Overbrook's Roland earns spot in match-play bracket in U.S. Women's Mid-Am at Berkeley Hall

    Alyssa Roland, who lists Short Hills, N.J. as her residence, but still calls Overbrook Golf Club her home course, earned a spot in the match-play bracket Sunday in the 34^th U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship at the Berkeley Hall Club’s North Course in Bluffton, S.C.

   Roland, who earned her spot in the field at Berkeley Hall out of a Golf Association of Philadelphia-administered local qualifier at Philadelphia Country Club, had opened with an 8-over 80 in Saturday’s opening round of qualifying for match play, but she bounced back with a solid 2-over 74 Sunday, offsetting four bogeys with a pair of birdies. That left her in a tie for 35th place at 10-over 154.

   Roland, the 2010 Ivy League individual champion at Yale, had qualified for match play in the 2017 U.S. Women’s Mid-Am at Champions Golf Club’s Cypress Creek Course in Houston. Roland will take on Nonie Marler of Canada in an opening-round match Monday.

   The survivors of Monday’s opening round will meet in the second round Tuesday morning followed by the round of 16 Tuesday afternoon.

  Meghan Stasi, the South Jersey native who has won the U.S. Women’s Mid-Am title four times, also earned a spot in the match-play bracket as she added an 81 to her opening-round 77 for a 14-over 158 total.

   Statsi lives in the Fort Lauderdale, Fla. area these days, but she came home this summer in search of a ninth Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia Match Play Championship victory at Saucon Valley Country Club’s Grace Course. Stasi, however, was knocked out in the first round. Stasi will open her bid for a fifth U.S. Women’s Mid-Am title with a first-round match against Megan Buck of North Easton, Mass.

   Samantha Perrotta of Florence, N.J., the runnerup in the Philadelphia Women’s Amateur at Saucon Valley after capturing the title in 2020, was one of five players vying for the final spot in the match-play bracket, but failed to survive the playoff. Perrotta struggled to an 86 in the opening round, but bounced back nicely in Sunday’s second round with a 1-over 73. Her 159 total left Perrotta in the playoff for the final spot in the match-play bracket.

   Erica Herr, the two-time PIAA Class AAA champion during a standout scholastic career at Council Rock North, came up just short of a spot in the playoff as she added a 79 to her opening-round 81 for a 160 total.

   Herr, making her return to the national stage after earning a trip to Bluffton out of the GAP-administered qualifier at Philadelphia Country Club, might have sensed she was close to the cut line and went for broke in her last four holes with mixed results. Herr, finishing on the front nine at Berkeley Hall’s North Course, birdied the sixth hole, made a double bogey at seven, birdied the eighth and finished up with a double bogey at nine that knocked her out of the top 64.

   Kelli Pry of Coatesville also just missed a spot in the match-play bracket as she added an 81 to her opening-round 80 for a 161 total.

   Merion Golf Club’s Catherine Elliott, the medalist in the GAP-administered qualifier at Philly Country, couldn’t get it going at Berkeley Hall as she added an 87 to her opening-round 84 for a 167 total. Elliott made it to match play and won a match in her last U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur appearance in 2019 at the Forest Highlands Golf Club in Flagstaff, Ariz.

   Carly Hunt, a standout at Conestoga who played collegiately at Georgetown and Maryland, added an 88 to her opening-round 82 for a 180 total. Grace Battista, who played collegiately at West Chester, added a 92 to her opening-round 88 for a 170 total. Battista, who also came out of the GAP-administered qualifier at Philly Country, plays out of The Golf Course at Glen Mills.

   Looks like Alicia Ann Kapheim, the reigning New Jersey Women’s Senior Amateur champion out of Pennington, N.J., couldn’t solve Berkeley Hall’s North Course as she added a 97 to her opening-round 96 for a 193 total. Kapheim got in as an alternate out of the GAP-administered qualifier at Philly Country.

   Roland’s fellow Yalie, 25-year-old Jennifer Peng of San Diego was the runaway winner in the race for medalist honors in qualifying as she blitzed Berkeley Hall’s North Course with a sparkling 6-under 66 in Sunday’s second round for an 8-under 136 total.

   Starting off the 10^th tee in Sunday’s second round, Peng made birdies at the 10^th, 11^th and 14^th holes before holing a bunker shot for an eagle at the par-5 15^th hole. Peng also made eagle at 15 in Saturday’s opening round.

   She made birdies at the second and fifth holes to get it to 7-under for the round before cooling off with bogeys at six and eight to fall back to 5-under. Peng got one more birdie out of her round at the ninth hole to finish at 6-under. Her 66 and her 136 total were both records for match-play qualifying in the U.S. Women’s Mid-Am.

   Shannon Johnson, the 2018 U.S. Women’s Mid-Am champion from North Easton, Mass. and Jamie Freedman of Aventura, Fla. were eight shots behind Peng in a tie for second place as both landed on even-par 144. Johnson added a 73 to her opening round of 1-under 71 while Freedman added a 2-under 70 to her opening-round 74.

   Lara Tennant, coming off her third straight U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur victory a couple of weeks ago at The Lakewood Club in Point Clear, Ala., finished in a tie for fourth place with Lana Weant of Lubbock, Texas, each landing on 1-over 145. The 54-year-old Tennant of Portland, Ore. added a 1-under 71 to her opening-round 74 while Weant matched par in Sunday’s second round with a 72 after opening with a 73.

   The 40th U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship also teed off this weekend on Massachusetts’ Nantucket Island, although some serious fog on the main site, the Sankaty Head Golf Club, during Saturday’s opening round caused a five-hour delay. By the time darkness fell Sunday night, 42 players had yet to tee off for their second round, all at the other qualifying site, Miacomet Golf Course.

   The Philadelphia area contingent has some work to do to get into the match-play bracket.

   Merion’s Cole Willcox, the medalist in the GAP-administered local qualifier held at St. Davids Golf Club, opened by matching par with a 70 at Miacomet, which was much less affected by the fog than Sankaty Head was. Willcox, a reinstated amateur, was 1-over through eight holes at Sankaty Head in Sunday’s second round, which left him a large group tied for 55^th place at 1-over.

   As I write this, the resumption of the second round is well under way and I am sneaking a few peeks at the scoring on the USGA site for some sub-totals, but some of the partial scores, particularly for the guys who don’t appear to be in the mix to make match play, are from the point when play was suspended Sunday evening.

   Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Gregor Orlando, the 2017 BMW Philadelphia Amateur champion, is also at 1-over as he carded a 1-over 71 at Sankaty Head in Saturday’s opening round, but never got on the golf course at Miacomet Sunday.

   Jason Rossetti of Charlotte, N.C. also emerged from the GAP-administered qualifier at St. Davids. Rossetti got off to a good start with a 2-under 69 Saturday at Miacomet, but struggled to a 4-over 74 at Sankaty Head Sunday and was in a tie for 73^rd place at 2-over 142.

   Another Merion entry, Patrick Knott of Bryn Mawr, opened with a 3-over 73 at Miacomet Saturday and was 2-over through five holes Sunday at Sankaty Head. That left him in a tie for 130^th place at 5-over.

   Another Cricket Club entry, Mark Moffat of Warrington, opened with a 2-over 72 at Sankaty Head and was 4-over through two holes at Miacomet when play was suspended Sunday. At 6-over, Moffat was in the group tied for 146^th place.

   Dan Walters of Winston-Salem, N.C. was the qualifying medalist in the GAP-administered qualifier at Carlisle Country Club and it looks like he’s a lock to make match play. After opening with a 1-under 69 at Sankaty Head Saturday, Walters was 2-under in the early going Monday morning at Miacomet and was in the top 10 at 3-under.

   It’s been five years since Stewart Hagestad of Newport Beach, Calif. rallied from 4-down with five holes to go to defeat Scott Harvey on the 37^th hole and win the 2016 U.S. Mid-Am at Stonewall. He was the low amateur at the Masters the following spring and has played on three winning U.S. Walker Cup teams, most recently last spring at the iconic Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach, Fla.

   Hagestad opened with a 1-under 69 at Miacomet and was 2-under with one hole to play at Sankaty Head as of this writing and he will make match play in a bid to add a second U.S. Mid-Am crown to his resume.

   One player who did complete two rounds, Yaroslav Merculov of Rochester, N.Y. via Russia, got it in at 9-under 131, a total that just might hold up for medalist honors. Merculov opened with a 4-under 66 Saturday at Miacomet before adding a 5-under 65 that matched the course record at Sankaty Head. Merculov’s 131 total lowered the U.S. Mid-Am qualifying record by a shot.

   Merculov was a quarterfinalist the last time the U.S. Mid-Am was contested two years at ago at the Colorado Golf Club.

   Merculov’s closest pursuer is Harvin Groft of Berwick, Maine. Groft opened with a 4-under 66 at Miacomet and, as of this writing, is 3-under with two holes to play at Sankaty Head, which leaves him two shots behind Merculov.

   Michael Muehr of McLean, Va., the qualifying co-medalist five years ago at Stonewall, might have the best chance of catching or surpassing Merculov. Mueher, coming off his third victory in the prestigious Crump Cup at Pine Valley Golf Club – arguably the second biggest event for mid-ams outside the U.S. Mid-Am – opened with a 3-under 67 at Sankaty Head and was 3-under through seven holes at Miacomet Monday morning. That leaves him three shots behind Merculov at 6-under, but with 11 holes to play.

   Canada’s Garrett Rank, pretty sure he’s still an active NHL official, was 1-under through 13 holes Monday at Miacomet after firing a sparkling 4-under 66 at Sankaty Head and was 5-under overall.

   One strong Pennsylvania entry in match play will be Jimmy Ellis, who starred scholastically at Peters Township and collegiately at Ohio University. Ellis is a proven commodity on tough golf courses, winning the Pennsylvania Golf Association’s Open Championship in 2020 at Oakmont Country Club and looking like a winner for a long time before finishing in a tie for fourth place in this summer’s Pennsylvania Amateur at Merion Golf Club’s East Course.

   Ellis matched the course record at Sankaty Head, which will be the course used when match play gets under way sometime later Monday, with a 5-under 65 and added a 2-over 72 at Miacomet to get it in at 3-under 137.

   Another member of the western Pennsylvania contingent, former college hockey player Brett Young, will also make the match-play bracket. Young of Bethel Park opened with a 2-under 68 at Miacomet and was 2-over through 16 holes at Sankaty Head. At even-par, Young was in a tie for 30^th place.

   It doesn’t look like western Pennsylvania’s most decorated mid-am, Nathan Smith, a four-time winner of the U.S. Mid-Am and a three-time member of the U.S. Walker Cup team, will make match play. After opening with a 3-over 73 at Miacomet, Smith matched par with a 70 at Sankaty Head and was at 3-over.

   The 3-overs are tied for 73rd place as I conclude this post, so we'll see.