Stasi edges Gimpel in final to capture WGAP Match Play Championship crown for a 10th time

 

   There were a few different reasons why Meghan Stasi would show up for the Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia (WGAP) Match Play Championship last week at Sandy Run Country Club in Oreland.

   When the four-time U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion won the WGAP Match Play Championship title last summer at Tavistock Country Club, it was the ninth time Stasi had won it. It was from Tavistock where Stasi’s stellar amateur was launched.

   She won the crown seven straight times as a younger woman, then known as Meghan Bolger, from 1999 to 2005.

   But Stasi has lived in the Fort Lauderdale, Fla. area for a while now, helping out her husband Danny Stasi with his popular Shuck n Dive restaurant that features Chef Staz’s cajun specialties.

   Maybe Stasi’s making time on her summertime schedule to come home because she realized at some point that the late, great Helen Sigel Wilson’s WGAP Match Play Championship record of 12 is within reach. Helen Sigel Wilson was a pioneering woman as a restaurant owner in Philadelphia and on the Main Line.

   Actually my count for Wilson was 14 nine years ago when I did a post on Stasi’s eighth title back when this blog was more of a supplement to my golf coverage in the Delaware County Daily Times. I just haven’t been able to figure out how to access the WGAP archives to check on that after what, I’m sure, have been several updates and improvements to the WGAP website in the interim.

   Another reason Stasi may have come home was to play on some bent-grass greens as she will be teeing it up in the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship in seven weeks or so at Stonewall’s North Course, the younger of Tom Doak’s twin gems in the northwest corner of Chester County.

   I know Stasi has already done at least one scouting mission to the “Udder Course” at Stonewall. It’s been 11 years since Stasi won the last of her four U.S. Mid-Am crowns, but she remains a very tough out in an event she once owned.

   Maybe you missed this, but in the winter it was announced that Stasi would be the captain for the U.S. for the 2024 Curtis Cup Match at Sunningdale Golf Club in England.

   Stasi, who played for the U.S. in the 2008 Curtis Cup Match at the Old Course at St. Andrews, admitted at the time that hanging out with the U.S. team in 2021 at Conwy Golf Club in Caernarvonshire, Wales and again last summer at Merion Golf Club’s historic East Course were inspirational experiences.

   If the competitive flame was starting to flicker for this golf lifer, maybe an assignment as the U.S. Curtis Cup captain might be all Stasi needed to get reinvigorated.

   Bottom line: Stasi hoisted the Glenna Collett Vare Cup for a 10^th time last week with a 2-up victory over Whitemarsh Valley Country Club’s Clare Gimpel, a junior at Coastal Carolina and a member of Mount St. Joseph’s 2019 PIAA Class AAA championship team, in the Amateur division championship flight final Thursday at Sandy Run.

   The WGAP Match Play Championship final had been a 36-hole affair for years, but it looks like this one was limited to 18 holes.

   That post I found in my increasingly deep T Mac Tees Off database on Stasi’s eighth WGAP Match Play Championship title in 2014 at Wilmington Country Club’s South Course revealed that she defeated Emily Gimpel, Clare’s older sister and a former Mount St. Joseph standout, in that final.

   The younger Gimpel put up a fight in the final, as you would expect. Stasi won the first hole with a birdie, but Gimpel evened the match when she took the third hold with a bogey and then took a 1-up lead by winning the fourth.

   Stasi won the fifth and sixth holes to take a 1-up lead, but Gimpel stuck her approach at eight to three feet for a birdie that squared the match before taking the ninth with a par to again take a 1-up advantage.

   Stasi evened things up again by taking the 11^th hole with a par and then opened up a 2-up advantage with wins at 13 and 14. A three-putt by Stasi at the 17^th hole enabled Gimpel to cut her deficit to 1-down and send the match to 18.

   Stasi stuck her approach close at the final hole and ultimately only needed to two-putt for a par to reach double figures in WGAP Match Play Championship career victories.

   Stasi had roared into the final with a 7 and 6 victory over Llanerch Country Club’s Riley Quartermain, who starred scholastically at Haverford and is a junior on the North Carolina golf team.

   Quartermain actually took a 1-up lead by winning the fourth hole before Stasi rattled off wins on the next eight holes in a row to close out the match.

   Gimpel staged a late rally to claim a 2-up victory over reigning Pennsylvania Women’s Amateur champion Jackie Rogowicz of Yardley Country Club in the other semifinal.

   Rogowicz, who starred scholastically at Pennsbury and collegiately at Penn State, took a 1-up edge in the match by winning the 14^th hole, but Gimpel won the 15^th, 17^th and 18^th holes to earn her spot in the final.

   Pretty sure Rogowicz will tee it up in the U.S. Women’s Mid-Am at Stonewall’s North Course in September. She is exempt from qualifying by virtue of reaching the round of 16 in last summer’s U.S. Women’s Mid-Am at Fiddlestick Country Club’s Long Mean Course in Fort Myers, Fla.

   Stasi had a bye in the opening round at Sandy Run and reached the semifinals with a 5 and 4 victory over Hamilton College junior Olivia Strigh of Medford Village Country Club.

   Gimpel also had a bye in the opening round and earned a 3 and 2 decision over Rose Zantek of host Sandy Run in the quarterfinals. Zantek had claimed a 4 and 2 victory over Gimpel’s old Mount St. Joseph teammate, Caroline Gola of Blue Bell Country Club, in the opening round. Gola is a sophomore on the Holy Cross golf team.

   Quartermain booked her spot in the semifinals with a 4 and 3 victory over Merion Golf Club’s Catherine Elliott, who starred scholastically at the Academy of Notre Dame and collegiately at Penn.

   Elliott has earned a spot in the match-play bracket in the U.S. Women’s Mid-Am a couple of times. It will be interesting to see if she gives it a shot to get in the field for this year’s U.S. Women’s Mid-Am at Stonewall’s North Course.

   Suzi Spotleson of RiverCrest Golf Club & Preserve came on strong to edge Amy Kennedy of Merion and capture the title in the Senior division’s championship flight with a 1-up victory.

   Spotleson trailed Kennedy, 2-down, with five holes to play, but evened the match by winning the 14^th and 16^th holes and then claimed the victory by taking the 18^th.

   Spotleson fell in the Senior division’s championship flight final a year ago to Loraine Jones, another senior standout at Merion.

   Spotleson knocked off legendary Merion veteran Liz Haines, who lost in the 2004 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur final, 5 and 3, in the semifinals.

   Kennedy rolled to a 7 and 6 victory over Lisa Klein, another RiverCrest representative, in the other semifinal.

   Qualifying for match play was rained out and seeds for the Senior division’s championship flight were established based on handicaps.

   Spotleson opened her bid for the Senior division title by ousting fellow RiverCrest entry Diane Bartunek, 4 and 2. The ageless Haines claimed a 3 and 2 verdict over Melana Regan of Philadelphia Cricket Club in another quarterfinal match.

   Kennedy had to work overtime to edge Susie Kirk of Tavistock on the 19^th hole and Klein rounded out the quarterfinal round with a 4 and 3 victory over Allison Long of Honeybrook Golf Club.

   Looped for Long in the local qualifier for last year’s U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship at Stonewall’s North Course. She can play and she really competes.

   In the Senior division First flight final, Ruth Averbeck of Old York Road Country Club claimed the title with a 2 and 1 victory over Riverton Country Club’s Ann Laughlin. Averbeck won the 16^th and 17^th holes to pull out the win.

   Laughlin is another legendary figure on the WGAP scene as she has won Match Play Championship 11 times.

   Linda Woolnough, another Honeybrook entry, staged a furious rally to edge Overbrook Golf Club’s Karen McFadden, 1-up, in the Second flight final to claim the title.

   Woolnough was 3-down with four holes to go and proceeded to win the last four holes to pull out the victory.

   Carol Landgraf, another Riverton entry, won the title in the Third flight with a 2 and 1 victory over Susan Simpson of Kennett Square Golf & Country Club in the final. Landgraf posted back-to-back wins at the 13^th and 14^th holes to take control of the match.