James masters new format to claim Pennsylvania Women's Amateur crown at Lebanon

    The Pennsylvania Golf Association (PAGA) basically absorbed the Pennsylvania State Women’s Golf Association over the last couple of years and that meant the 84^th Pennsylvania Women’s Amateur Championship would be contested as a 54-hole stroke-play event instead of being the match-play tournament it had been for the first 83 years of its existence.

   That worked out pretty well for Fox Chapel Golf Club’s Katie James, who overtook first-round leader Jade Gu of Yardley Country Club and held off a talented field to capture the Pennsylvania Women’s Amateur Championship, presented by Dick’s Sporting Goods, Wednesday at Lebanon Country Club.

   Tuesday’s torrential rain and winds, courtesy of Tropical Storm Isaias, actually turned the first state Women’s Amateur contested at stroke play into a 36-hole event.

   James, a junior at Southern Methodist University, had lost in extra holes in the first round of match play in each of the last two years, so stroke-play was fine with her.

   The former Shady Side Academy standout carded a solid 2-over-par 74 in Monday’s opening round and trailed Gu, a senior at Pennsbury, by a shot after Gu posted a 1-over 73. Gu was the Class AAA East Regional champion as a sophomore in 2018 at Golden Oaks Golf Club and the runnerup in the District One Class AAA Championship last fall.

   But Gu struggled early in Wednesday’s second round and James, after making a bogey at the first hole, started to find a groove. James offset bogeys at the fourth and sixth holes with birdies at the third and seventh holes.

   Standing on the tee at the 178-yard, par-3 ninth hole, James decided to go with a hybrid and stuffed it a couple of feet from the hole. Her third birdie on Lebanon’s front nine enabled her to make the turn at even-par for the round.

   James made bogeys at the 12^th, 15^th and 17^th holes on her way to the clubhouse, but her 3-over 75 left her with a 5-over 149 total and a one-shot victory over Saucon Valley Country Club’s Megan McLean, whose senior season at Penn State was cut short by the coronavirus pandemic.

   James was a little concerned that reducing the tournament from three rounds to two didn’t leave a whole lot of margin for error, but it worked out in her favor.

   “I knew that was going to be tough,” James told the PAGA website. “There were a lot of people bunched up near the top of the leaderboard and having two rounds instead of three certainly is very different. A lot can happen out there.”

   McLean, who had opened with a 77, closed strongly as her 1-over 73 was the best round of the day Wednesday. That gave McLean a 6-over 150 total that left her a shot behind James in second place.

   Jericho National Golf Club’s Megan Meng, so impressive in winning the Pennsylvania Junior Girls’ Championship, also at Lebanon, in June added a 76 to her opening-round 75 for a 151 total that left her in third place.

   I haven’t been able to figure out where Meng, a Pennington, N.J. resident, is going to school, but she will only be a freshman this year and somebody will be getting a pretty good player.

   Butler Country Club’s Caroline Wrigley, a sophomore at Furman, and Allison Wix of the Country Club of Harrisburg finished in a tie for fourth place at 10-over 154, three shots behind Meng.

   Wrigley, the 2018 PIAA Class AAA champion as a senior at North Allegheny, had a pair of 77s. Wix only trailed Gu by two shots after an opening-round 75, but struggled to a 79 in Wednesday’s final round.

   Merion Golf Club’s Kaitlyn Lees, a three-time Pennsylvania Junior Girls’ champion, and Seton Hall senior Mia Kness, playing out of Valley Brook Country Club, shared sixth place, each landing on 155.

   Lees, who starred scholastically at Agnes Irwin, had a promising sophomore season at Dartmouth halted by the pandemic and then got some bad news earlier this summer when Dartmouth dropped women’s golf entirely. It looks like Lees is going to take a gap year, probably not a bad idea with the pandemic still raging out of control, and consider her options before figuring out where to continue her academic and athletic pursuits.

   Lees shaved three shots off her opening-round 79 with a 4-over 76 in Wednesday’s second round. Kness, the 2016 PIAA Class AAA champion as a senior at Peters Township, added a 77 to her opening-round 78.

   Gu, who finished in fourth place in the Pennsylvania Junior Girls’ Championship earlier this summer at Lebanon, struggled to an 83 in Wednesday’s final round, which, combined with her opening-round 73, left her in a tie for eighth place at 156.

   Gu was joined at that figure by Penn State senior Olivia Zambruno of Pleasant Valley Golf Club and Julia Genuardi of the Bob O’Connor Golf Course.

   Zambruno, a three-time PIAA Class AA champion at Greensburg Central Catholic, was the runnerup to Jackie Rogowicz in the last match-play final in the Pennsylvania Women’s Amateur a year ago at Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Militia Hill Course. Zambruno added a 79 to her opening-round 77.

   Genuardi opened with a 79 before adding a 77 in Wednesday’s final round.

   Radley Run Country Club’s Kate Evanko, whose senior season at Georgetown came to a premature end due to the pandemic, and Allentown Municipal Golf Course’s Sam Fritzinger, a senior at Wingate, shared 11^th place, each ending up with a 157 total.

   Evanko, who starred scholastically at Unionville, added a 77 to her opening-round 80. Fritzinger, a former Emmaus standout, opened with a 76 before finishing up with an 81 in Wednesday’s final round.

   The Mid-Amateur, Senior and Super Senior divisions, scheduled to be 36-hole events, were limited to Monday’s opening round.

  Green Oaks Country Club’s Katie Miller, a three-time Pennsylvania Women’s Amateur champion, and Wyoming Valley Country Club’s Molly Gorman shared the Mid-Amateur title, each carding a 6-over 78.

   Miller, a three-time PIAA champion at Hempfield Area back in the day, is a player on the national Mid-Am scene. She reached the quarterfinals of last year’s U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship at Forest Highlands Golf Club’s Meadow Course in Flagstaff, Ariz. before falling to four-time U.S. Women’s Mid-Am champion Meghan Stasi.

   Beth Ward of Royal Manchester Golf Links was the Senior champion with a 4-over 76.

   Merion Golf Club’s ageless Liz Haines shared the top spot in the Super Senior division with Barbara Pagana of Huntsville Golf Club as each signed for a 5-over 77.