this week at Forest Highlands Golf Club’s Meadows
Course.
Monday, Elliott-Powell, who helped Penn win an Ivy League
championship in 2010, won in her first shot at a U.S. Women’s Mid-Am match,
claiming a 3 and 2 victory over Cali Hipp of Caldwell, Idaho.
Elliott-Powell, a Philadelphia resident, will be joined in
the second round by Coatesville’s Kelli Pry, a 3 and 2 winner over Mari Miezwa
of Brooklyn Park, Minn., eight-time Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia
Match Play Championship winner and four-time U.S. Women’s Mid-Am champion
Meghan Stasi, who claimed a 4 and 3 victory over Christina Proteau of Canada, 4
and 3, and three-time Pennsylvania Women’s Amateur champion Katie Miller, who
knocked off Amanda Jacobs of Portland, Ore., 5 and 3.
Elliott-Powell won the second hole with a par and never
trailed in her match. She finished off Hipp by winning the 15th and
16th holes with pars.
Elliott-Powell, who came out of a Golf Association of
Philadelphia-administered qualifier at Whitford Country Club, gets a tough
assignment in the second round as she’ll take on third-seeded Michelle Butler
of Columbia, Mo.
Butler, a semifinalist in the U.S. Women’s Mid-Am a year ago
at Norwood Hills Country Club in St. Louis, advanced with a 4 and 3 victory
over Erin Packer of Peachtree City, Ga.
Pry was locked in a tight battle with Miezwa before Pry won
the 14th hole with a par and the 15th hole with a birdie.
Pry closed it out with an eagle on the 16th hole.
Pry will take on Ket Preamchuen Vanderpool of Thailand, a 4
and 3 winner over Tina Popatolis of Canada, in Tuesday’s second round.
Stasi, an Eastern High product who starred collegiately at
Tulane, also faces a tough second-round assignment when she squares off against
second-seeded Heather Wall of Lakeland, Fla. Wall, who shared second in
qualifying for match play with Butler at even-par 144, rolled to a 5 and 4
decision over Susan Curtin of Westwood, Mass. in her first-round match.
Miller, a three-time PIAA champion at Hempfield Area before
going on to an outstanding college career at North Carolina, will face Old
Dominion women’s golf coach Mallory Hetzel in the second round. Hetzel advanced
with a 3 and 1 victory over Julia Hodgson of Canada.
Defending champion Shannon Johnson of Easton, Mass. survived
the opening round as she sent her match with Noelle Maertz of Clark, N.J. to
extra holes by winning the 18th hole with a par before finally
putting Maertz away on the 22nd hole.
That sets up an intriguing second-round match between
Johnson and Ellen Port, a four-time U.S. Women’s Mid-Am and three-time U.S.
Senior Women’s Amateur champion from St. Louis. Port advanced with a 2 and 1
victory over Sydney Ramskill of Salinas, Calif.
Qualifying medalist Julia Potter-Bobb, a two-time U.S.
Women’s Mid-Am winner, reached the second round with a hard-fought 2-up victory
over Whitney French of Monarch Beach, Calif. Potter-Bobb will take on Marilyn
Hardy of Magnolia, Texas, a 2 and 1 winner over Michelle Jarman of Wilmington,
N.C., in the second round.
Potter-Bobb defeated Johnson in the final to win the second
of her two U.S. Women’s Mid-Am crowns in 2016 at The Kahkwa Club in Erie.
The winners of Tuesday morning’s second-round matches will
turn right around and play the round of 16 Tuesday afternoon. Weather
permitting, only eight players will be left standing by the end of the day
Tuesday.
The local contingent at the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship at
Colorado Golf Club in Parker, Colo. did not fare as well as the ladies did.
Brandon Dalinka, a member of Council Rock North’s 2008 PIAA
championship team, made a stirring comeback to send his opening-round match
against David Noll Jr. to extra holes before falling on the 21st
hole.
Dalinka, a New York City resident who plays out of The Ridge
at Back Brook, was 2-down when he launched his comeback, winning the 14th
and 16th holes with birdies to square the match. Noll pulled out the
victory with a birdie on the 21st hole.
Will Davenport, who captured the GAP Middle-Amateur
Championship at Rolling Green Golf Club last spring, had the misfortune of
drawing Stewart Hagestad, the winner of the 2016 U.S. Mid-Am at Stonewall, in his
opening-round match.
Hagestad, who has risen to No. 6 in the World Amateur Golf
Ranking (WAGR), won five straight holes on the front nine on his way to a 4 and
3 victory over Davenport, who plays out of Whitemarsh Valley Country Club.
Hagestad helped the United States rally to retain possession of the Walker Cup
at Royal Liverpool Golf Club in Hoylake, England earlier this month.
Michael R. Brown Jr., owner of three GAP major championships
(2009 Middle-Amateur, 2010 Philadelphia Open, 2018 Patterson Cup), suffered a 3
and 2 setback at the hands of Alejandro Villavicencio of Guatemala in his
opening-round match.
Villavicencio built an early 3-up lead and never allowed
Brown, a Maple Shade, N.J. resident who plays out of LuLu Country Club, to get
back in the match.
Yaroslav Merkulou of Penfield, N.Y., who, like Davenport,
punched his ticket to Colorado out of the GAP-administered qualifier at Indian
Valley Country Club, advanced with a 1-up victory over Brett Boner, the
runnerup a year ago at his hometown Charlotte Country Club. Merkulou rallied
from a 2-down deficit after 10 holes with a back-nine surge.
Nathan Smith, a four-time U.S. Mid-Am champion from
Pittsburgh, saw his bid for a fifth title stopped with a 5 and 4 loss to
Stephen Hale of Bakersfield, Calif.
The match of the day saw Derek Busby of Ruston, La. oust
Scott Harvey, the 2014 U.S. Mid-Am champion at Saucon Valley Country Club and
the runnerup to Hagestad in 2016 at Stonewall, in a 23-hole thriller. Busby
squared the match with a birdie at the 16th hole before finally
pulling out the victory on the fifth extra hole.
Another former champion to get sent packing was Matt
Parziale, the Brockton, Mass. firefighter who claimed the title in 2017.
Parziale suffered at 4 and 3 setback at the hands of Jeremy Gearheart of
Atascadero, Calif.
Defending champion Kevin O’Connell of Jacksonville, Fla.
advanced with a 4 and 3 victory over Andrew Wyatt of Midland, Texas.
Ben Warnquist, the qualifying medalist from Gaithersburg,
Md., survived with a 2-up victory over Joey Savoie of Canada. It was a long day
for Savoie, who was the final survivor of an 18-man playoff for the final six
spots in the match-play bracket. It took Savoie nine holes to earn the right to
face Warnquist, who played collegiately at Maryland.
Like the women, two rounds of match play are scheduled for
Tuesday at the U.S. Mid-Amateur. The quarterfinals should be set by the end of
the day.
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