Xavier's McMyler captures title in The Sally; LSU's Clark the winner of Citrus Golf Trail Ladies Invitational

    The events that make up the unofficial Orange Blossom Tour of women’s amateur events in Florida in late December and into February each year have always fallen into a sweet spot for the T Mac Tees Off golf blog.

   There isn’t a whole lot going on on the amateur golf scene and college golf remains on hiatus until late January or early February. I think I first discovered the Orange Blossom Tour when one or more of the college gals I used to follow when I was at the Delaware County Daily Times teed it up in the Harder Hall Invitational or The Sally.

   I was able to find some results on last month’s Dixie Amateur, but results were hard to come by for the Harder Hall, rebranded as the Citrus Golf Trail Ladies Invitational, and The Sally, which wrapped up Saturday at Oceanside Country Club in Ormond Beach, Fla.

   AmateurGolf.com, always an excellent resource for amateur golf of any kind, did round up both events when they were completed, so this post piggybacks pretty heavily on its coverage. But I’m only working with the top five or six finishers AmateurGolf.com includes with its roundups, so I apologize if I’m missing somebody from the Philadelphia region who teed it up in either event for not including them in this post.

   The Women’s South Atlantic Amateur Championship – The Sally – has a long and distinguished history, dating back to 1926 with all of that history having been written at Oceanside.

   Xavier’s Emma McMyler, a sophomore from San Antonio, Texas, held off Michelle Zhang of Plano, Texas via China, who will join the Southern Methodist program at the end of this summer, by a shot to claim the title in The Sally with a 1-under-par 287 total.

   McMyler was the Freshman of the Year and the Player of the Year in the Big East last spring. She finished in a tie for eighth place in the individual standings to help the Musketeers capture the Big East team crown at The Club at Gateway in Fort Myers, Fla. and earn a spot in the NCAA’s Louisville Regional.

   After matching par in the opening round Wednesday with a 72 at Oceanside, McMyler put together back-to-back 2-under 70s that gave her a two-shot lead over Zhang heading into the final round with a 4-under 212 total.

   McMyler and Zhang had separated themselves from the rest of the field so much that even though neither played all that well in the final round, nobody else was able to get into the picture. McMyler closed with a 3-over 75 while Zhang closed with a 2-over 74 to earn runnerup honors with an even-par 288 total.

   Zhang opened with a sparkling 3-under 69 and added a 1-under 71 in Thursday’s second round. A third-round 74 left her two shots behind McMyler heading into the final round before she closed with another 74. Zhang was coming off a solid tie for fifth place in last month’s Women’s Dixie Amateur Championship at the Palm Aire Country Club in Pompano Beach, Fla.

   Auburn’s Megan Schofill, a junior from Monticello, Fla. and No. 50 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), had a strong finish, her 2-under 70 enabling her to finish a shot behind Zhang in third place with a 1-over 289 total.

   Schofill helped the Tigers capture the Southeastern Conference championship last spring and Auburn advanced out of the Louisville Regional to the NCAA Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.

   Auburn did survive the cut to the top 15 teams for the final day of the team competition at Grayhawk, but never really got in the hunt for spot among the top eight that made up the match-play bracket. Auburn entered college golf’s midseason sojourn at No. 12 in the Golfstat rankings.

   I devoted a lot of my post on the Women’s Dixie Amateur last month to Gianna Clemente, the 13-year-old phenom from Warren, Ohio. Clemente finished in seventh place, but not before lighting up the Palm Aire layout with a dazzling 7-under 64 in the second round that vaulted her to the top of the leaderboard at the halfway point.

   Clemente saved her best for last in The Sally as she tamed the Oceanside layout with a 3-under 69 in Saturday’s final round to share fourth place with Kaitlyn Schroeder, a junior standout from Jacksonville, Fla. at 2-over 290. Clemente sandwiched a second-round 75 with a pair of 1-over 73s in the first three rounds.

   Schroeder was impressive in finishing in a tie for fourth place in the marquee event on the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) circuit, the Rolex Tournament of Champions, which wrapped up Thanksgiving weekend at the PGA National Resort & Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. Schroeder also made a run to the quarterfinals in last summer’s U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship at Columbia Country Club in Havre de Grace, Md.

   Schroeder matched par in the opening round with a 72 at Oceanside, added a 1-over 73 in the second round and a 2-over 74 in Friday’s third round before closing with her best round of the week, a 1-under 71 that earned her a share of fourth place with Clemente at 2-over.

   The Harder Hill Invitational dated back to 1956 and its future appeared uncertain when Harder Hall Golf Club was scheduled to close in 2021. But the Sebring, Fla. golf community banded together to make sure that a good thing didn’t get away.

   The golf courses in the Sebring area known as the Citrus Golf Trail took over the event and rebranded it as the Citrus Golf Trail Ladies Invitational. The event will rotate among the courses on the Citrus Golf Trail beginning with the Sun ’N Lake Golf & Country Club.

   LSU freshman Lauren Clark of Orlando, Fla. rallied on the back nine of Sun ’N Lake’s Deer Run Course to overtake MinJi Kang of Duluth, Ga. via South Korea to claim a one-shot victory in the Citrus Golf Trail Ladies Invitational, which wrapped up on New Year’s Eve.

   Kang, a freshman at Truett McConnell, an NAIA school in Cleveland, Ga., fired a 4-under 68 in the third round that gave her a two-shot lead over Clark heading into the final round. Clark still trailed Kang by three shots heading to the back nine of Sun ’N Lake’s Deer Run Course.

   But Clark made back-to-back birdies at the 10^th and 11^th holes and rattled off seven straight pars for a final round of 2-under 70 that gave her a 1-under 287 total. Clark converted a tough up and down for par at the 17^th hole while Kang made a bogey that left her a shot behind Clark.

   Clark capped the fall portion of her freshman season at LSU by making a case for her inclusion in the starting lineup for the Bayou Tigers as she finished in a tie for 27^th place while competing as an individual in The Ally at Old Waverly Golf Club in West Point, Miss. LSU was 21^st in the Golfstat rankings when college golf took its midseason break.

   Clark carded back-to-back 1-under 71s at Sun ’N Lake’s Deer Run Course in the first two rounds of the Citrus Golf Trail Ladies Invitational. She fell two shots behind Kang with a 2-over 74 in the third round before rallying with her 70 in a final round which was delayed two hours at the start by fog.

   Kang, who finished third in the Harder Hall a year ago, added a 2-over 74 to her opening-round 73 before moving to the top of the leaderboard with her sparkling 68 in the third round. Kang closed with another 73 that left her a shot behind Clark in second place with an even-par 288 total.

   Florida’s Taylor Roberts, a sophomore from Parkland, Fla., came on strong with a 5-under 67 in the third round and a final round of 1-under 71 to finish alone in third place with a 2-over 290 total.

   As a freshman, Roberts helped Florida State win the team title in the NCAA’s Louisville Regional, the first regional team crown in the history of the Seminoles’ program. Florida State’s in-state rival Florida announced in early November that Roberts would be transferring and joining the Gators. That’s a pretty nice addition to the lineup for Florida, No. 5 in the Golfstat rankings entering the midseason break, for the upcoming spring portion of the 2021-2022 season.

   Katie Li, the talented junior player from Basking Ridge, N.J., closed with a solid 1-under 71 to get a share of fourth place with reigning Canadian Women’s Amateur champion Lauren Zeretsky, each landing on 3-over 291, a shot behind Roberts.

   Li, who plans to join the program at Atlantic Coast Conference power Duke in the summer of 2023, made a nice run to the semifinals of the U.S. Girls’ Junior at Columbia last summer. She finished in a tie for 52^nd place in the AJGA’s Rolex Tournament of Champions in November.

   Li opened with back-to-back 74s at Sun ’N Lake’s Deer Run Course and matched par in the third round with a 72 before her closing 71.

   Zeretsky, a native of Canada who will join the Texas Tech program this summer, added a 74 to her opening round of 1-over 73 before surging into contention with a solid 3-under 69 in the third round. Zeretsky closed with a 75 to join Li at 3-over.