2015 Women's Amateur Championship
| Potowomut GC August 4-7 | ||
| | President's Bowl Match Play Tree Past President's Bowl Match Play Tree The Finals By Paul Kenyon WARWICK
_ Lisa Griffin McGill saved her best performance of the week in the
RIGA Women’s Amateur Championship for last and used it to vault to the
tournament crown. McGill was 1-under-par for the 17 holes she needed to turn back defending champion Susie Cavanagh Friday
in the title match at Potowomut. It was McGill’s third championship,
the others coming in 1995 and 2005. The last two women to win that many
were the late Julie Greene and Nancy Chaffee, both now in the state Golf
Hall of Fame. This one was
especially sweet for McGill, who lives in Philadelphia but summers in
Westerly and plays out of The Misquamicut Club, because she felt she was
the underdog. When it was over, she spoke more about
Cavanagh than she did about herself and left no doubt that she was a bit
surprised to be able to win. ``Boy,
am I lucky. I just feel so fortunate. For a while I wasn’t sure how
long I was going to last when she was hitting these wonderful shots, a
kick-in eagle and all that. I just hung in there,’’ McGill said. McGill
was outdriven at times at least 50 yards. Cavanagh, who has given up an
ice hockey career at the University of Connecticut to focus on golf,
uses her power to her advantage. She was 5-under on the five par 5s on
the course, which plays to par 73 for women. As McGill pointed out, that
included an eagle on the 10th, where she nearly hole out for an albatross. However,
this was one time when precision outplayed power. Cavanagh pushed a
couple drives to the right and got herself in trouble on several key
holes. McGill was never in trouble, was terrific around the greens and
even when she had bunker problems. The tone for the day was set on the first hole, a par-5 for women. Cavanagh, as usual, birdied. But so did McGill. ``That was great. I loved doing that. I said, `Great, I got away with a halve,’ ’’ McGill related. ``On the par 5s. I knew I was going to have trouble. Then able to make a couple birdies (that was big).’’ McGill
felt another key to her victory was her caddie, Felicia Revens. Revens
is a friend and tournament competitor herself who began caddying for
McGill after she was beaten by Cavanagh in the first round. McGill said
Revens was more than a caddie, not only helping her read greens and
gauge distances on her home course, but boosting her confidence, as
well. ``It was wonderful having a coach say, `Stay with it, come on, we can do this,' ’’ McGill said. When the two made the turn with McGill 1-up, there was more confidence. ``For
some reason I do better on this back side,’’ McGill said. ``I hung in
there, made up and downs and clutch shots when I felt I needed to.’’ When
Cavanagh pulled even with her eagle on 10 and then won 11 with a bird
after driving within 40 yards of the green, it looked like the momentum
was on her side. But McGill responded the way champions do. She won
three holes in a row with three straight pars while Cavanagh was having
tree trouble on 13 and bunker problems on 14. Now 2-up, McGill kept the pressure on when she matched Cavanagh’s bird on the par-5 15th. Both parred 16. McGill put it away with a gorgeous approach on the par-4 17th. She hit another perfect drive dead down the middle. ``I
hit my utility club,’’ she said. ``That goes 155. I had 156. I knew it
was uphill and I had to carry it. I pulled it just a twinge. It hit the
apron and deadened it, which was great. It just rolled up. That was one
of those where you get super lucky. Hitting the apron took the bounce
out of it.’’ It ended up seven feet from the hole. When Cavanagh could not birdie, both had conceded pars to give McGill title number three. ``I was in shock when I won,’’ McGill said. ``She’s a great competitor and she’s going to do so well. You
have to be careful not to be in awe of who you’re playing with because
it takes you off your game. But I’d watch her hit these shots, the
height she gets, how far she hits it. It’s amazing. I’m excited to see
show she does in the US Am.’’ Cavanagh left right after the match to head home and finish packing. She had a flight Friday night and will compete in the Women’s Amateur in Portland, Ore., next week with her brother, Danny, caddying for her. ``It’s
a special moment for me,’’ McGill said. ``I want to be like Nancy
Chaffee and just hang in there for a while. I’m really pleased. I
couldn’t be happier.’’ Gale Hanna won the
President’s Bowl Division 1-up over Rebecca Moniz and Paula Kleniewski
took the Past President’s Bowl, 4 and 3 over Patricia Labossiere. Semifinal Recap
WARWICK _ To the surprise of almost no one, it will be the defending
champion against the medalist for the title in the RIGA Woman’s Amateur
Championship.
Susie Cavanagh, who won last year, and Lisa Griffin McGill, who
is both the medalist and a two-time former champion, did the expected by
posting semifinal victories on Thursday at Potowomut, although they
took different routes to get there.
Cavanagh ended the storybook run put together by Hall of Famer
Nancy Chaffee with an overpowering performance on the way to a 6-and-5
victory. McGill had to work much harder in overcoming a stiff challenge
by Senior Champion Kibbe Reilly, 2 and 1.
A year ago, Cavanagh and McGill were in the same half of the bracket,
so they met in the semis rather the title match. McGill joked that
during qualifying on Tuesday, she thought about positioning for match play.
``I remember checking and hoping that we wouldn’t be on the same side
so I wouldn’t have to worry about her unless I made the final,’’ McGill
said. The two
will have to go a ways to match what they did last year when the event
was held at Agawam Hunt. They had a back-and-forth contest that went to
the final hole. McGill was 1-up through 16 before Cavanagh won both 17
and 18 to earn the 1-up win. She then beat Nicole Scola in the title
match. Scola, the leader of the Quinnipiac women’s team, did not play
this year because she is doing an international business internship.
Cavanagh is in the middle of a hectic schedule herself, but one she
looks forward to. After the title match, she will head home to rest a
bit and then head to the airport Friday night. She has qualified for the U.S. Women’s Amateur next week in Portland, Ore.
``It’s my first time,’’ she said of playing in a USGA event. ``I’m
really looking forward to it. I’m glad I have this tournament to get
ready for it.’’
She feels she is playing as well as she ever has and it showed as she
ended the great run by one of her former teachers in the RIWGA Juniors
program. Chaffee had been the story of the week, playing at the same
course where she won the first of her many titles exactly 50 years ago.
She has played with all the state’s great players through the years,
including several national champions, and she came away highly impressed
with Cavanagh.
``She reminds me of a little JoAnne Carner with the way she hits the
ball,’’ Chaffee said. ``She reaches all the par 5s in two and does it
hitting irons.’’
Cavanagh won all four par 5s the two played, with three birdies and an
eagle. The eagle came on the fifth hole. The work helped Cavanagh run
out to a 6-up lead through 10. Chaffee birdied 11 to win that hole and
won the 12th, too, with a par, before Cavanagh closed out the match with a winning par on 13.
``I had a wonderful time,’’ Chaffee said of the week, which happened
only after Bob Ward, the RIGA’s executive director, talked her into
playing as a way to celebrate the 50th anniversary of her first championship. Chaffee,
who is one of only two women ever to win the Junior, Amateur and the
Seniors (Judy Callaghan is the other) entertained some of the other
players after action was completed earlier in the week, bringing in
pictures from events over the past 50 years. McGill is celebrating an anniversary of sorts that she said has given her a bit of extra motivation. ``I was thinking how nice it would be if I could win because I won in 1995, I won in 2005, so. . . ‘’ she said.
She made it to the title match only after holding off Reilly in what
was the best match of the week so far. The two were never more than one
hole apart until McGill won the 17th. Reilly twice had 1-up
advantages, the last through eight. When Reilly got up and down from the
fringe to win 13 with a par, the two were even. ``Matches like that give you extra motivation. They’re so competitive it makes you focus more,’’ McGill said.
McGill responded to the pressure the way champions are supposed to.
She went birdie-birdie-birdie from 14-16. Still, she only won one of
those holes. Perhaps the key came on 14 where Reilly rolled in a birdie
putt from the fringe. McGill was faced with a tough, curling downhill
15-footer. Helped reading the green by her friend and caddie, Felicia
Revens, a long time Potowomut member, McGill rolled it in to stay even. She won the par-5 15th
with a conceded bird after sticking a pretty, floating pitch shot in
tight. Now 1-up, McGill kept the pressure on at the par-3 16th, where
she hit her tee shot within five feet. Reilly’s reaction was to hit hers
within four feet. Both made the birdie putts to keep the margin at one
hole. McGill’s
routine par won 17 and earned her the spot so many expected before the
week began, in the title match with Cavanagh. Round of 16 & Quarter Finals Recap By Paul Kenyon WARWICK
_ Nancy Chaffee has accomplished much in her career, to the point that
she already has earned a spot in the state’s golf Hall of Fame. Even
with everything she has won, what she is doing this week could rank
among the greatest performances of her life. Fifty years after she won her first state Amateur title at Potowomut, Chaffee is threatening to do it again. Chaffee won two matches Wednesday
to earn a spot in the semifinals. And she was not alone. A tournament
normally dominated by the college stars was taken over by the veterans,
for one day at least as two more of Chaffee’s long-time rivals, Kibbe
Reilly and Lisa Griffin McGill, also advanced. The only ``kid’’ to move on was the defending champion Susie Cavanagh. The format, which required two rounds on Wednesday in order to finish by Friday,
figured to give the youngsters even more of an advantage than usual.
But with Chaffee leading the way, the veterans turned it into a
memorable day. Chaffee
is the only person in state history to have won a championship in six
different decades. She won the Amateur once apiece in the 1960s, ‘70s,
‘80s and ‘90s and has won five Senior Amateurs in the ‘00s and ‘10s. She
does not play as much as she used to, but spoke about how she wanted to
take part this year to celebrate the 50th anniversary of her first title in 1965, won as a 20-year-old on the same course. ``We’ve
had so many good players. It’s been hard to win,’’ she said as she ran
off the names of her close friend, the late Julie Greene, for whom the
state championship trophy now is named, Glenna Collett Vare, JoAnne
Carner, Betty June Stapleton and Noreen Uihlein, among many others. Chaffee
was steady as she has been for so long as she held off one of the
college stars, Ashley Roggero, 2 and 1 in the afternoon quarterfinals.
Chaffee began the match with seven pars and one bogey in the first eight
holes to build a 3-up advantage. Her margin got as high as 5-up before
Roggero charged back to make it close. Chaffee
also is the only woman to have won the Junior, Amateur and Senior
championships. She has also won more than 20 club championships at Rhode
Island and Newport Country Clubs. Her
golf has not been limited to Rhode Island. She has competed in more
than 20 USGA championships; the British, Irish and Canadian Seniors; and
most of the major women’s amateur events in the United States. Chaffee’s task will be huge in the semis. She meets the newest of the state’s stars, Cavanagh. Cavanagh, who won last year on her home course at Agawam Hunt, is putting in a strong run at holding the title. She
won four of the first six holes in her quarterfinal match with Martha
Clancy. Clancy won the eighth with a par to draw within three, but
Cavanagh’s response was to go birdie, birdie, birdie over the next three
holes to take full control. She won by a final margin of 5 and 4. McGill,
the medalist and a two-time champion, was given a challenge by Marisa
White in the afternoon. White never led, but won both 11 and 12 to pull
within one. McGill took both 13 and 14 with pars to get back to 3-up.
White took the long 15th, but when McGill parred 16 to win that hole she had the 3-and-2 decision. McGill
earlier this summer finished fifth in the New England Women’s Amateur
and in the process won the Senior Division title there. She will meet
Reilly, who has won the RIGA Senior Amateur each of the last two years. Reilly built a four-hole lead over Nancy Diemoz in the quarters, saw it shrink to one through 16, but then won the 17th to earn the 2-and-1 win. The match saw outstanding play as each player made five birdies.
The first round matches in the morning went according to form with
seven of the eight higher seeds prevailing. The only lower seed to win
was the 15th seeded Roggero, a former Portsmouth High star
who just finished her freshman year at Methodist. She and Mia Bartolotta
were tied through eight before Roggero took 9, 13 and 15 for the
3-and-2 victory. Round 1 Recap By Paul Kenyon WARWICK and EAST PROVIDENCE _ One of the biggest days of the RIGA season brought on some high drama on Tuesday, although not in the usual way. The excitement in this case took place not as an event was finishing, but instead even before the first tee shot was struck. Tuesday was a rare day for the association in that it had two of its biggest events of the year, the 84th Rhode Island Open at Agawam Hunt and the 95th Women’s Amateur at Potowomut taking place at the same time. Both went on as scheduled, although only after delays caused by a severe electrical storm that swept through Rhode Island early in the morning, just as players were beginning to arrive at the courses. The storm, which knocked out power to more than 100,000 electric company customers in the state and caused huge traffic delays threatened for a time to cancel all play for the day. But tremendous work by the grounds crew at both courses, and on-the-fly changes implemented by association officials allowed the day to proceed. Both events began at least 90 minutes late. Amazingly, only one player was not able to make it to Potowomut for the women’s event and one to Agawam for the men’s event. RIGA officials could relate because they, too, had to deal with the storm as it struck between 6 and 7 a.m. It was a bad one. ``I have never been so afraid in my life. It was scary coming down Route 95. I mean really scary,’’ said Katie DeCosta, the director of women’s golf and member services. ``Thunder, lightning, the rain, the wind blowing across the highway. It was totally dark. It was bad.’’ As she was nearing her exit off the highway, with traffic barely moving, DeCosta had an experience she will not forget. ``A tree came falling onto the highway and landed on the car behind me,’’ she related. ``I couldn’t believe it.’’ ``There was water all over Route 95,’’ said Angel MacLeod, who was in the first twosome off the tee at Potowomut. ``There was one small car stalled out in the water. Thank God for SUVs.’’ Ashley Roggero, her playing partner, had to make the drive over the bridges from Aquidneck Island. ``You had to go slow. There was nothing else you could do it was so bad,’’ she said. The only good news was that it was a quick hitting storm which lasted about a half hour in most areas. Even as play began about 9 a.m., the humming sound of electrical saws could be heard cutting and clearing away trees and trees branches that were taken down by the storm. Jim McKenna, the RIGA’s director of rules and competitions, joined workers at Agawam in helping clear away debris for a good part of the day. The happenings at Agawam were just as wild as at Potowomut. ``The sun was just coming up and it looked like a nice day,’’ related Bob Ward, the RIGA’s executive director. ``Then it went from sunlight to midnight in about 20 minutes. It was wild. The maintenance workers were out on the course. We had to call them in to get them safe.’’ ``We originally delayed play for an hour, but then when workers went back out and saw the conditions on the other side of the street (for holes 8-14), we had to delay it another hour. There was a tree across the 10th fairway,’’ Ward went on. As it was, the first threesome of the day, which included defending champion Troy Pare, had to be slowed down. Workers were just finishing clearing the downed tree as they got there. ``It was a 60-foot oak that fell from the roots,’’ reported superintendent Drew Cummins. ``Based on what I saw it was like we had a half hour hurricane come through here.’’ A crew of 15, including two workers who normally focus on the tennis courts across the street, worked to get the course playable. One negative was that so much rain fell so quickly (about three-quarters of an inch) that puddles formed, especially at 9 and 11, which made it impossible for players to use carts. What made work at Agawam even more difficult was that electricity was knocked out during the height of the storm. It was restored about four hours later. Once the quick moving storm moved through, it turned into a beautiful day. ``It actually was kind of nice out there,’’ said Susie Cavanagh, the defending champion in the Amateur and one of the leaders Tuesday, with an 80. ``The grounds crew here did a great job,’’ MacLeod offered. ``It was fine out there.’’ Former champion Lisa Griffin McGill, sparked by an eagle on the par-5 5th hole, earned the medal with a 6- over 79. That was one better than Cavanagh and former Interscholastic League champion Mia Bartolotta. It took a score of 89 to earn a spot in the championship division. One of the qualifiers was Hall of Famer Nancy Chaffee, who posted an 82. She is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first of her four titles, which also came at Potowomut. Chaffee is the only player in state history to win the Amateur in four different decades. At Agawam, Matt Campbell, a 26-year-old pro from Utica, N.Y., fired his second straight 63 to take the first-day lead, at least among those who were able to finish. Tyler Cooke also was a 7-under but could not finish the final hole because of darkness. Campbell is on a run. He also had a 63 in the final round as he won the Maine Open last week. He is playing so well that he said his 7-under score was nothing special, simply a string of good scores run together. He did not have a bogey all day and reached all three par 5s in two and had two-putt birdies on those holes. Cooke, who combined with his brother-in-law Bobby Leopold to win the Four-Ball earlier this summer, put a fitting cap in the crazy day. Playing in the next-to-last threesome, Cooke jumped to a great start with birds on 2, 3 and 4. Darkness was falling as Cooke was trying to finish at about 8:20 p.m. and he put the crazy end to the crazy day with birdies on both 16 and 17 when it was getting tough to see. He and his playing partners reached the green on the par-4 18th, but by then it was simply too dark. The group was given the option of finishing or waiting until Wednesday to finish and they opted to mark their balls and return when they could see where they are going. Cooke will have a 35-footer for birdie on 18 at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday to take sole possession of the lead. The group will then tee off for the second round at 10:21. Johnson & Wales grad Mike Welch, another of the late finishers, birdied four of his last five holes to tie Jason Parajeckas, who had finished about six hours earlier, for third at 66. Troy Pare, the defending champion, had a 69.
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