What You Need to Know

U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur Home

The average age of the Women’s Mid-Amateur competitors is 42.45 years old.

The youngest player in the championship is Lauren Greenlief, of Oakton, Va., who turned 25 on Sept. 13. There are 11 other players in their first year of championship eligibility: Whitney Britton, of Laguna Niguel, Calif.; Eleana Collins, of Baltimore, Md.; Amanda Dixon, of Hillsboro, Ohio; Kathryn Hauff, of Fargo, N.D.; Morgan Jackson, of Seminole, Fla.; Katie Jorgensen, of Exeter, Neb.; Lauren Kuss, of Zionsville, Ind.; Courtney McKim, of Raleigh, N.C.; Dani Mullin, of West Islip, N.Y.; Kristin Paulson, of Pella, Iowa; and Casey Ward, of Canada.

Taffy Brower, 70, of Boynton Beach, Fla., is the oldest player in the championship. Brower was also the oldest player in the 2014 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur, as well as the 2015 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball.

There are six countries represented in the championship: Argentina, Australia, Canada, Peru, Sri Lanka and the United States of America.

There are 36 states represented in the championship: Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.

There are eight USGA champions in the field:

• Carolyn Creekmore, 63, of Dallas, Texas (2004 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur)
• Robin Donnelley, 62, of Palm Beach, Fla. (1989 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur)
• Mina Hardin, 55, of La Quinta, Calif. (2010 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur)
• Martha Leach, 53, of Hebron, Ky. (2009 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur)
• Julia Potter, 27, of Granger, Ind. (2013 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur)
• Margaret Shirley, 29, of Roswell, Ga. (2014 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur)
• Meghan Stasi, 37, of Oakland Park, Fla. (2006, 2007, 2010, 2012 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur)
• Corey Weworski, 53, of Carlsbad, Calif. (2004 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur)

There are 10 USGA runners-up in the field:

• Robin Burke, 53, of Houston, Texas (1997 U.S. Women’s Amateur)
• Patricia Cornett, 61, of Mill Valley, Calif. (1987 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur)
• Carolyn Creekmore (2009 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur)
• Robin Donnelley (1998 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur)
• Alexandra Frazier, 57, of Conshohocken, Pa. (2010 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur)
• Mina Hardin (2001 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur; 2011 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur)
• Martha Leach (2011 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur)
• Julia Potter (2014 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur)
• Thuhashini Selvaratnam, 39, of Sri Lanka (2006 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur)
• Margaret Shirley (2013 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur)

Six players were members of victorious teams in the USGA Women’s State Team Championship:

• Taffy Brower (Florida, 1999)
• Robin Donnelley (Florida, 1999)
• Leigh Klasse, 56, of Woodbury, Minn. (2001)
• Thuhashini Selvaratnam (Arizona, 2007)
• Margaret Shirley (Georgia, 2015)
• Lynn Thompson, 57, of Cincinnati, Ohio (2003)

Four players have represented the USA in the Curtis Cup Match:

• Robin Burke (1998, captain 2016)
• Patricia Cornett (1978, 1988, captain 2012)
• Robin Donnelley (1990, 1992, 2000)
• Meghan Stasi (2008)

Notable Player Bios

Debbie Adams, 48, of Asheville, N.C., has represented the United States in the International Maccabiah Games, held every four years in Israel. She is a first-degree black belt in kobudo and a second-degree black belt in karate.

Eden Anderson, 37, of Oakland, Calif., is an attorney for Seyfarth Shaw LLP. She went to Cal-Berkeley for undergrad and law school and is an accomplished amateur in Northern California, winning the 2001 San Francisco City Amateur Championship as well as the 1996 Santa Cruz City Amateur. She is also a five-time club champion at Claremont Country Club, where she holds the course record at 69. She has competed in the U.S. Women’s Amateur, U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links, U.S. Girls’ Junior, U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur and U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball championships. She once shot a 72 at 41 weeks pregnant, one week after her due date.

Marcy Austin, 51, of Thousand Oaks, Calif., is a former stage actress in the Los Angeles area. She won a best supporting actress award for her role in a comedy called “Don’t Dress for Dinner.” A column in the Los Angeles Times once described her as a combination of Lucille Ball and Gracie Allen. She also appeared in a skit on “The Tracy Ullman Show” with 1980 U.S. Women’s Open champion Amy Alcott. Her husband played bass for the band Spiral Starecase, which sang the hit song “More Today Than Yesterday,” which peaked at No. 12 on the Billboard Top 100 in 1969. Her 11-year-old son is an actor and has appeared in commercials with Jill Hennessy and New York Giants star wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. She once interviewed Mark McGwire when working as a sports reporter in Las Vegas in 1988.

Marie Bos, 29, of New York, N.Y., made her first hole-in-one this year, acing the 10th hole on the Pacific Dunes Course at Bandon Dunes during the inaugural U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship. Her ace was No. 2 on SportsCenter’s top 10 plays of the week, behind only a Derrick Rose game-winning shot in the NBA Playoffs.

Taffy Brower, 70, of Boynton Beach, Fla., once played with legendary players JoAnne Gunderson Carner, Louise Suggs and Marlene Stewart Streit. She has competed in 50 USGA championships, and was inducted into the Florida State Golf Association Hall of Fame in 2014.

Robin Burke, 53, of Houston, Tex., is the 1997 U.S. Women’s Amateur runner-up, three-time U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur semifinalist and a member of the victorious 1998 USA Curtis Cup Team. She will captain the 2016 USA Curtis Cup Team. She has also competed in three U.S. Women’s Opens. Burke is married to two-time major champion and World Golf Hall of Fame member Jack Burke Jr. The Burkes own Houston’s famed Champions Golf Club, where Robin Burke serves as vice president.

Tama Caldabaugh, 51, of Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., is an ovarian cancer survivor who played golf within a month of her final chemotherapy treatment in May 2013, then finished seventh in that September’s Florida State Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship. She is on the board of directors for the Florida State Golf Association and volunteers as a certified Rules official for the FSGA.

Julie Carmichael, 51, of Plainfield, Ind., is a noted healthcare and real estate executive and strategist in the Hoosier State. Along with her father, 1961 U.S. Amateur quarterfinalist and former Indiana University golf coach Sam Carmichael, she owns the Martinsville (Ind.) Golf Club. Carmichael won the 1986 NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championship while attending Stanford University. She was inducted into the Indiana Golf Hall of Fame in 2005 and has won numerous Indiana Golf Association and Indiana Women’s Golf Association championships.

Lisa Cook, 34, of Noblesville, Ind., is married to 2011 U.S. Mid-Amateur runner-up Kenny Cook. She and her husband have competed in the Women’s Mid-Amateur and Mid-Amateur in the same year on three occasions: 2011, 2013 and 2014.

Patricia Cornett, 61, of Mill Valley, Calif., runs the educational programs at the University of California-San Francisco. She helped establish a VA Center of Excellence in Primary Care Education at UCSF, one of five programs in the country. She is the 1987 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur runner-up and competed on three USA Curtis Cup Teams, serving as the captain in 2012.

Lynne Cowan, 52, of Rocklin, Calif., is a four-time California Women’s Amateur champion (1999, 2000, 2005 and 2007) and two-time California Senior Women’s Amateur champion (2014 and 2015). In 2015, she was recognized by the Northern California Golf Association as one of the 10 greatest players in Northern California golf history – the only career amateur on a prestigious list that includes Paula Creamer, Juli Inkster and Pat Hurst. At age 18, Cowan was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis, a form of rheumatoid arthritis, and credits golf with keeping her limber.

Carolyn Creekmore, 63, of Dallas, Texas, is the 2004 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur champion and a member of both the Arkansas Golf Hall of Fame and Texas Golf Hall of Fame. She raises horses on a farm. Her grandfather, Steve Creekmore Sr., was a quarterback for the University of Arkansas, leading the team to an undefeated season in 1909. She tore her rotator cuff in 2014 and had to take the entire year off from playing golf.

Kay Daniel, 44, of Covington, La., won the 2005 Louisiana Women’s Amateur and has won seven Louisiana Women’s Mid-Amateurs. She finished runner-up in this year’s Louisiana Women’s Amateur.

Charlotte Daughan, 31, of Orlando, Fla., owns and operates a women’s golf accessory line called Blingo Ball Marks. Numerous professional players use her product, including Michelle Wie and Morgan Pressel. Daughan was runner-up in the 2014 Florida Women’s Amateur Championship, and with her husband, Ben, was runner-up in the 2014 Florida State Golf Association Mixed Team Championship. She was a four-time Division II national player of the year for Rollins College, where her husband also attended and played golf. Both Daughans work at Golf Channel, with Ben serving as a producer for Golf Central and Charlotte working in customer relations for GolfNow.com.

Sarah Davison, 35, of Choudrant, La., won the 2013 Louisiana Women’s Amateur, having previously taken the title in 2009, and won this summer’s Louisiana Women’s Mid-Amateur. The former University of Alabama standout, who is a member at championship host club Squire Creek, reached the semifinals of the 1997 U.S. Girls’ Junior under her maiden name of Johnston.

Stacy Dennis, 42, of Addison, Texas, is a two-time Texas Women’s Amateur champion.

Robin Donnelley, 62, of Palm Beach, Fla., is the 1989 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion, 1998 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur runner-up, a three-time competitor for the USA Curtis Cup Team and a member of the victorious Florida team in the 1999 USGA Women’s State Team Championship. She competed in eight U.S. Women’s Opens.

Leslie Folsom, 48, of Seattle, Wash., is a six-time Washington State Women’s Golf Association Amateur champion.

Cindy Gilkeson, 56, of Sugarland, Texas, won the 2015 Women’s Southern Mid-Amateur Championship and 2012 Houston Women’s Senior Amateur Championship. Once while visiting Cairo, Egypt, she was quarantined in her hotel due to a suicide bombing in a tourist area.

Lauren Greenlief, 25, of Oakton, Va., is a three-time Virginia State Golf Association Stroke-Play champion, winning the 2010 title on the seventh playoff hole. The youngest competitor in the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur, Greenlief finished second in this year’s VSGA Women’s Amateur and tied for third in the Canadian Women’s Amateur.

Mina Hardin, 55, of La Quinta, Calif., was the first Mexican woman to play on the LPGA Tour and the first Mexican-born USGA champion (2010 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur). A reinstated amateur since 1991, she has twice won the Texas Women’s Amateur and was inducted into the Texas Golf Hall of Fame in 2012.

Olivia Herrick, 27, of Roseville, Minn., has won multiple Minnesota State Golf Association and Minnesota Women’s Public Golf Association championships, including the 2009 Women’s Amateur. Herrick is the marketing and communications manager at Mounds Park Academy, where she attended high school, and also serves as coach of the varsity and junior varsity girls’ golf teams.

Annie Hogan, 27, of Medford, Mass., has only been playing golf for four years and admits she is still learning about the game. She tried it in high school, but didn’t like it. Hogan was a hockey standout and was a two-time captain for Northeastern University’s women’s hockey team before playing professionally for the Boston Blades of the CWHL. She currently works as a hockey instructor for EdgeWorks Hockey. 

Connie Isler, 31, of Annapolis, Md., previously served as the head women’s golf coach at her alma mater, Georgetown University, where at age 21 she set a record as the youngest head coach for any NCAA Division I sports team. She now works as a software client leader for NASA and the Department of Energy on behalf of IBM. 

Mercedes Huarte, 29, of Argentina, moved to the United States at age 18 to play college golf at Jacksonville State University, where she was a four-time Ohio Valley Conference champion and the 2008 player of the year. She is a financial analyst for Cisco Systems. Her husband, Corey Brindle, is an accountant with the 82nd Airborne Division of the U.S. Army who has served in Afghanistan.

Tara Joy-Connelly, 42, of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., was named the Massachusetts Golf Association Player of the Decade for 2000-2009 and made the semifinals of last year’s U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship.

Martha Leach, 53, of Hebron, Ky., is the sister of six-time USGA champion Hollis Stacy and the 2009 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion. Leach introduced her sister at her 2012 World Golf Hall of Fame induction ceremony. She competed with her daughter, Madison Gerstle, in the inaugural U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship in May at Bandon Dunes.

Kareen Markle, 53, of Meridian, Idaho, is a three-time Pacific Northwest Golf Association Women’s Mid-Amateur champion. She has also won multiple Idaho Golf Association titles.

Stefi Markovich, 40, of Canada, won the 2013 Ontario Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship.

Jessica Marksbury, 30, of Calimesa, Calif., is an associate editor for Golf Magazine who also does on-camera video stories for the USGA at select USGA championships. She was a member of the inaugural women’s golf team at Columbia University and is competing in her first USGA championship.

Carol Martin, 47, of La Quinta, Calif., is an accomplished tennis player. She went to Syracuse University on a full tennis scholarship and is a member of the Buffalo (N.Y.) Tennis Hall of Fame. She was the No. 1 ranked player in Western New York for six straight years. She has two Masters degrees: an MBA from Niagara University and a Masters of Accounting from Canisius University.

Janet Moore, 51, of Cherry Hills Village, Colo., is a member of the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame. Her husband, Kent, is also an accomplished amateur golfer and member of the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame. Janet and Kent were medalists in their respective U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur and U.S. Senior Amateur qualifiers this year. Janet was also co-medalist in her Women’s Mid-Amateur qualifier. Janet and Kent were longtime golf coaches at Wheaton College until this year.

Patty Moore, 65, of Charlotte, N.C., is a member of the Carolinas Golf Hall of Fame, three-time Carolinas Player of the Year and two-time North Carolina State Women’s Amateur champion.

Anna Morales, 46, of Peru, played on the Peruvian National Team as a junior golfer.

Linda Pearson, 60, of Glendale, Calif., owns Dinah’s Chicken, a restaurant in her hometown. The restaurant has been owned and operated by the Pearson family since 1967.

Allison Pettit, 31, of Chicago, Ill., was a scholarship water polo player at the University of Southern California and owns the Illinois high school record for goals scored in a single water polo match.

Julia Potter, 27, of Granger, Ind., is the 2013 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion and 2014 Women’s Mid-Amateur runner-up, and also won the 2007, 2008, 2014 and 2015 Indiana Women’s Amateur Championships. She is the director of marketing for the Indiana Golf Office and was a 2008 P.J. Boatwright Intern for the Missouri Golf Association. Potter was diagnosed with scoliosis as a teenager and underwent the same back surgery as LPGA star Stacy Lewis.

Christina Proteau, 32, of Canada, is a prosecutor for the British Columbia Ministry of Justice. She is a five-time Canadian Women’s Mid-Amateur champion, and has also won three British Columbia Women’s Amateurs and five British Columbia Women’s Mid-Amateurs. Proteau reached the quarterfinals of the 2014 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur while six months pregnant, and gave birth to her son, Jameson, in December. All four of her matches went to 19 holes.

Therese Quinn, 64, of Jacksonville, Fla., played in the 1971, 1972 and 1973 U.S. Women’s Open Championships. She and her playing partner once made a hole-in-one on the same hole during the same round on the same day.

Tanna Richard, 58, of Fort Smith, Ark., competed in the inaugural U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship, in 1987 at Southern Hills, advancing to the quarterfinals. Richard is a noted golfer in her home state, winning back-to-back Arkansas Girls’ Junior titles in 1973 and 1974, as well as the 1980 Arkansas State Match Play and 1996 Arkansas State Stroke Play championships. Her accomplishments earned her induction into the Arkansas State Golf Association Hall of Fame in 2006.

Alyssa Roland, 26, of New York, N.Y., won the 2010 Ivy League Championship competing for Yale University. She is an investment banking associate in the financial sponsors group for Credit Suisse.

Lisa Schlesinger, 57, of Laytonsville, Md., won the 2008 and 2009 Maryland Women’s Mid-Amateur Championships. She was the stroke-play medalist in the 2011 and 2012 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Championships. Schlesinger, who played basketball at the University of Maryland and in the Women’s Basketball League (WBL) with two teams, is a member of the Greater Washington D.C. Fastpitch Softball Hall of Fame.

Thuhashini Selvaratnam, 39, of Sri Lanka, made the Guinness Book of World Records when she became the youngest golfer to win a national championship, winning the Sri Lanka Amateur at the age of 12 in 1989. She now lives in Tempe, Ariz., where she is the golf coach at Xavier College Preparatory School.

Claire Sheldon, 27, of Somerville, Mass., recently started her own business: Perspective Student-Athlete College Counseling, which helps high school athletes with the college recruitment process. Sheldon is a two-time Massachusetts Women’s Amateur champion and played on Harvard University’s first Ivy League championship team in 2008.

Margaret Shirley, 29, of Roswell, Ga., is the defending U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion. Last year, she defeated Julia Potter in a rematch of the 2013 final. It was only the third rematch between the previous year’s finalists in USGA championship history. She also won the 2006, 2008 and 2013 Georgia Women’s Opens. Shirley is the executive director of Atlanta Junior Golf, which hosts 90 one-day golf tournaments each summer for youths ages 7-18. She was previously an assistant golf coach at her alma mater, Auburn University, as well as at the University of Georgia.

Rachel Smith, 27, of Mansfield, Texas, was a P.J. Boatwright Intern with the Women’s Texas Golf Association. She now works in ticket sales for the PGA Tour’s Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial.

Meghan Stasi, 37, of Oakland Park, Fla., is a four-time U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion (2006, 2007, 2010, 2012). She also won the 2012 Ione D. Jones/Doherty Championship. She and her husband, Danny, own Shuck N’ Dive, a seafood restaurant in Fort Lauderdale.

Kristyl Sunderman, 42, of Cote De Caza, Calif., has made three holes-in-one in 2015 alone. Her grandfather, Ed Beinor, was a two-time All-America tight end at Notre Dame and played professional football for the Cardinals, Redskins and Bears.  

Tracy Welch, 44, of Winchester, Mass., is an investment banker for Credit Suisse and a two-time Massachusetts State Women’s Amateur champion and the 1997 Massachusetts Women’s Open champion. The October 2007 issue of Golf Digest named her the best female golfer on Wall Street and the 25th best golfer on Wall Street, overall. She went to Dartmouth College (undergrad), the University of Virginia (law school) and Harvard University (business school), receiving degrees from each. Her first cousin is eight-time PGA Tour winner Brad Faxon, who works as an analyst for Fox Sports’ coverage of USGA championships.

Sydney Wells, 54, of Menominee, Mich., is the president of the Wisconsin Women’s State Golf Association and a five-time Wisconsin Women’s State Golf Association player of the year. A 2012 inductee into the Wisconsin State Golf Association Hall of Fame, Wells plays most of her golf in Wisconsin despite residing in Michigan, as her home in the Upper Peninsula of the state is located on the Wisconsin-Michigan border.

Corey Weworski, 53, of Carlsbad, Calif., is the 2004 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion. Her son, Tyler, competes on the Web.com Tour.   

Kelly Wilson, 42, of Cameron Park, Calif., is a former professional tennis player who qualified for the 1996 US Open. She was inducted into the University of Texas Hall of Honor as a tennis player in 2013, and still holds most records for the Longhorn women’s tennis program.

Dawn Woodard, 41, of Greer, S.C., was the 2012 Carolinas Women’s Player of the Year. She won the 2011 and 2012 Carolinas Women’s Match Play Championships, as well as the 2010-12 Women’s South Carolina Golf Association Match Play Championships and the 2012 WSCGA Stroke Play Championship. Earlier this month, she won her sixth Women’s South Carolina Golf Association’s Amateur Championship. 

Compiled by Joey Flyntz, associate editor for the USGA.