Stasi fires 69 at Norwood Hills to grab lead in U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur qualifying

   Meghan Stasi, the South Jersey native who has won this championship four times in her brilliant amateur career, was the only player under par in the opening round of qualifying for match play in the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship Saturday with a 3-under-par 69 at Norwood Hills Country Club in St. Louis, Mo.

   The 39-year-old Stasi is a product of Eastern High who was a college standout at Tulane before becoming, at age 23, the head coach at Mississippi. She was still known as Meghan Bolger when she rattled off seven straight wins in the Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Match-Play Championship from 1999 to 2005.

   In the midst of her run of four U.S. Women’s Mid-Am titles – she captured the title in 2006, 2007, 2010 and 2012 – she met and married Danny Stasi, the chef and owner at Shuck n Dive, a New Orleans-style restaurant in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Stasi is a Floridian now, but her golf game betrays her Philadelphia area roots, particularly the match-play success she has achieved in the U.S. Women’s Mid-Am.

   Stasi had five birdies and two bogeys to take a three-shot lead over Shannon Johnson of Newtown, Mass., a 35-year-old who was the runnerup in this championship in 2016 and comes into the U.S. Women’s Mid-Am on a roll after dominating the New England amateur circuit this summer.

   Kelli Pry of Coatesville, who played college golf at South Florida, is one of three players tied for third after posting a solid 1-over 73.

   Two-time Pennsylvania Women’s Amateur champion Katie Miller of Jeannette got off to a good start, carding a 3-over 75 that has her in the group tied for 10^th. Miller was one of the three co-medalists in last year’s U.S. Women’s Mid-Am held at the Champions Golf Club’s Cypress Creek Course in Houston.

   Miller has herself in good position to be one of the 64 players who advance to match play following Sunday’s second round of qualifying.

   Also in the group tied for 10^th at 75 is defending U.S. Women’s Mid-Am champion Kelsey Chugg of Salt Lake City, Utah. Chugg claimed a 3 and 1 victory over Mary Jane Hiestand, a then 58-year-old Floridian who made a remarkable run to the final.

   Merion Golf Club’s Catherine Elliott, who earned a spot in the field at Norwood Hills in a Golf Association of Philadelphia-administered qualifier at Brookside Country Club in Macungie, carded an 82 and is in the group tied for 88^th. Elliott, a product of the Academy of Notre Dame and Penn, has some work to do to earn a spot in match play.

   Another player to come out of that Brookside qualifier, Britny Whitby of Wyoming, Del., joined Ellliott in the group tied for 88^th with an 82.

   The qualifying medalist at Brookside, Mary Hajjar of Jersey City, N.J., struggled to an 85 that left her in the group tied for 118^th.

   That the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship also teed off Saturday at Charlotte Country Club and Carolina Golf Club in Charlotte, N.C. is something of a minor miracle considering the havoc Hurricane Florence wreaked on the Carolinas.

   Charlotte was spared, relatively speaking, with just eight inches of rain and enough wind to knock down some trees, but the greenkeepers in the area got the job done and both courses were ready to go for Saturday’s opening round of qualifying for match play.

   Not as surprising was one of the names at the top of the leaderboard as Stewart Hagestad, whom I got to watch capture the 2016 U.S. Mid-Amateur crown at Stonewall, fired a 4-under 67 at Charlotte Country Club to get a share of the lead with Brad Tilley of Easton, Conn.

   The 27-year-old Hagestad, a member of the winning U.S. Walker Cup team on a Los Angeles Country Club course the Newport Beach, Calif. native grew up playing, had six birdies and two bogeys.

   The 35-year-old Tilley, who also played at Charlotte Country Club, had four birdies and nary a bogey on his card.

   Jeff Osberg, the 2014 BMW Philadelphia Amateur champion who plays out of Huntingdon Valley Country Club, posted a 1-over 72 at Carolina Golf Club and is in the group tied for 29^th. Osberg, an Owen J. Roberts product, is in good shape to be among the top 64 players who will qualify for match play following Sunday’s second round of qualifying. Osberg will play the Charlotte Country Club course Sunday.

   Osberg had some nagging injuries early this year, but seemed to find his game when he got into a playoff in the Philadelphia Open at St. Davids Golf Club, a title that ultimately went to Billy Stewart, an assistant pro at The ACE Club. Osberg, a Bryn Mawr resident, earned a trip to Charlotte out of the GAP-administered qualifier at Cedarbrook Country Club.

   Osberg’s fellow Bryn Mawr resident, Chris Lange Jr., who plays out of Overbrook Golf Club, carded a 3-over 74 at Charlotte Country Club and is in a large group tied for 63^rd in his USGA debut. Also in the group tied for 63^rd is Nathan Smith, the four-time winner of the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship from Pittsburgh. Smith carded a 74 at Carolina Golf Club.

   Brett Boner, who drove up from Charlotte and claimed medalist honors in the qualifier at Cedarbrook, got off to a good start with an even-par 71 at Charlotte Country Club and is in the group tied for 16^th.

   Also coming out of the Cedarbrook qualifier was 2017 Philadelphia Open champion Matthew Mattare, who lives in Jersey City, N.J., but plays out of Saucon Valley Country Club. Mattare carded a 2-over 73 at Charlotte Country Club and is in the group tied for 46^th.

   Mattare tuned up for the U.S. Mid-Amateur by winning the Pennsylvania Golf Association’s Mid-Amateur Championship, presented by LECOM, earlier this week. Mattare was right at home in capturing the state Mid-Am on Saucon Valley’s Weyhill Course. The event was shortened from 36 holes to 18 holes because of rain from the remnants of Florence.

   Defending champion Matt Parziale, the firefighter from Brockton, Mass., struggled in Saturday’s opening round, carding a 5-over 76 at Carolina Golf Club that left him the group tied for 116^th.

Parziale rolled to an 8 and 6 decision over Josh Nichols of Apex, N.C. in the scheduled 36-hole final at the Capital City Club’s Crabapple Course in Atlanta a year ago. Nichols struggled to an 82 at Carolina Golf Club Saturday and is in the group tied for 241st.

   Also in that group tied for 116^th is Scott Harvey of Greensboro, N.C., the runnerup to Hagestad two years ago at Stonewall and the 2014 U.S. Mid-Am champion at Saucon Valley. Harvey posted a 5-over 76 at Carolina Golf Club.

   Sean Knapp, Smith’s longtime rival on the Pennsylvania amateur circuit and winner of the 2017 U.S. Senior Amateur title, struggled to a 7-over 78 at Carolina Golf Club and is in the group tied for 180^th.