Stasi Leads Mid-Amateur; Ingram Paces Senior Amateur
ANTHEM, Ariz. (April 20) – Multiple USGA champions Meghan Stasi, of Oakland, Park, Fla., and Sara Ingram, of Nashville, Tenn., each own the top of the leaderboard through 36 holes at the inaugural Mid-Amateur and Senior Amateur Championships, respectively, of the Ladies National Golf Association (LNGA).
Stasi, a four-time U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion, shot a 6-over-par 78 Tuesday to maintain the lead she shared after the first round. An eight-time Florida Amateur Player of the Year and a member of the 2008 USA Curtis Cup team, Stasi stands at 150 with a one-stroke lead over Amanda Jacobs, of Portland, Ore., who posted the championship’s best round, a 2-under-70 on the Ironwood Course of Anthem Golf and Country Club.
“The greens are still firm and hard to hold,” said Stasi. “I was a little off kilter on my tee shots, and it was hard to recover. I just kept trying to minimize. I knew scores weren’t going to be that low based on the conditions. I only made one birdies but I had a bunch of opportunities.”
Current USA Curtis Cup captain Ingram matched her first-round 75 with another 3-over 75 that included two birdies on her final three holes for a two-stroke advantage over former Arizona women’s golf coach Shelly Haywood of Huntington Beach, Calif. Mary Jane Hiestand, of Naples, Fla., and Evelyn Orley, of Cardiff, Calif., are in third place five strokes off Ingram’s lead.
“That made me happy,” said Ingram, who won the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur in 1991, 1993 and 1994. “Both of my approach shots on No. 7 and No. 9 (her 16th and 18th holes) were with three-quarter gap wedges. The one on seven was four feet and the one on nine was 30-plus feet, that my partner and I were shocked that it went in.”
Ingram, after a successful amateur career, took an extended time away from golf until the 2018 U.S. Women’s Amateur was played at her home club – The Golf Club of Tennessee. She worked as the co-chairman of the championship and was named Curtis Cup captain in 2019 for the Match in Wales this August.
“It has been fun,” said Ingram, who also played in three Curtis Cup Matches. “A couple of my new young college friends from being around U.S. Women’s Amateur at our club sent me texts of encouragement. They tell me to play a little more fearlessly. It’s fun to be back in the game and work on my own game.”
In the Mid-Amateur, Jacobs, a two-time U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur quarterfinalist and the 2020 Oregon Women’s Amateur champion, carded five birdies against two bogeys in the second round to rebound from an 81 in the first round, and placed her in prime position to content with Stasi.
A pair of U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champions, Lauren Greenlief, of Ashburn, Va., and Kelsey Chugg, of Salt Lake City, Utah, share third place with first-round co-leader Gretchen Johnson, of Portland, Ore., at 153.
Both championships are 54-hole, stroke-play events in their inaugural year and are conducted by the Ladies National Golf Association. The Mid-Amateur Championship is for players 25-years-old and up with an index in the World Handicap System not exceeding 10.4. The Senior Amateur Championship is for players 50-year-old and up with an index in World Handicap System not exceeding 14.4. The Wilma Cup, in honor of the departed women’s golf advocate and LNGA leader Wilma Gilliland, will be presented to the Mid-Amateur and Senior Amateur champions and remain in their custody for a year. Medals will also be awarded to the runner-up and third-place finisher in each championship.
NOTES
- Stasi, who won the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur in 2006, 2007, 2010 and 2012, was also a semifinalist three times (2009, 2013 and 2019).
QUOTES
Meghan Stasi: (what she’ll rely on for Round 3) “My confidence, that I’ve been out there year after year and my personal competitiveness. I wish I could say it was my putting but that’s not always the case.”
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ABOUT THE LADIES NATIONAL GOLF ASSOCIATION (LNGA)
The LNGA is a national volunteer women’s amateur golf association founded in Kansas City Mo. in 1927 to promote amateur golf and good sportsmanship among women golfers and junior girls. Our events are hosted at venues across the United States. The events spotlight the nationally prominent amateur golfer that may be eligible for Curtis Cup team selection along with the skilled players from around the world. The LNGA Amateur, the Women’s Mid-Amateur and the Senior Women’s Amateur are included in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) list of golf championships.
Media contact: Pete Kowalski, pkowalski1524@gmail.com; 908-216-8435