U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur Home

What Happened

Kelsey Chugg, 28, of Salt Lake City, Utah, the 2017 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion and the 2018 runner-up, advanced in the 33rd edition of the championship on Monday with a 3-and-2 victory over Cindy Scholefield McConnell, the winner of the inaugural championship in 1987.

Despite the 30 years separating their titles and a 31-year age difference, McConnell, 59, of Bishop, Calif., made her opponent work after Chugg built a 4-up advantage, halving the deficit with wins on holes 14 and 15 before Chugg closed out the match with a winning par on No. 16.

“Cindy almost chipped in on No. 16, too,” said Chugg, who improved to 12-1 in match play in her three starts in this championship. “It was awesome to play against her. She’s such a great competitor and she still has a lot of game. She put the pressure on me.”

Chugg is one of seven Women’s Mid-Am champions who advanced in Monday’s Round of 64, although defending champion and No. 6 seed Shannon Johnson, of Easton, Mass., received a massive scare. Johnson, 36, made a 15-foot birdie putt on the 22nd hole to edge No. 59 seed Noelle Maertz, of Clark, N.J. Johnson needed a winning par on No. 18 just to force extra holes against Maertz, 25, a Wagner College graduate and golf shop assistant at Ridgewood Country Club who was competing in her first U.S. Women’s Mid-Am.

Johnson will square off in Tuesday’s Round of 32 against seven-time USGA champion Ellen Port, 57, of St. Louis, Mo., who defeated Sydney Ramskill, of Salinas, Calif., 2 and 1. Port, who has four Women’s Mid-Am titles to her credit, most recently in 2011, earned her 60th match-play win in this championship on Monday, the most all-time, having first competed in 1989.

Another four-time Women’s Mid-Amateur champion, Meghan Stasi, 41, of Oakland Park, Fla., outlasted Christina Proteau, of Canada, 4 and 3. Stasi, the No. 34 seed, who has the third-most match-play wins in this championship (49), moves on to face No. 2 seed Heather Wall, of Lakeland, Fla., who ousted No. 63 seed Sue Curtin, 5 and 4.

“The golf course is incredible; they set it up great today,” said Stasi, who last won this championship in 2012. “You have to be in the fairway and if not, you have to be able to work the ball. It’s a testament to the course. You have to have every shot in the bag out here.”

Whitney French, 28, of Monarch Beach, Calif., earned the No. 64 seed, the final spot in match play, by making a birdie on the second playoff hole on Monday morning. She edged out five other players who shot 12-over-par 156 in stroke play. French pushed medalist and No. 1 seed Julia Potter-Bobb, a two-time champion, to the 18th hole before losing, 2 up. French squared the match with a birdie on No. 15, but lost Nos. 17 and 18 to miss out on her bid to become the first player to topple a No. 1 seed in the Round of 64 since 1997.

Other past champions to advance were 2015 champion Lauren Greenlief, 29, of Ashburn, Va., the No. 15 seed, and 2009 champion Martha Leach, 57, of Hebron, Ky., the No. 12 seed, who earned her 44th match-play win on Monday, fourth-most in championship history.    

What's Next

The Round of 32 will begin at 7:30 a.m. Mountain Standard Time on Tuesday, with the Round of 16 following on Tuesday afternoon, beginning at 12:30. The quarterfinals and semifinals will be played on Wednesday and the 18-hole championship match is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Thursday.

Notable

More than half of the matches on Monday – 17 of 32 – went to at least the 17th hole. No. 20 seed Talia Campbell and No. 55 seed Pam Kuong both won in 19 holes, while defending champion Shannon Johnson won in 22 holes. Two matches in championship history have gone 24 holes, while seven have gone 23 holes.

Play was suspended for 55 minutes on Monday afternoon due to dangerous weather conditions in the Flagstaff area. Play was halted at 1:46 p.m. Mountain Standard Time and resumed at 2:41 p.m.

Quotable

“I’m just going to try to stick to my game plan, control my misses and work on my weaknesses and hopefully things get rolling the next few days. You have to win matches even when you’re not playing your best. It’s so important.” – Kelsey Chugg, 2017 champion and 2018 runner-up

“She said she had kind of retired for a couple of years, but she’s back and I told her, you don’t need to retire, you’ve got game.” – Kelsey Chugg, on Cindy McConnell, the 1987 Women’s Mid-Am champion

“Early in the match today, I had a goof-up and three-putted from about 8 feet on No. 2 to lose the hole. But then I hit some pretty good shots and made a few birdies to build momentum. Still have some mistakes I want to get rid of, but overall I played solid.” – Lauren Greenlief, 2015 champion

“I think every course is a little bit different in how it fits your eye. I think in 2015 at Squire Creek, the course was set up very difficult, which I felt was really beneficial to my game. So I just felt like I could cruise through… You really have to come to play now, because even par doesn’t get it done in this championship anymore. I think the fields have gotten stronger and everyone has kind of elevated their play.” – Lauren Greenlief

“It’s a relief. I feel like I’m good enough to be here. I won a match and feel like I really belong. I love the golf course and feel like I’m playing well. I’m going to keep playing my game and hope to get farther into the week.” – Megan Buck, No. 5 seed, who defeated Nora Klein, 3 and 2

“It’s redemption for me. Last year I did not play well and was not thinking well.” – Martha Leach, the No. 12 seed, who rebounded from a missed cut in the 2018 championship

The Social Scene

Ron Driscoll is the senior manager of editorial services for the USGA. Email him at rdriscoll@usga.org.