Erica Shepherd, a 16-year-old from Greenwood, Ind., captured
the U.S. Girls’ Junior title Saturday with a 3 and 2 victory over her pal
Jennifer Chang, a 17-year-old from Cary, N.C., in the scheduled 36-hole final at
Boone Valley Golf Club in Augusta, Mo.
The title match got lost a little in the understandable
uproar that came in the wake of Shepherd’s 19th-hole victory over
Elizabeth Moon of Forrest City, Ark., in Friday’s semifinals. It’s been called
controversial, but there was really nothing controversial about the penalty
that Moon incurred when she hastily pulled the ball back after missing a
three-foot birdie putt that would have given her the match.
It was just shocking, the kind of sudden end that makes
match play so riveting.
It looked like Moon, not Shepherd, was headed for a spot in
the final opposite Chang when Moon’s approach at the par-5 14th
hole, the 19th hole of the match, finished three feet below the
hole. Shepherd couldn’t even bear to watch as she waited on the side of the
green for the sound of the ball hitting the bottom of the cup.
But the ball, after a tentative swipe by Moon, never even
touched the hole. Then she did what golfers have been doing for as long as the
game has been played. She reached for the ball with her putter to putt it again
(yes, they always go in the second time).
Shepherd’s caddy said, “Did you give her that putt?”
Shepherd said, “I was going to.”
But it was too late. Moon had essentially given the putt to
herself and replayed the stroke before Shepherd had a chance to concede it. The
match was over.
Nobody felt good about it. Chang had to give Shepherd a pep
talk before the title match teed off Saturday morning. The message essentially:
Forget about it, let’s go play golf.
If it’s the biggest mistake Moon ever makes, she’ll have a
very good life. And yeah, competition is about winning and losing, but junior
golf is also about developing young people as golfers and people and Moon knows
more about Rule 18-2 than she ever cared to.
And Moon played some great golf at Boone Valley. I was
pulling for Ami Gianchandani of Wachtung, N.J., mostly because she came out of
the qualifier at Silver Creek Country Club in Hellertown that a lot of the
girls from this area played in. Gianchandani was actually the runnerup for medalist
honors to Jennifer Cleary, the Wilmington, Del. resident who has had a really
strong summer.
And Gianchandani had all kinds of momentum going into her
quarterfinal match with Moon Friday morning after the Pingry School senior
stunned one of the top junior golfers on the planet, Paphangkorn Tavatanakit of
Thailand, 1-up, in the round of 16 Thursday.
Gianchandani got the early lead on Moon, something she had
been successful doing in her three previous matches. A birdie at the par-5 14th
– that hole came up a lot in the last two days of the tournament – gave
Gianchandani a 2-up lead with four holes to play.
But Moon made a stunning turnaround, evening the match with
back-to-back birdies at 16 and 17 that drew her even with Gianchandani and then
winning the 18th with a par for a 1-up victory. That is what she
should remember from her U.S. Girls’ Junior Friday, not the unfortunate end to
the day five or so hours later.
And, by the way, really nice run by Gianchandani at Boone
Valley.
In that semifinal match, Shepherd found herself 2-down with
four to play when Moon birdied, you guessed it, the par-5 14th. But
Shepherd, much as Moon had done against Gianchandani earlier in the day,
battled back, winning the 15th with a birdie and the 17th
with a par to send the match to the fateful 19th.
Shepherd, who is right-handed in almost everything she does,
but plays golf left-handed, built a 4-up lead with a birdie on the 24th
hole of the final against Chang, who plans to join the powerhouse Southern
California program next summer.
Chang, who hadn’t trailed in a match all week, battled back
as Shepherd knew she would. Chang won the 25th hole with a par, the
28th with a bogey and the 31st with a birdie to draw
within 1-down. But Shepherd birdied the par-5 14th – there’s that
hole again – the 32nd of the match, to restore her 2-up advantage.
When Shepherd drilled a 5-iron to 12 feet at the par-3 16th,
it was over.
It was also nice to hear the story about Shepherd’s mentor,
Leigh Anne Creavy, who was Leigh Anne Hardin when she won the Girls’ Junior in
1998 at my favorite golf course, the East Course at Merion Golf Club. I was
still new at the Delco Daily Times
that summer, but Bob Lentz, who, I believe, is still with The Associated Press
in Philadelphia, covered the Girls’ Junior for us.
Creavy defeated Brittany Straza, 2-up, in the final 19 years
ago. There’s a really nice story by Lisa D. Mickey on the USGA website
chronicling the special relationship between Creavy and Shepherd.
I seem to recall that that Girls’ Junior was something of a
coronation for Beth Bauer, who was the defending champion and finishing off one
of the most outstanding runs by any junior golfer ever. Bauer would precede
Creavy to Duke.
Bauer and Creavy both seemed destined for LPGA stardom and,
although Bauer was the LPGA Rookie of the Year in 2001, neither ever really did
become stars.
But Creavy, pretty much unintentionally, became a mentor to
the kid whose father was friends with her father-in-law. Not that Creavy didn’t
get something out of it. During the Fox broadcast of the final, she admitted
that Shepherd had rekindled Creavy’s passion for the game. They formed
a team in an unsuccessful attempt to qualify for the inaugural U.S. Women’s
Amateur Four-Ball Championship in 2015.
Life rarely works out the way you think it will. Creavy
didn’t turn out to be an LPGA star, but mother and mentor to a girl who matched
your feat by winning a U.S. Girls’ Junior title? That’s not bad either.
Shepherd will also follow in Creavy’s footsteps and head for
Duke at the end of next summer. Me, I’m looking forward to a rematch between
Shepherd and Chang in a Duke-USC NCAA semifinal in three or four years. Now
that would be fun.
And I’ll be rooting for Elizabeth Moon because she won’t be
defined by one moment when she was just ticked because she hit such a lousy
putt and she had to putt it again, right away.
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