Riley Quartermain will be a senior on the North Carolina women’s golf team in the fall.
A product of the junior program at Llanerch Country Club and a scholastic standout Haverford High, Quartermain fought her way onto the roster with the Tar Heels.
Quartermain lost the high school postseason of her senior season to the coronavirus pandemic. Pretty sure that had something to do with her not being highly recruited. But she went ahead and headed for Chapel Hill and made a bet on herself.
North Carolina made it to the NCAA Championship as a team for the first time since 2017 in the spring, although Quartermain was not in the lineup for the ACC Championship or for the Tar Heels’ third-place finish in the NCAA Auburn Regional.
Something tells me Quartermain was still considered a valuable part of the team dynamic that led to the most successful season for North Carolina since former Radnor High standout Brynn Walker was a freshman in 2017.
Last week at Riverton Country Club in Cinnaminson, N.J., Quartermain pulled out a 1-up decision over Ava O’Sullivan, a scholastic standout at Downingtown East who is a junior at Bowling Green, in the final of the Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia (WGAP) Match Play Championship.
I’m sure it was a bit of a disappointment to the WGAP that only five players came out for its Match Play Championshi
But Quartermain seized the opportunity to put her name on the Glenna Collett Vare Cup alongside those of Meghan Stasi, a couple of Riverton legends in Ann Laughlin and Dottie Porter, Laura Hammond and Helen Sigel Wilson, among many, many others. The late Porter launched an amateur career that included five USGA championships out of Llanerch as well.
Quartermain lost in the semifinals of the WGAP Match Play Championship to Stasi a year ago when the legendary South Jersey native captured the title for the 10th time at Sandy Run Country Club. O’Sullivan lost to Stasi in the final of the WGAP Match Play Championship two years ago at Tavistock Country Club, the club that was the launching pad for Stasi’s brilliant amateur career.
Stasi will be the captain of the United States team when it takes on Great Britain & Ireland in the Curtis Cup Match next month at Sunningdale Golf Club in England.
Quartermain reached Thursday’s final with a 1-up decision over Honeybrook Golf Club’s Barbora Millichip in Wednesday’s semifinals.
I’ve seen Millichip, a native of the Czech Republic, pop up here and there on the golf scene and she earned a spot in the field for the 2022 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur at Fiddlesticks Country Club’s Long Mean Course in Fort Myers, Fla. out of a Golf Association of Philadelphia-administered qualifier at Stonewall’s North Course.
O’Sullivan, playing out of Applecross Country Club, cruised into the final with a 7 and 6 victory over Meghan Adams of Wilmington Country Club in the other semifinal match.
O’Sullivan was a two-time PIAA Class AAA qualifier and led Downingtown East to the state Class AAA team crown as a senior in 2021. After spending a year at Division II Converse, O’Sullivan went to Bowling Green, where she set a program record for scoring average for a season during the wraparound 2023-2024 campaign with a 75.18 average.
O’Sullivan finished in a tie for 37th place in the Mid-American Conference Championship with a 28-over 244 total at Pinnacle Golf Club in Grove City, Ohio. Bowling Green finished in eighth place in the team standings.
O’Sullivan, who was the medalist with a 2-under 71 in Monday’s qualifying round, got the jump on Quartermain in the final by winning the third hole. But Quartermain picked up wins at the fourth, sixth, seventh and ninth holes to take a commanding 3-up lead.
O’Sullivan, however, bounced back herself, rattling off three straight wins at the 11th, 12th and 13th holes to get the match back to even. Quartermain restored a 1-up edge by winning the 15th hole and held onto that advantage by grinding out halves on the final three holes.
In Tuesday’s lone quarterfinal match, Wilmington’s Adams advanced to the semifinals with a 6 and 5 victory over Emilee Barkley of Moselem Springs Golf Club.
Suzi Spotleson, playing out of the RiverCrest Golf Club & Preserve, captured the title in the Senior Match Play Championship for the second straight year with a 5 and 4 decision over Jane Sassman of DuPont Country Club.
Spotleson, winner of the WGAP Match Play Championship in 2015, jumped out to a 3-up advantage with wins at the first, fourth and fifth holes and never looked back.
Spotleson pulled out a 1-up decision over RiverCrest clubmate Lisa Klein in Wednesday’s semifinals.
Sassaman took out a tough customer in her semifinal match as she edged Stephenie Harris of Huntingdon Valley Country Club, 1-up.
Harris punched her ticket to next month’s U.S. Senior Women’s Open at Fox Chapel Golf Club in suburban Pittsburgh in a GAP-administered qualifier last month at White Manor Country Club.
Karen Siegel, an assistant coach for the Penn women’s golf team playing out of Commonwealth National Golf Club, had earned medalist honors in qualifying for match play with a 2-over 75.
Harris knocked off Siegel, 3 and 2, in the marquee matchup in the quarterfinals.
Tavistock’s Susie Kirk captured the title in the Senior First flight as she edged Anne Sonoga of Medford Village Country Club, 1-up, in the final.
Julie Smack of DuPont Country Club claimed the title in Senior Second flight as she went 21 holes to pull out a victory over Lisa Dichter of Meadia Heights Golf Club in a thrilling final.
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