Chattanooga, Tenn. – Medalist Lisa Schlesinger of Laytonsville, Md., advanced to the third round of match play in the USGA Senior Women’s Amateur at the 5,876-yard, par 72 Honors Course.
Two former champions, Carolyn Creekmore of Dallas and Carol Semple Thompson of Sewickley, Pa., were sent to the sidelines. Creekmore, 59, lost to Terri Frohnmayer, 55, of Salem, Ore., 1 up. Brenda Pictor, 56, of Marietta, Ga., defeated Thompson, 4 and 3.
Schlesinger, 53, defeated Frances Gacos, 56, of Flemington, N.J., 4 and 3, and faces Cheryl
Grigg, 54, of Sea Island, Ga., this afternoon. Grigg defeated Sandy Woodruff of Santa Cruz, Calif., 2 and 1.
Gacos went 1 up with a birdie at the second hole and held the margin through six holes, but Schlesinger won the seventh, eighth and ninth holes to take a 2-up lead into the second nine. Schlesinger’s birdie on the par-4 10th hole gave her a 3-up edge. She won the 12th with a par to go 4 up and closed out Gacos on the 14th green.
Grigg and Woodruff exchanged holes in an up-and-down match that ended on the 17th green. It was back and forth all day, said Grigg. I started on the slow side but then I started bringing it on and rolled in some putts.
Grigg and Woodruff halved only three holes of the match. Grigg was 3 up after 14 holes when Woodruff won the 15th with a par and the 16th with a birdie to narrow the margin. But Grigg was dormie two, and her par closed out Woodruff on the 17th green.
I know I have to play my game against Schlesinger, Grigg said. I know she bombs it about 100 yards past me off the tee, so I can’t worry about that. I just have to play my game.
In 1968, Peggy Brady, 63, of Denver, N.C., was a national champion. She won that year’s U.S. Girls’ Junior title but has competed little since. Tuesday morning she defeated another nationally-known player, Pat Cornett, 57, a two-time Curtis Cup player from Mill Valley, Calif.
Brady and Cornett showed some of their old fire in their return to national competition. Cornett won the first hole with a par but neither held more than a 1-up lead throughout the match. After 16 holes Brady was 1 up but Cornett evened the match at the par-5 17th with a birdie.
I hit that wedge shot to a tough hole location and put it five feet from the hole, Cornett said. I was proud of that.
With the match all square, Brady had a good chance to end it on the 18th. To a front hole-location she hit a towering 7-iron to within 5 feet of the hole. Cornett struggled, hitting a squirrely little iron shot some 10 yards short of the green. Playing quickly, Cornett lobbed a beautiful pitch to within 1 foot of the hole and her par 4 was conceded. Brady misread the putt and halved with a 4.
Forced to play extra holes, they went to the 19th. Cornett’s drive was slightly pulled and kicked off a hillside into the left fairway bunker. Brady’s tee shot was on the edge of the fairway to the right, but she had a nice angle into the flagstick, which was on the left side of the green.
Cornett hit a fine iron shot out of the fairway bunker, her ball ending about 10 yards to the right of the green.
Brady is lithe but tremendously strong. She cuts off the follow-through of her swing but she has powerful hands and gets good clubhead speed. Using a 25-degree hybrid, she smacked yet another approach shot right at the hole and it settled some 10 feet away.
The shots on the 18th and the 19th were the two best shots I hit all day, Brady said.
Cornett chipped some 12 feet past but made the putt for a par. Brady had the birdie putt for the match. I just tried to hit a good putt and prayed, Brady said.
Her putt dropped for a birdie and the win, 1 up. Brady faces Kim Eaton of Greeley, Colo., in the third round.
Andrea Kraus, 50, of Baltimore, Md., was playing in her first USGA Senior Women’s Amateur. In her match against Maggie Leef, 51, of Brookfield, Wis., Kraus was 7 up after the 11th hole when she was disqualified. Kraus’ caddie had a short string of yarn attached to his divot repair tool that he used to judge wind direction. It was a violation of Rule 14-3b, which stipulates that a player may not use any artificial device for the purpose of gauging or measuring distance or conditions that might affect his play.
A Rules official spotted the infraction. The penalty for breach of Rule 14-3b is disqualification and the match was awarded to Leef.
Rhonda Glenn is a manager of USGA Communications. E-mail her with questions or comments at rglenn@usga.org.