Amanda Doherty was the rising star on the Florida State
women’s golf team the last two years.
Suddenly last fall, the junior from Atlanta found herself as
the veteran on a team filled with talented freshmen, including Sweden’s Frida
Kinhult, the No. 6 player in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking.
Well, Doherty will have a little hardware to show off to her
young teammates when she gets back to Tallahassee after she fired a 3-under-par
69 at Oceanside Country Club in Ormond Beach, Fla. Saturday to capture the
title in the Women’s South Atlantic Amateur Championship, The Sally for short.
The Sally is one of the events on the Orange Blossom Tour of
amateur events that draws many of the collegiate players looking to keep their
games sharp during the two-month break in their season and some of the many
rising junior stars. The Sally has some history. It goes back to 1926 and
Doherty added her name to the trophy with a brilliant final round.
Doherty had grabbed the lead with an even-par 72 in chilly
conditions in Wednesday’s opening round at Oceanside. She fell back a little
with a 4-over 76 Thursday and surged back into contention with a 1-under 71 in
Friday’s third round before matching the low round of the tournament with her
final-round 69. It gave her an even-par 288 total and a three-shot victory over
Alexa Pano, the 14-year-old from Lake Worth, Fla. who isn’t your average
14-year-old, particularly when it comes Orange Blossom Tour time.
Pano, who captured the title in the Women’s Dixie Amateur in
Tamarac, Fla. last month, had taken a one-shot lead over Doherty into the final
round, finished up with a solid 1-over 73, but couldn’t keep up with the birdie
barrage put on by Doherty. Pano was the runnerup with a 3-over 291 total.
Doherty carded birdies at the second, fourth and sixth holes
to make the turn at 3-under for the round. She then ripped off three straight
birdies at 11, 12 and 13 to get to 6-under for the day. The blazing start gave
Doherty more than enough cushion to enable her to withstand bogeys at 15, 17
and 18 on her way to the clubhouse.
Pano might be 14, but last summer she had some outstanding
performances on some big stages. She hadn’t even turned 14 when she had her
longest day on the golf course, defeating fellow phenom Lucy Li, the Redwood
Shores, Calif. teen who played on the U.S. Curtis Cup team last summer, 1-up,
in the semifinals of the U.S. Girls’ Junior Amateur at Poppy Hills Golf Course
on northern California’s Monterey Peninsula before falling, 4 and 3, to another
California teen standout, Yealimi Noh, in the scheduled 36-hole final.
Yes, 51 holes all in one day. Long story, but you can check
out the post I did wrapping up the U.S. Girls’ Junior and the U.S. Junior
Amateur last summer if you want more on that crazy day of golf.
A couple of weeks later, Pano blitzed The Golf Club of
Tennessee with a brilliant 5-under 66 in the opening round of qualifying for
match play in the U.S. Women’s Amateur. She finished tied for fourth in
qualifying before falling in the opening round of match play to Isabella
Fierro, the Mexican phenom whom Pano had knocked off in the second round on her
way to the final at Poppy Hills.
Pano had opened with a pair of 73s in The Sally that gave
her a share of the lead at the halfway point of the 72-hole tournament and
added an adventurous even-par 72 in Friday’s third round to take a one-shot
advantage over Doherty into the final round at 2-over 218.
Pano’s front nine in Friday’s third round included five
bogeys, two birdies and an eagle. Her back nine was comparatively uneventful as
she notched a single birdie to end up at even for the day.
Not certain if Pano will tee it up in the Ione D. Jones/Doherty
Women’s Amateur Championship, which gets under way Monday at Coral Ridge Country
Club in Fort Lauderdale. But she did make the final of the match-play event a
year ago before falling to four-time U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion Meghan
Stasi, Pano’s teammate on the Florida team that finished third in the 2017 –
and last – USGA Women’s Amateur Team Championship at The Club at Las Campanas’
Sunrise Course in Santa Fe, N.M. Oh yeah, Pano won the Jones/Doherty as a
12-year-old two years ago.
It was six shots behind Pano to third place in The Sally as
Maryland’s Laura Van Respaille, a sophomore from France, ended up at 9-over 297
after carding a final-round 75.
Mackenzie Moore -- looks like she’s a Texas teen who plays
out of the Trophy Club -- finished alone in fourth, a shot behind Van Respaille
at 298 after a final-round 74.
Texas’ Maddie Luitwieler, a senior from Katy, Texas, shared
fifth place with Paige Hilinski -- looks like she’s another junior standout -- at
300, two shots behind Moore.
Luitwieler has to be at her best just to make the lineup for the loaded Longhorns. She shared the halfway lead with Pano at 2-over 146
after matching par in the second round with a 72 before falling back with
rounds of 79 and 75. Hilinski got her piece of fifth with a strong 2-under 70
in the final round.
Bethune-Cookman’s Yudika Ann Rodriguez, a senior from Puerto
Rico, was another two shots behind Luitwieler and Hilinski in seventh at 302
after a final-round 76. Chloe Kovelesky -- looks like another South Florida
junior standout from Boca Raton -- was a shot behind Rodriguez in eighth at
303. Kovelesky tacked on a final-round 78 after posting three straight 75s.
Heading a group of five players tied for ninth at 304 was
North Carolina State’s India Clyburn, a senior from England and a member of the
Great Britain & Ireland Curtis Cup team that fell to a powerful U.S. team
last summer at Quaker Ridge Golf Club in Scarsdale, N.Y. Clyburn struggled to a
final-round 79.
Somebody in that fivesome at 304 who did not struggle in
Saturday’s final round was Lauren Clark -- looks like yet another talented
South Florida teen from Orlando. Clark matched Doherty for the low round of the
tournament, a 3-under 69, to surge to a top-10 finish.
Three other collegians rounded out the group at 304,
including UCF’s Ana Laura Collado Diaz, a sophomore from Mexico, Nevada’s
Victoria Gailey, a freshman from Tigard, Ore., and Van Respaille’s fellow Terp, Ludovica Scandroglio, a senior
from Italy.
Diaz finished up with an 80 while Gailey and Scandroglio
posted matching 3-over 75s in the final round.
No comments:
Post a Comment