Cox grabs one-shot lead following opening round of Pennsylvania Women's Amateur at Lancaster

    Penn State sophomore Michelle Cox made five birdies at Lancaster Country Club, a William Flynn gem, as she grabbed the lead following the opening round of the 86^th Pennsylvania Golf Association (PAGA) Women’s Amateur Championship, presented by DICK’S Sporting Goods, Monday with a 2-under 72.

   The top three players on the leaderboard all emerged from the same group as Yardley Country Club’s Jade Gu, a sophomore at Purdue, and Hartefeld National Golf Club’s Rylie Heflin, a sophomore at Duke, trailed their playing partner Cox by two shots, each posting an even-par 74 over the tough LCC layout, which will play host to the U.S. Women’s Open for a second time in 2024.

   Cox, who was a scholastic standout at Emmaus, got off to a fast start with birdies at the second and third holes. Cox made a bogey at the ninth hole, a birdie at 10 and a bogey at 12 that left her at 1-under for the round.

   Birdies at the 13^th and 15^th holes got her to 3-under before Cox gave one more shot back with a bogey at 17. Cox beat Gu in a playoff to capture the PAGA Junior Girls’ crown last summer at Lebanon Country Club.

   Megan Adelman, a senior at The Baldwin School playing out of Bala Golf Club, and Kayla Maletto, a junior at Wilson playing out of Moselem Springs Golf Club, were tied for fourth place, each carding a 1-over 75.

   Adelman capped her junior season in the spring by winning the Inter-Ac League’s individual crown at French Creek Golf Club and the Pennsylvania Independent Schools Athletic Association individual title at Gulph Mills Golf Club. Maletto was a PIAA Class AAA qualifier as a freshman in the fall of 2020 before having her sophomore season cut short by injury last fall.

   A couple of old scholastic rivals, Yardley Country Club’s Jackie Rogowicz and Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Isabella DiLisio were tied for sixth place, each landing on 3-over 77.

   Rogowicz was a four-time PIAA Class AAA qualifier at Pennsbury and was a collegiate standout at Penn State. DiLisio won the PIAA Class AAA individual title in 2013 as a junior at Mount St. Joseph.

   Rogowicz captured the Pennsylvania Women’s Amateur crown in 2019, the last time it was contested at match play, at the Cricket Club’s Militia Hill Course. The Pennsylvania Women’s Amateur is now a 54-hole stroke-play event.

   DiLisio was the runnerup in the Pennsylvania Women’s Amateur a year ago at Sunnybrook Golf Club, although nobody was in the same area code as the winner, Jennifer Cleary, who won the title by 16 shots.

   Recent Downingtown East graduate Ava O’Sullivan, who led the Cougars to the PIAA Class AAA team crown last fall, shared eighth place with West Shore Country Club’s Molly Holbert, each posting a 79. O’Sullivan, playing out of Whitford Country Club, made a run to the final of the recent Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia Match Play Championship before falling to Meghan Stasi, who won the title for the ninth time on her home course of Tavistock Country Club.

   Rounding out the top 10 was Merion Golf Club’s Lauren Jones, who is coming off a solid freshman season at Richmond. Jones, who capped an outstanding scholastic career at Episcopal Academy by winning the Inter-Ac individual crown as a senior in the spring of 2021, was alone in 10^th place with an 80.

   In the Mid-Amateur division, defending champion Katie Miller Gee posted a solid 2-over 76 to take a five-shot lead following the opening round.

   Miller Gee, playing out of Green Oaks Country Club, has been of the top mid-ams in the country the last few years and was a three-time Pennsylvania Women’s Amateur champion in the old match-play format.

   Starting off the 10^th tee, Miller Gee, a collegiate standout at North Carolina and a three-time state champion at Hempfield, got off to a fast start with a birdie at 10.

   In an up-and-down first nine holes, Miller Gee made bogeys at the 11^th and 12^th holes, picked up a birdie at 15, bogeyed 16 and closed out the incoming nine with a birdie at 18, heading for the first tee and the front nine at even-par.

   Miller Gee was steady on the outgoing nine with eight pars, but a double bogey at the eighth hole dropped her back to 2-over.

   Katrin Wolfe of Northampton Country Club was five shots behind Miller Gee in second place with an 81. Wolfe is a Mid-Atlantic field staff representative for the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA).

   Ligonier Country Club’s Kristen Obush was a shot behind Wolfe in third place with an 82. Caddied for Obush in an outing at Stonewall in the spring. She’s got a lot of game.

   Commonwealth National Golf Club’s Karen Siegel, an assistant coach for the women’s team at Penn, headed a very competitive Senior division with an even-par 74.

   Siegel, starting off the 10^th tee, made a bogey at 10, but quickly got it into red figures with back-to-back birdies at 12 and 13. Siegel fell back to even-par with a bogey at the first hole, made a birdie at four and bogeyed the eighth to finish at even-par.

   Defending Senior champion Lisa McGill, who won on her home course at Sunnybrook a year ago, was three shots behind Siegel in second place with a solid 3-over 77.

   Northampton Country Club’s ageless Noreen Mohler was a shot behind McGill in third place with a 78. Mohler was the captain of the winning United States side in the Curtis Cup Match in 2010 at Essex County Club in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Mass.

   Merion’s Loraine Jones, mother of the aforementioned Lauren in the Amateur division, was three shots behind Mohler in fourth place with an 81. Applebrook Golf Club’s Gina Glancy was another two shots behind Loraine Jones in fifth place with an 83.

   Siegel, McGill, Mohler and Loraine Jones have all appeared in match-play brackets in recent U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Championships, but passed up on a trip to the first USGA championship ever played in Alaska as the U.S. Senior Women’s Am is going on this week at Anchorage Golf Course in Anchorage, Alaska.

   But Suzi Spotleson, who’s listed as being from Canton, Ohio, but spends a lot of time in the Philadelphia area and plays out of the RiverCrest Golf Club & Preserve, is making a run in Anchorage. Spotleson rolled to a 6 and 5 victory over Marci DuBois of Scottsdale, Ariz. in her first-round match Monday after finishing in a tie for sixth place in qualifying for match play.

   Spotleson tuned up for her trip to Alaska by earning runnerup honors in the inaugural playing of the WGAP Senior Match Play Championship, falling in the final to Loraine Jones at Tavistock.

   Speaking of ageless, Merion’s Liz Haines, at 70-something, carded a 3-over 77 to take a one-shot lead in the Super Senior division. Barbara Pagana of Huntsville Golf Club was a shot behind Haines in second place with a 78.