Stasi defeats her 'teammate' Pano in Jones/Doherty final

   I probably would have gotten to this post a day earlier had I not been hit with a severe case of Eagles fever that is overtaking the Philadelphia area.

   I lamented the passing of the USGA Women’s State Team Championship when it was staged for the final time early last fall at The Club at Las Campanas’ Sunrise Course in Santa Fe, N.M.

   Exhibit A in the things I liked about the event was third-place finisher Florida. The three-woman team was comprised of four-time U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion Meghan Stasi, Tara Joy-Connelly, a standout on the Massachusetts amateur scene before relocating to North Palm Beach, and 13-year-old phenom Alexa Pano of Lake Worth.

   With the collegiate golfers in the middle of their fall campaigns, many of the states were represented by teams that included youngsters like Pano with veteran mid-amateurs like Stasi and Joy-Connelly or senior players.

   In one of the post-tournament notebooks the United State Golf Association put together from the State Team Championship, Pano gushed about what a great experience it was for her to compete in the event and be able to learn from the likes of players like Stasi and Joy-Connelly.

   Pano was the defending champion last week in the 86^th edition of the Ione D. Jones/Doherty Amateur Championship at Coral Ridge Country Club in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. She had captured the title as a 12-year-old after reaching the semifinals two years ago as an 11-year-old. Clearly, this home-schooled eighth-grader is going places.

   So maybe it was fitting that Pano run into Stasi in the final. Stasi of nearby Oakland Park captured the Jones/Doherty for the second time in her glittering amateur career with a 5 and 4 victory over Pano Friday in the kind of chilly, windy conditions that have prevailed during the Orange Blossom Tour, the moniker attached to the collection of women’s amateur events in South Florida each winter.

   The story of the 39-year-old Stasi, who won the Jones/Doherty title in 2012 as well, is a familiar one to followers of the Philadelphia women’s amateur scene. A South Jersey native and a product of Eastern High School, Stasi, known as Megan Bolger in those days, was a collegiate standout at Tulane and then became, at age 23, the head coach at Mississippi.

   Stasi won seven straight Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia Match-Play Championships from 1999 to 2005. She snuck in an eighth Philly Women’s Amateur title in 2014 at Wilmington Country Club’s South Course on a summer homecoming trip.

   Stasi married Danny Stasi, founding chef and owner of Shuck n Dive, a New Orleans-style restaurant in Fort Lauderdale in the midst of her serious run on the mid-am scene as she won U.S. Women’s Mid-Am titles in 2006, 2007, 2010 and 2012. Stasi helps out around her husband’s restaurant when she’s not competing at the highest levels of women’s amateur golf.

   Pano qualified for match play in the U.S. Women’s Amateur at San Diego Country Club before she turned 13. I’m on the record in this blog as hoping she can remain an amateur long enough to represent the United States against Great Britain & Ireland when the Curtis Cup Match is played at my favorite golf course, Merion Golf Club’s historic East Course, in 2022.

    Not sure if she’s interested in the job, but Stasi would make a pretty good U.S. captain back in her home territory for those matches. Just sayin’.

   Pano makes it a point to tee it up in the Jones/Doherty because there are so few match-play opportunities for a junior golfer such as herself.

   Pano claimed 1-up victories over perennial U.S. Women’s Mid-Am contender Courtney McKim of Raleigh, N.C. and Wisconsin senior Lexi Harkins of Crystal Lake, Ill. Harkins was a key member of a North Carolina team that elbowed its way into the NCAA Championship at Rich Harvest Farms last spring before she transferred to Wisconsin.

   Stasi claimed a 5 and 3 victory over another tough mid-am, Shirley Vaughn of Canton, Ohio and a 3 and 2 victory over Georgia Oboh, a Nigerian junior who is a player on the rise.

   Stasi’s considerable match-play prowess was tested in the semifinals as she squared off with Noelle Maertz, a former collegiate standout at Wagner from Clark, N.J.

   The match was all-square on the par-4 17^th hole when Stasi’s shot with a 50-degree wedge from 112 yards away found the bottom of the cup for an eagle and a 1-up lead. She went on to claim a 2-up victory.

   “I knew it was going to be close,” Stasi told the Miami Herald concerning her clutch hole-out for eagle. “I knew I needed to hit it 100 yards.”

   The Jones/Doherty senior title went, for the second straight year, to Lisa Schlesinger of Fort Myers, Fla. Schlesinger claimed a 2 and-1 victory over Terrill Samuel, who lost to fellow Canadian Judith Kyrinis in the final of the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur last fall at Waverly Country Club in Portland, Ore., the first all-Canadian match-play final in USGA history.

   Tama Caldabaugh of Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. won the senior first-flight crown with a 3 and 2 victory over Jewell Malick of Heath, Texas.

   The senior second-flight title went to Liz Haines, the ageless player from Gladwyne and Merion Golf Club who needed 19 holes to defeat Vilma Sapp of Weston, Fla. in the final. Haines has teed it up in every stop on the Orange Blossom Tour this month, competing in the Harder Hall Invitational in Sebring, Fla. and the South Atlantic Amateur Championship, better known as The SALLY, in Ormond Beach, Fla. before last week’s Jones/Doherty.

   In the third-flight final, Karin-Joyce Tjon of Miami Beach, Fla., claimed a 1-up victory over Deb Mielke.

Migliaccio wins The SALLY by a shot, Walker finishes tied for 10th

   Wake Forest freshman Emilia Migliaccio let almost all of a seven-shot lead get away from her, but held on for a one-shot win in the South Atlantic Amateur Championship – better known as The SALLY –  which concluded Saturday at Oceanside Country Club in Ormond Beach, Fla.

   The second event on the unofficial Orange Blossom Tour of women’s amateur events in the Sunshine State, much like the first, the Harder Hall Women’s Invitational a week earlier, was affected by the ridiculously cold weather that has hit the eastern half of the country in the first two weeks of 2018. A cold rain forced the opening round of the scheduled 72-hole event to be cancelled and shortened it to 54 holes.

   The final round was played in cold and windy conditions and Migliaccio of Cary, N.C. handled it well enough to post a final round of 2-over-par 74 that gave her a 5-under 211 total and a one-shot margin of victory over Atlantic Coast Conference rival Anna Redding, a junior at Virginia.

   Redding of Concord, N.C. and a junior rival of Migliaccio’s in North Carolina closed with a final round of 4-under 68 to finish one shot behind at 4-under 212.

   Redding has played some of her best golf in the Women’s North & South Amateur at the Pinehurst Resort in her home state of North Carolina. She fell in the final to Mexican phenom Isabella Fierro last summer.

   Redding trailed Migliaccio by a shot and reached the par-5 17^th hole at Oceanside in two, but Migliaccio holed a clutch 20-foot birdie putt to maintain her one-shot edge while Redding settled for a two-putt birdie.

   Among the other standout collegians in the field was North Carolina sophomore Brynn Walker, a two-time PIAA Class AAA champion at Radnor. Walker was at her best in the tough conditions of the final round, firing a 3-under 69 to finish in a four-way tie for 10^th at 9-over 225. Walker had struggled to a pair of 78s in her first two rounds at Oceanside.

   The final round is a good sign for Walker, who will be hoping to help the Tar Heels earn a return trip to the NCAA Championship when the spring portion of the college season gets under way next month.

   Migliaccio, one of a legion of freshman standouts on the collegiate scene, opened The SALLY with a sparkling 7-under 65 Thursday, a score matched by Baylor freshman Diane Baillieux of Belgium.

   Migliaccio matched par in Friday’s second round with a 72 to take a commanding seven-shot lead over Baillieux, who struggled to a 79, and Redding, who carded her second straight even-par 72.

   A couple more of Migliaccio’s fellow freshman standouts, Florida State’s Amanda Doherty of Atlanta and Texas’ Kaitlyn Papp of Austin, Texas, finished third and fourth, respectively. Doherty carded a 1-under 71 to finish alone in third, four shots behind Redding at even-par 216.

   Papp, who teamed with future Texas teammate Hailee Cooper to win the 2016 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship at Streamsong Blue in central Florida, matched par in the final round to finish a shot behind Doherty at 1-over 217.

   An interesting name popped up alone in fifth place, that of 2015 winner of The SALLY and 2015 U.S. Women’s Amateur runnerup Sierra Brooks of Sorrento, Fla. Brooks carded a steady 1-over 73 in the final round for a 4-over 220 total.

   Brooks played the first half of her freshman year at Wake Forest in the fall of 2016 then left the program while dealing with a wrist injury that was slow to heal. It seemed Brooks was going to turn pro, but last fall she announced she’s returning to college golf at Florida.

   I’m not sure if Brooks is eligible to compete for the Gators this spring, but if she is, it would be a big boost for reigning Southeast Conference champion Florida. The good news is that after a year of frustrating rehab for the wrist injury, it looks like Brooks’ game is starting to round into shape again.

Baylor’s Baillieux struggled again the final round with a 78, but still finished tied for sixth at 6-over 222.

   Sharing sixth with Baillieux was Florida senior Taylor Tomlinson of Gainesville, Fla. Tomlinson opened with a 1-under 71 and added rounds of 76 and 75 for a 6-over 222 total.

   Sneaking into eighth place among all the youngsters was 2009 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion Martha Leach of Hebron, Ky. The 55-year-old Leach finished up with her second straight 1-over 73 to end up at 7-over 223.

   Haeley Wotnosky, a Virginia commit from Wake Forest, N.C., carded a 2-over 74 in the final round to finish alone in ninth at 8-over 224.

   Also in the foursome tied with Walker for 10^th at 9-over 225 was 13-year-old phenom Alexa Pano of Lake Worth, Fla. Pano, who finished tied for third in The SALLY a year ago, finished strong with a 1-over 73. Pano qualified for match play in the U.S. Women’s Amateur at San Diego Country Club as a 12-year-old last summer, falling in the first round to Mexico’s Fierro.

   Notre Dame junior Emma Albrecht, the Ormand Beach native playing on her home course at Oceanside, was also in the foursome tied for 10^th at 225. Albrecht, invited to the NCAA’s Columbus Regional as an individual last spring, struggled in the opening round with an 80, but got it together with solid rounds of 72 and 73 to earn a spot in the top 10.

   The last member of the quartet tied for 10^th was Ramya Meenakshisundaram, a South Florida recruit from Jacksonville, Fla. Meenakshisundaram sandwiched a 77 in the second round with a pair of 74s to end up at 225.

   There was also a Rockefeller Division in The SALLY, which was won by Renata Jancsik, who, from what I can tell, is a scholastic standout at Ponte Vedra High School in Florida. After opening with an 88, Jancsik carded solid rounds of 81 and 79 for a 248.

   Not sure what the criteria for the Rockefeller Division was, but it was not age because the runnerup to Jancsik was the ageless Liz Haines of Merion Golf Club.

   Haines was 69 when she qualified for the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur last summer and I’m not sure if she’s turned 70 since then. But Haines can still play some pretty solid golf as she had rounds of 83, 86 and 92 for a 251 total.

Son keeps rising with victory in chilly Harder Hall Invitational

   Yujeong Son, the teen from Oklahoma via South Korea, continued her strong winter run by capturing the title at the venerable Harder Hall Women’s Invitational in less-than-ideal conditions last week.

   That air mass that made below-zero wind chills a daily occurrence in the Northeast last week stretched all the way to South Florida, forcing the opening round of the 63^rd edition of the Harder Hall to be called off in mid-round because it was just too cold.

   That made it a 54-hole event and the 16-year-old Son, with temperatures barely making it to the 40s and a harsh wind, carded a 3-over-par 75 at Harder Hill Golf Club in Sebring, Fla. Saturday to cruise to a six-shot victory with an even-par 216 total.

   LSU freshman Kendall Griffin, a native of the Sebring area, shared second place with Kentucky’s Leonie Bettel, a junior from Austria, at 6-over 222. Bettel actually led Son by a shot heading into the final round after firing the best round of the tournament, a 4-under 68, in the second round. But the conditions got the better of Bettel in the final round as she posted an 82. Griffin moved up the leaderboard with a solid 2-over 74.

   It was the third straight victory in events surrounding the holidays for Son. She bested another field of collegians and top mid-amateurs in winning the Dixie Women’s Amateur at Woodlands Country Club in Tamarac, Fla. last month.

   The week between Christmas and New Year’s, Son beat a field of her fellow juniors with a victory in the Allstate Sugar Bowl Tommy Moore Junior Golf Championship in New Orleans.

   She has made it clear that she plans to turn pro rather than try to hone her game at the collegiate level, although it sounds like she might play out much of 2018 on the junior/amateur scene.

   Son opened the Harder Hall with a 3-under 69, the only sub-70 round recorded in the opening round. She matched par with a 72 in Friday’s second round before finishing up with a 75. Son, whose family moved to Oklahoma from South Korea when she was 6, credited her experience playing in some tricky winds in her adopted home state with helping her navigate the tough conditions at Harder Hall.

   Kennesaw State’s Roanne Tomlinson, a junior from Lake Mary, Fla., finished fourth, two shots behind Griffin and Bettel at 8-over 224. Tomlinson finished up with a 76.

   The fifth-place finisher is listed as Esther D. Park. Not sure if that is the Esther Park who is a student at The Charter of Wilmington and competes in Pennsylvania junior events as a member at Applecross Country Club, but it might be. After struggling in the opening round with a 78, Park strung together solid rounds of 73 and 74 for a 9-over 225 total.

   Louisville’s Olivia Cason, a junior from Owensboro, Ky., was another shot behind Park in sixth after a final-round 75 left her at 227. Annabell Fuller, a 15-year-old from England, was alone in seventh place at 229 after a final-round 78.

   Heading a group of four players tied for eighth at 230 was transplanted South Jersey native Meghan Stasi, the four-time U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion from Oakland Park, Fla. Stasi, an eight-time Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia Match-Play Championship winner, carded a final-round 75.

   Stasi was joined at 230 by UCF’s Kaeli Jones, a senior from Sumterville, Fla. who carded an outstanding 1-under 71 while the rest of the field struggled mightily in the final round, UNC-Wilmington’s Kayla Thompson, a senior from Clarkton, N.C. who sandwiched a 2-under 70 with a pair of 80s, and Clemson’s Sydney Legacy, a senior from Lexington, S.C. who had a final-round 83.

Seton Hall’s Chester County connection, sophomore Maddie Sager, the 2015 PIAA Class AAA runnerup as a senior at Owen J. Roberts, and sophomore Sammie Staudt, a former Coatesville standout, teed it up at Harder Hall.

   Sager struggled through the first two days with rounds of 86 and 84 before finishing up with a 75 for a 245 total that gave her a first-place finish in Flight 2. Staudt had rounds of 83 and 87 before withdrawing in the final round.

   The Harder Hall, the first in a series of women’s amateur events known as the Orange Blossom Tour, often draws college players trying to fine-tune their games during their midseason break. While the scores might not have been the best, playing top competition in tough conditions will pay off this spring for Sager and Staudt.

   Finishing fourth in Flight 2 was veteran WGAP competitor Alexandra Frazier, who plays out of Gulph Mills Golf Club. Frazier struggled in the opening round with a 92, but bounced back with rounds of 83 and 87 for a 262 total.

   Merion Golf Club’s ageless Liz Haines finished fourth in Flight 3 with rounds of 91, 87 and 93 for a 271 total.

   In the Ben Roman division, Mary Rhodes of Greensboro, N.C. won the Marge Burns Flight with rounds of 87 and 85 for a 172 total and Mary Biermann won the Tish Preuss Flight with rounds of 99 and 84 for a 183 total.

   The Harder Hall website also pictured a Forever 49 champion, Beatriz Arenas, a 69-year-old artist from Guatemala who finished tied for seventh in Flight 1 with rounds of 86, 81 and 84 for a 251 total. Game for a lifetime indeed.