The U.S. Mid-Amateur at Stonewall was not the only
Mid-Amateur championship being staged in Pennsylvania this week.
The Women’s Mid-Amateur was being held simultaneously at The
Kahkwa Club, a Donald Ross design in Erie. With the two Mid-Ams going on at
opposite ends of the state, it made for a total of four USGA championships in
the Keystone State this year, joining the U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club and
the U.S. Women’s Amateur held last month at Rolling Green Golf Club.
A couple of familiar names made strong runs to the
quarterfinals at The Kahkwa Club.
Katie Miller, the 2015 Pennsylvania Women’s Amateur champion
from Jeannette, took eventual champion Julia Potter to 21 holes before falling.
Meghan Stasi, the eight-time Philadelphia Women’s Amateur champion who calls
Overland Park, Fla. home these days, fell, 1-up, to Patricia Schremmer of
Honolulu, Hawaii.
The 31-year-old Miller, a three-time PIAA champion at
Hempfield in Greensburg who wen on to star at North Carolina, battled back from a
2-down deficit by winning the 15th with a birdie and the 17th
with a par to force extra holes against Potter. Miller, who was reinstated as
an amateur in 2013, finally bowed out when she made a double bogey on the third
extra hole while Potter registered a par.
The 38-year-old Stasi, a four-time U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur
champion, saw a 3-up lead against Schremmer disappear and needed a birdie at
the 17th to even the match and send it the 18th hole. A
birdie at the finishing hole enabled Schremmer to get past Stasi, the South
Jersey native who enjoyed a homecoming last month when she qualified for the
U.S. Women’s Amateur at Rolling Green.
Miller had reached the quarterfinals with a 1-up win over
Tiffany Maurycy of Denver, Colo. in the first round, a 1-up victory over
Kristyl Sunderman of McDonough, Ga. in the second round and a 7 and 5
dismantling of Martha Leach of Hebron, Ky. in the round of 16.
Stasi opened match play with a 6 and 5 decision over Carrie
Chambers of Dallas, then cruised to a 7 and 5 victory over Carmen Titus of
Kansas City in the second round.
She reached the quarterfinals with a hard-fought 2-up win
over Emilie Meason of Atlanta. Stasi grabbed a 1-up advantage with a birdie at
the 15th, needed birdie for a half at 16 and won the finishing hole
with a birdie.
Lisa McGill of Philadelphia, who has been a good player in
this area forever, qualified for match play, but was ousted by Katrin Wolfe of
Johnstown, 5 and 3, in the opening round of match play. Wolfe, a former Penn
State standout, pulled away by winning five straight holes, from the fifth to
the ninth, to take control of the match.
Wolfe fell to eventual runnerup, Shannon Johnson, 5 and 4,
in the second round of match play.
The 28-year-old Potter of Indianapolis and the 33-year-old
Johnson of Newton, Mass. were co-medalists in qualifying, each carding 1-over
145 totals over the 6,125-yard, par-72 Kahkwa Course layout, and that form held
all the way to the title match.
Potter, a former Missouri standout who is the marketing
director for the Indiana Golf Office, had a 4-up lead after six holes in the
18-hole final Thursday before Johnson ripped off wins at 12, 13, 14 and 15 to
square the match.
Potter, a left-hander, regained the advantage by winning the
16th with a birdie and then got it up-and-down on the 17th
for par to seal her second U.S. Mid-Amateur crown with a 2 and 1 verdict.
Johnson missed a chance to send the match to the 18th hole when her
three-foot putt for par at the 17th would not drop.
It was the third time in the last four years that Potter has
reached the final of the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur.
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