By Steve Waters

FORT LAUDERDALE – By her own admission, Alexa Pano had an “amazing” 2019, and it all started with her winning the Ione D. Jones/Doherty Women’s Amateur Championship for the second time in three years. The 15-year-old from Lake Worth went on to compete in some of the world’s biggest tournaments and claimed a major junior victory, but she’ll back to defend her title when the 88th edition of the event begins with stroke-play qualifying Monday at Coral Ridge Country Club, followed by four days of match play. “It’s an event that’s pretty close to home, but it’s also a super highly thought of event,” said Pano of the Doherty, whose past champions include World Golf Hall of Famers , JoAnne Carner, Babe Zaharias and Marlene Stewart Streit, as well as current LPGA touring pros and .

Pano was 9 when she first played in the Doherty in 2014 and became the tournament’s youngest winner of any division by capturing the Amateur First Flight title. She won the Amateur Championship at age 12 in 2017, lost in the final match in 2018, and rallied from two holes down in the title match to win last year.

Notwithstanding her success in the tournament, its rich history, its challenging par-72, 6,173-yard Robert Trent Jones layout and its competitive field, Pano said she also loves the wonderful food provided to the players each day, the professionalism of the staff and the warm hospitality of the members.

“I just think it’s an amazing event,” said the home-schooled ninth-grader. “The golf course is awesome. I’ve gotten to know it pretty well over the years, so I’ve gotten pretty comfortable with it. It’s always a nice field, and I know it’ll be a good event this year.” After last year’s victory, Pano’s other highlights included playing in the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur, qualifying for her first U.S. Women’s Open and advancing to the round of 16 in the U.S. Women’s Amateur. She also won the Rolex Girls Junior Championship, which was her first American Junior Golf Association invitational title and her second career AJGA victory. In September, she was a member of the U.S. Junior team that defeated Europe in Scotland. “It was a jam-packed year, but pretty solid,” Pano said.

Solid also describes Pano’s competition in the 18-player Amateur division field, starting with fellow two-time Doherty winner Meghan Stasi, 41, of Oakland Park, who won in 2012 and 2018, and is a four-time winner of the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur.

Other South Floridians include Tara Joy-Connolly of Vero Beach, the Florida State Golf Association’s Women’s Amateur Player of the Year in 2015, Elle Nachmann of Boca Raton, Lily Rinker of Jupiter, Makenna Rodriguez of Delray Beach, Allison Dusek of Fort Lauderdale, Maisie Filler of Palm Beach Gardens and Doherty newcomer Chloe Kovelesky, 12, of Boca Raton, who tied for second in June in the FSGA Women’s Amateur Championship.

The 60-player Senior Women’s Amateur field is even more competitive, and that’s without three-time defending champion Lisa Schlesinger of Fort Myers, who has given up golf for the time being in favor of tennis.

“Plain and simple, I’m burned out with golf,” Schlesinger said. “I’m hoping taking some time off from competitive golf will get me excited again. The fact that I’m putting most of my energy into tennis doesn’t help. I’m really enjoying the new challenge.”

There is no shortage of past champions in the 50-and-over division: Andrea Kraus of Baltimore, a three-time Doherty winner (2012, ’14, ’15); two-time senior champ Karen Ferree of Hilton Head, S.C. (2004-05); Connie Shorb of York, Pa., (2007); Mary Jane Hiestand of Naples (2011); and 2009 winner Carolyn Creekmore of Ponte Vedra Beach, a past U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur champion. Also back is Terrill Samuel of Etobicoke, Ontario, who advanced to the championship match the past three years.

“I called Lisa the other day and said, ‘When are you coming over for your defense of your defense of your defense?’ And she told me she wasn’t playing,” said Kraus, a Coral Ridge member who spends winters in South Florida. “It’s a really strong field. It looks even stronger than usual, even without Lisa.”

Kraus added that what she called “a fantastic women’s championship course” will seriously test that quality field.

“The course is playing so hard,” she said. “The fairways are soft, so you get no roll. The rough is really long, and they shaved the banks of the greens. Scores are not going to be low.”

The good news is that no matter how difficult the course plays, there will be a winner, and she will have earned the title of Doherty champion.

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