Noreen Mohler has a glittering USGA resume.
The 65-year-old Bethlehem resident first appeared in a USGA
event when she qualified for the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship as a
14-year-old in 1968. Mohler captained the winning U.S. team in the 2010 Curtis
Cup Match, reached the semifinals in the 1975 U.S. Women’s Amateur and is a
three-time quarterfinalist in the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Championship.
Last Monday at LuLu Country Club Mohler earned her ninth
trip to the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Championship, claiming medalist honors
in the Golf Association of Philadelphia-administered qualifier with a
6-over-par 79.
Mohler, a member of GAP’s Executive Committee, admitted she
wasn’t on her game early in the round over the 5,623-yard, par-73 LuLu layout.
But Mohler’s vast experience enabled her to find a way to earn her first trip
to Iowa and Cedar Rapids Country Club, where the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur
tees off Aug. 24.
“It was shaky at first,” Mohler told the GAP website. “I don’t
know what was going through my head. It was like I was trying to protect a lead
and I didn’t even have a lead. I was 4-over after six holes.”
Mohler righted the ship at the 431-yard, par-5 10th
hole as her approach from 80 yards away with a wedge finished eight feet from
the hole and she rolled in the birdie try. Mohler got another birdie on another
par-5, the 429-yard 17th hole, as she got close with a 58-degree
wedge from 65 yards out.
A double bogey finish at the 18th hole left a bad
taste in Mohler’s mouth, but her 79 held up for medalist honors.
Sue Sardi, a 63-year-old from Skillman, N.J., finished a
shot behind Mohler with an 80 and she is also headed for Cedar Rapids. A member
at Cherry Valley Country Club for more than 30 years, Sardi will be making her
third career appearance in a USGA championship.
The final ticket up for grabs at the LuLu qualifier was claimed by Donna
Young, a 62-year-old from of Ewing, N.J. who posted an 82. Beset by various
injuries and health issues over the last decade, Young will finally return to
the national stage in Cedar Rapids in her 19th appearance in a USGA
championship.
The first alternate is Karen Siegel of Maple Glen, who
carded an 82.
The second alternate is Merion Golf Club’s ageless Liz
Haines, the runnerup to Carolyn Creekmore in the 2004 U.S. Senior Women’s
Amateur. The 71-year-old Haines had qualified for the last two U.S. Senior
Women’s Amateurs.
Haines posted an 85 and beat out Johanna Kung of Wilmington,
Del. for the second-alternate spot as Kung also signed for an 85.
In a qualifier last Tuesday at Hill Crest Country Club in
Lower Burrell in western Pennsylvania, Suzi Spotleson of Canton, Ohio punched
her ticket to Cedar Rapids as she was the medalist with a 72. Spotleson
maintains a membership at the RiverCrest Golf Club & Preserve and is a past
winner of the Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Match Play
Championship.
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