Miller beats Staudt in final to take Pennsylvania Women's Amateur title

   For the second time in three years, Katie Miller of Ligonier Country Club claimed the Pennsylvania State Women’s Golf Association Amateur Championship after earning a 4 and 3 victory over former Coatesville standout Sammie Staudt in the final Thursday at West Shore Country Club.

   Some of the top college players in Pennsylvania decided to pass on the Pennsylvania Women’s Amateur this year. They will all play a lot of college golf in September and October.

   But any chance you get to put your name on the trophy along with the 22 or so Carol Semple Thompson entries, you should do it and that’s exactly what Miller did.

   The Seton Hall golf team was  well-represented, though, led by Staudt, who completed her freshman season with the Pirates last spring.

   Miller, the PIAA champion in 1999, 2000 and 2002 at Hempfield Area before a standout college career at North Carolina, and Staudt were the two best players at West Shore right from the start as they were co-medalists in Monday’s qualifying, each carding a 1-over 73.

   Miller opened with match play with a 3 and 1 victory over Molly Holbert of host West Shore, then cruised to a 9 and 7 victory over Agnes Irwin senior Meghan Fahey of Merion Golf Club and Overbrook  Golf Club in the quarterfinals.

   Fahey took a year off from scholastic golf after transferring from Notre Dame to Agnes Irwin and hasn’t been playing as much competitive golf as she has in past summers. She also ran into a buzz-saw against Miller, who eagled the fourth and birdied the fifth and was 3-under for the 11 holes the match lasted.

   Miller reached the final with a 4 and 3 victory over Katrin Wolfe of Windber Country Club. Wolfe finished third in the PIAA Championship in 2001 as a senior at Westmont-Hilltop behind Miller, who was the runnerup the only time she didn’t win the title. Wolfe went on to play collegiately at Penn State.

   Staudt, meanwhile, had to get past her Seton Hall teammate Maddie Sager, the PIAA Class AAA runnerup in 2015 as a senior at Owen J. Roberts, in the semifinals. Staudt defeated her fellow Pirate, 4 and 3.

   Sager was just back from the U.S. Women’s Amateur at San Diego Country Club in Chula Vista,  Calif., where she failed to make match play.

   In the title match, Miller jumped out to a 2-up lead with birdies on two and four and never trailed, although Staudt never really went away.

   Staudt won the fifth with a par, Miller won the sixth with a bogey, Staudt won the seventh with a par and Miller won the eighth with a par to take a 2-up lead to the back nine. Miller won the 10^th with a par to increase her lead to 3-up, but again Staudt fought back by winning the 11^th with a birdie.

   But Miller then increased her lead to 4-up by winning the 12^th with a birdie and the 14^th with a par before closing out Staudt at 15 when they halved the hole with bogeys.

   Miller was the defending champion when she lost in the quarterfinals a year ago at Saucon Valley Country Club’s Grace Course, 3 and 2, to eventual champion Alessandra Liu, the former Lower Merion and William & Mary standout who was planning to turn pro.

   Miller teamed with Aurora Kan, the former Chichester and Purdue standout, to reach match play in the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship at The Dunes Golf & Beach Club in Myrtle Beach, S.C. in the spring.

   Staudt and Sager were joined in the field by their incoming Seton Hall teammate Mia Kness, who captured the PIAA Class AAA title as a senior at Peters Township last fall. Like Sager, Kness was on her way back from the U.S. Women’s Amateur, where she made a nice run at earning a match-play berth before coming up short.

   Kness was knocked out at West Shore by Samantha Formeck, a former Youngstown State standout who plays out of  Ebensburg Country Club, 3 and 2, in the opening round of match play. Formeck fell to Wolfe, 2 and 1, in the quarterfinals.

   Tori Ross of Briarwood Golf Club won the first-flight title with a 5 and 3 victory over Mia Barchetti of Hannastown Golf Club in the final. Barchetti reached the final with a 5 and 4 win over former Springfield High standout Samantha Miller, a first-team All-PSAC performer at East Stroudsburg as a junior last year. Miller is playing out of The Springhaven Club.

   The senior title went to Beth Ward of the  Clubs at Colonial Ridge, who defeated perennial senior contender Noreen Mohler of Northampton Country Club, 2 and 1, in the final.

   Ward got past Merion’s Liz Haines, 4 and 3, in the semifinals. Haines will represent Pennsylvania in the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur at Waverly Country Club in Portland,  Ore. next month.

   Wanda McGarry of Allegheny Country Club claimed the senior first-flight title with a 4 and 3 win over Susan Konstalid of Range End Golf Club in the final.

   The super-senior title went to Linda Brodbeck of Glen Oak Country Club, who defeated Ruth Dettore of Elmhurst Country Club,  4 and 3, in the final.