Stasi, Pry grab tickets to match-play bracket in U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur

   Meghan Stasi, a South Jersey native who has won the Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia Match-Play Championship eight times, and Coatesville native Kelli Pry earned spots in the match-play bracket following the second round of qualifying Sunday in the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship at Norwood Hills Country Club in St. Louis, Mo.

   The 40-year-old Stasi, a resident of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. and a four-time winner of this event, had grabbed the lead in qualifying with a sparkling 3-under-par 69 at Norwood Hills. She backed off with a 4-over 76 Sunday, but still shared second with Erin Bradford of Georgetown, Ky. at 1-over 145.

   Pry, who played college golf at South Florida, had opened with a 1-over 73, but fell back with an 80. She still easily made match play, finishing in a tie for 21^st at 9-over 153.

   Lauren Greenlief of Ashburn, Va., a former college standout at Virginia and the 2015 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion, was a shot behind Stasi and Bradford in fourth at 4-over 146 after bouncing back from an opening-round 76 with a 2-under 70.

   Two-time Pennsylvania Women’s Amateur champion Katie Miller of Jeannette added a 2-over 74 to her opening-round 75 to finish in the group tied for seventh at 5-over 149 and easily book herself a spot in match play. The 33-year-old Miller and the 28-year-old Greenlief were two of the three co-medalists in qualifying in last year’s U.S. Women’s Mid-Am at the Champions Golf Club’s Cypress Creek Course in Houston.

   Medalist honors went to 35-year-old Shannon Johnson of Norton, Mass., who added a 1-under 71 to her opening-round 72 for a 1-under 143 total. Johnson, the runnerup to Julia Potter-Babb two years at The Kahkwa Club in Erie, offset four bogeys with five birdies Sunday.

   Johnson, who has dominated the New England amateur scene this summer, reached the semifinals last year at Champions. Seems like she’s closing in on winning herself a U.S. Women’s Mid-Am one of these years.

   Defending champion Kelsey Chugg of Salt Lake City, Utah carded her second straight 75 to finish in the group tied for 10^th at 6-over 150.

   Merion Golf Club’s Catherine Elliott added an 84 to her opening-round 82 for a 166 total that missed the cut for match play. Elliott, an Academy of Notre Dame and Penn product, reached Norwood Hills out of a Golf Association of Philadelphia-administered qualifier at Brookside Country Club in Macungie.

   Seven players who shot 15-over 159 will play off for the final six spots in match play Monday morning.

   Britny Whitby of Wyoming, Del., who also came out of the Brookside qualifier, added a 78 to her opening-round 82 to just miss out on the playoff at 160.

   Amy Hajjar of Jersey City, N.J., the medalist in the Brookside qualifier, added an 84 to her opening-round 85 for a 169 total.

   Alyssa Roland lives and works in New York City, but is an Overbrook Golf Club member. Roland, the Ivy League champion in 2010 while playing for Yale, emerged from a playoff to grab a spot in match play at Champions last year, but came up short at Norwood Hills, adding an 80 to her opening-round 83 for a 163 total.

   The opening round of match play gets under way Monday.

   Two of this area’s top men’s mid-amateur players will be involved in a playoff Monday morning to get into the match-play bracket in the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship at Charlotte Country Club in Charlotte, N.C.

   Matthew Mattare, a Jersey City, N.J. resident who plays out of Saucon Valley Country Club, and 2014 BMW Philadelphia Amateur champion Jeff Osberg, a Bryn Mawr resident who plays out of Huntingdon Valley Country Club, both landed on 5-over 147 after two rounds of qualifying. So did 14 other players, which means 16 players will play off for the final 12 tickets to match play.

   Mattare, coming off a victory in the rain-shortened Pennsylvania Golf Association’s Mid-Amateur Championship on home turf at Saucon Valley’s Weyhill Course, carded a 3-over-par 74 at Carolina Golf Club Sunday after opening with a 2-over 73 at Charlotte Country Club, like Carolina Golf Club a Donald Ross design.

   Mattare failed to advance out of a playoff to get into match play two years ago at Stonewall.

Osberg posted a 4-over 75 at Charlotte Country Club Sunday after carding a 1-over 72 in his opening round at Carolina Golf Club.

   Medalist honors went to Stephen Behr of Florence, S.C., a former Clemson All-American and the irony that Behr’s hometown bears the same name as that of the hurricane that threatened to postpone this championship and whose aftermath continues to cause problems all over the Carolinas is lost on absolutely no one.

   Behr, who became eligible for this championship when he turned 25 in April, carded a 3-under 68 at Carolina Golf Club after posting a 2-under 69 at Charlotte Country Club for a 5-under 137 total. After making a bogey on the first hole Sunday, Behr had four birdies and not a single blemish the rest of the way.

   Brett Boner of Charlotte, N.C. came north and earned medalist honors in a GAP-administered qualifier at Cedarbrook Country Club for the U.S. Mid-Amateur. Playing on his home course, Carolina Golf Club, Sunday, Boner posted a 2-under 69 after opening with an even-par 71 at Charlotte Country Club to finish tied for fifth at 2-under 140.

   Boner told the USGA website he’s been gearing up for this championship all year and he’s accomplished the first step by qualifying for match play.

   Stewart Hagestad of Newport Beach, Calif., author of the epic late rally that earned him the 2016 U.S. Mid-Amateur championship at Stonewall, had shared the lead in qualifying after opening with a 4-under 67 at Charlotte Country Club, but backed off with a 3-over 74 at Carolina Golf Club Sunday. Still, Hagestad easily earned a spot in match play, finishing in the group tied for seventh at 1-under 141.

   Matt Parziale, the Brockton, Mass. firefighter who won this championship a year ago at The Capital Club’s Crabapple Course in Atlanta, bounced back from an opening-round 76 at Carolina Golf Club with a 3-under 68 at Charlotte Country Club to finish in the group tied for 26^th at 2-over 144.

   Another player who came out of the Cedarbrook qualifier, Overbrook’s Chris Lange Jr., a Bryn Mawr resident, added a 4-over 76 at Charlotte Country Club to an opening-round 74 at Carolina Golf Club and failed to make match play in his USGA championship debut with a 150 total.

   Four-time U.S. Mid-Amateur champion Nathan Smith of Pittsburgh finished a shot out of the playoff at 6-over 148 after adding a 3-over 74 at Carolina Golf Club to his opening-round 74 at Charlotte Country Club. Smith won the Pennsylvania Golf Association’s R. Jay Sigel Match Play Championship for a sixth time this summer.

   Sean Knapp, the reigning Pennsylvania Golf Association Senior Amateur champion, added a 77 at Charlotte Country Club to his opening-round 78 at Carolina Golf Club and failed to match play with his 155 total. Knapp captured the U.S. Senior Amateur title in 2017.