Zalsman's experience shows as she earns two-shot victory in The Sally's 100th birthday bash

 

   Amelie Zalsman is a Class of 2027 kid from St. Petersburg, Fla. who plans to join the program at Atlantic Coast Conference power Wake Forest two summers from now.

   You’d think maybe that’s kind of young to be holding off a field of talented youngsters like herself and college women with a ton of experience.

   But no, Zalsman was more than good enough, more than experienced enough to claim a two-shot victory over two-time defending champion Kary Hollenbaugh, a senior on the golf team at The Ohio State University from New Albany, Ohio in the South Atlantic Women’s Amateur Championship, The Sally for short, which wrapped up Saturday at Oceanside Country Club in Ormond Beach, Fla. not far from Daytona Beach.

   This was a big one for The Sally, which celebrated the 100^th anniversary of its first playing in 1926. They didn’t play The Sally for a few years during World War II, so it wasn’t quite the 100^th edition of the tournament, but it is an event with a long and storied tradition.

   Brentley Romine of The Golf Channel did a pretty nice job chronicling some of The Sally’s rich history in an advance that still lives if you Google the 2026 South Atlantic Women’s Amateur Championship.

   The Sally is one of the last vestiges of the Orange Blossom Tour, which was an unofficial series of events for amateur women in Florida in the winter.

   As I mentioned in my post on the Ione D. Jones/Doherty Championship, played down the East Coast of Florida in Fort Lauderdale last week, the two events have overlapped the last two years.

   From what I could gather from Romine’s piece, tournament officials at The Sally are trying to draw as strong a field as they can and waiting another week into January might prevent a lot of the college kids who are starting to return to campus for the start of the spring semester from considering playing in what is clearly a jewel for Oceanside.

   You’re never going to hear this golf blogger complaining about too many golf tournaments. Besides, the Jones/Doherty is match play and The Sally is 72 holes of stroke play, so take your pick. Either way, you’re playing golf in South Florida in January as opposed to 45 degrees with a cold rain that we had in the Philadelphia area Saturday.

   Zalsman took a share of the lead going into Saturday’s final round after a fairly spectacular third round Friday when she fired an 8-under 64 over the 6,200-yard, par-72 Oceanside layout which included an otherworldly stretch when she went 8-under in eight holes.

   That was only good enough to leave her tied for the lead because Mia Hammond, like Hollenbaugh a New Albany, Ohio kid, had gone off for a 64 of her own in Thursday’s second round after opening with a sparkling 6-under 66.

   Hammond, who will join the program at another ACC power, Duke, at the end of this summer, came back to the pack a little with a 1-under 71 in Friday’s third round that left her and Zalsman tied at 15-under.

   Zalsman has a little scar tissue in this situation as she had a share of the lead after 54 holes in the marquee event on the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) circuit, the Rolex Tournament of Champions, in the week leading up to Thanksgiving at TPC San Antonio and struggled a little in the final round and finished in third place.

   Zalsman was the defending champion in the Rolex Tournament of Championships last fall, which means she captured the title in that important junior event in 2024 when she was just 15.

   Earlier that year, Zalsman was one of two 15-year-olds in the field for the U.S. Women’s Open at Lancaster Country Club.

   So, she’s been on some big stages and that kind of experience paid off in a big way at Oceanside last week.

   After opening with a 1-under 71, Zalsman got herself in contention by matching Hammond’s 6-under 66 in Thursday’s second round.

   Zalsman just went off in the middle of Friday’s third round. After birdies at the fifth and sixth holes, she rattled off three straight birdies at eight, nine and 10. She made an eagle at the par-5 12^th hole and then another birdie at 13 before parring in to complete an 8-under round that drew her even with Hammond.

   But with some tricky Florida winds kicking in and the pressure of being in position to win the tournament, Zalsman matched par in the final round with a 72 for a 15-under 273 total that bettered Jessica Korda’s tournament record, established in 2010, by two shots.

   Zalsman made a birdie on the sixth hole, gave that shot back with a bogey at 11, made a birdie at 16 to give her some breathing room and finished up with a bogey at the last that she had the luxury of being able to afford.

   “The greens were very fast, so I thought it was very demanding, especially today,” Zalsman told The Golf Channel’s Romine. “lt was pretty windy, so I thought it definitely played a lot tougher than a couple of the other days out there. Just tried to stay focused today and I ended up coming out on top.”

   Hollenbaugh’s second straight win in The Sally a year ago proved to be a springboard for a big year in 2025.

   She helped the Buckeyes, under head coach Lisa Strom, the 1994 PIAA champion at Lansdale Catholic, reach the NCAA Championship at the Omni La Costa Resort in Carlsbad, Calif. by finishing in third place as the host of the Columbus Regional at Ohio State’s Scarlet Course.

   Hollenbaugh reached the round of 16 in the U.S. Women’s Amateur at the Bandon Dunes Resort in Oregon before falling to Stanford’s Megha Ganne, the eventual champion.

   Hollenbaugh has risen to No. 15 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) and will be one of a dozen candidates auditioning for a spot on the U.S. Curtis Cup team in a practice session next week at Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles, site of the Curtis Cup Match in June.

   Clearly, Hollenbaugh is in her comfort zone at Oceanside in January. She matched her fellow New Albany representative Hammond in the opening round with a 6-under 66, added a 2-under 70 in Thursday’s second round and a 4-under 68 in the third round that left her three shots behind Zalsman and Hammond going into the final round.

   Hollenbaugh probably lost all chance for a threeepeat in The Sally when she made bogeys at the first and second holes and bogeys at eight and nine around a birdie at seven.

   But Hollenbaugh showed her class on the incoming nine, rattling off birdies at the 11^th, 12^th, 15^th, 16^th and 17^th holes before making a bogey at the last. It added up to a 1-under 71 and enabled her to blow by Hammond and earn a runnerup finish with a 13-under 75 total that would have won – or at least forced a playoff – in every one of the 97 playings of The Sally but this one.

   Hammond struggled a little in the final round with a 4-over 76, but easily held third place with an 11-under 277 total.

   It was another four shots back to Katelyn Huber, a freshman at Southeastern Conference power Florida from Gainesville, Fla. who took fourth place with a 7-under 281 total. Huber finished in a tie for seventh place in The Sally a year ago.

   After matching par in the opening round with a 72, Huber surged into contention with a sizzling 7-under 65 in Thursday’s second round. Huber struggled in the third round with a 4-over 76 before closing with a solid 4-under 68 that matched the low score of the day in Saturday’s final round.

   Morgan Ketchum, who came home to Winston-Salem, N.C. to take a fourth year at Wake Forest after three years as a standout at Virginia Tech, finished two shots behind Huber in fifth place with a 5-under 283 total. Ketchum finished in sixth place in The Sally a year ago.

   Ketchum had a little trouble shaking the rust off in an opening round of 5-over 77, but bettered that by 10 shots with a 5-under 67 in Thursday’s second round. After signing for a 2-under 70 in the third round, Ketchum closed with a 69.

   Kaitlyn Schroeder, a redshirt junior at North Florida in her hometown of Jacksonville, Fla., had a second straight strong showing in The Sally as she ended up two shots behind Ketchum in sixth place with a 3-under 285 total. Schroeder finished in fourth place in The Sally a year ago.

   Schroeder was the AJGA’s Rolex Junior Player of the Year in 2022 and went to Alabama. It wasn’t working for Schroeder in Tuscaloosa, so she came home to play under her dad, Scott Schroeder, the director of golf at North Florida.

   Schroeder struggled a little in the opening round with a 3-over 75 before matching par in Thursday’s second round with a 72. Schroeder recorded a solid 5-under 67 in the third round before closing with a 71.

   Grace Anderson, a sophomore at Pepperdine in the West Coast Conference from Canada, and Mary Miller, a sophomore at Mississippi in the SEC after transferring from Georgia Southern, shared seventh place, each ending up a shot behind Schroeder with a 2-under 286 total.

   Anderson was solid throughout at Oceanside, adding a 2-under 70 in Thursday’s second round to her opening round of 1-over 73. She then registered a 1-under 71 in the third round before matching par in the final round with a 72.

   Miller got off to a slow start with a 5-over 77, but improved by 10 shots with a 5-under 67 in Thursday’s second round. Miller added a 3-under 69 in the third round before closing with a 1-over 73.

   Rounding out the top 10 was a trio of players tied for ninth place at 1-under 287 that included Isabela Brozena, a sophomore on the roster of six-time reigning Big East champion Xavier from North Reading, Mass., Melanie Walker, a senior at Missouri in the SEC from Burke, Va., and Samantha Olson, a sophomore on the roster of reigning American Athletic Conference champion Tulsa from Phoenix, Ariz.

   Brozena added a 1-over 73 in Thursday’s second round to her opening-round 74 before finishing up with back-to-back 2-under 70s in the final two rounds.

   Walker struggled a little in the opening round with a 4-over 76, but bounced back with a solid 2-under 70 in Thursday’s second round. Walker tallied a sparkling 4-under 68 in the third round before closing with a 1-over 73.

   Olson opened with a 2-over 74 and added a 1-under 71 in Thursday’s second round. Olson then got into red figures for the tournament with a 4-under 68 before finishing her week with a bookend 2-over 74.

   A couple of Princeton freshmen, Thanana Kotchasanmunee of Thailand and Sarah Lim of Saratoga, Calif., had nice showings in The Sally. Looks like they are nice additions to the roster of the Ivy League champion Tigers.

   Kotchasanmunee opened with a 1-over 73 and matched par in Thursday’s second round with a 72. After posting a solid 1-under 71 in the third round, Kotchasanmunee closed with a 5-over 77 to finish among the group tied for 26^th place at 5-over 293. Kotchasanmunee finished in a tie for seventh place in The Sally a year ago.

   Lim finished a shot behind her Princeton teammate in the group tied for 29^th place at 6-over 294 as she rattled off three straight 2-over 74s in the first three rounds before matching par in the final round with a 72.

   Don’t have a whole lot on The Sally’s Rockefeller Division, but Barbara Pagana, winner of the Super-Senior division in the Pennsylvania Women’s Amateur Championship two summers ago at Sunnybrook Golf Club, finished in a tie for second place with a 250 total over 54 holes. The Rockefeller Division wrapped up Friday.

   Pagana, coming off a ninth-place finish in last month’s Citrus Golf Trail Ladies Invitational’s Forever-49 division at the Sun ’N Lake Golf & Country Club in Sebring, Fla., added an 83 in Thursday’s second round to her opening-round 82 before closing with an 85.

   Pagana plays out of the PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie when she’s in Florida and out of Huntsville Golf Club when the weather gets better in Dallas, near Wilkes-Barre.

   The winner of the Rockefeller Division was Kerry Lareau, who plays out of Pleasant Valley Country Club in Little Rock, Ark.

   After opening with an 82, Lareau struggled to an 88 in the second round that left her trailing Pagana by five shots and Michele Rossi by three going into the final round, but Lareau carded a 6-over 78 in the final round for a 248 total.

   Rossi opened with an 84 and added back-to-back 83s in the final two rounds to share second place with Pagana at 250.