Florida State's Doherty fires final-round 69 for a three-shot victory in The Sally

   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.