Maryland State Golf Association Women’s Division SPRING 2014 NEWSLETTER MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT Looking back at 2013, we had an outstanding tournament year with many proud champions. Re-caps are in the Newsletter. I would like to mention our Open winner, Jenny Suh. At the LPGA Qualifying School in December, she kept her confidence after shooting an opening 76 and followed that by firing rounds of 70, 69, 68, and 71 (354). Congratulations, Jenny, and we’ll look forward to rooting for you and watching your progress on TV this year. We are proud that our past President, Diane Herndon, has been elected as the first woman to serve on the MSGA Executive Committee. She will eventually be the first person to be President of both the MSGA-WD and the MSGA. Can you believe it is already 2014? That means that the MSGA-WD will be 20 years young next year! I think we have a varied tournament schedule for this 19th year, beginning with the ever-popular team matches in May and ending with the Open at Congressional on October 21 and 22. Read further in the Newsletter for some important information regarding this tournament. I would like to thank Shirley Kushner for her years of dedication to our Executive MSGA-WD President, Melly Tucker Committee. Her expertise will be missed, but we have chosen two new members to fill her slot Argyle Country Club as well as filling a vacancy. Hae Han (Montgomery C.C.) will be the Officer-in-Charge (OIC) of the Mid Amateur at Montgomery on June 5th and 6th. We also welcome Rebecca Krimski (Baltimore C.C). Rebecca and I will be the co-OICs of the Senior Championship. Both members jumped right into Rules Schools in January and fared very nicely on the culminating quizzes. This year’s tournament schedule is listed in the Newsletter. Grab your schedule book, phone, Ipad, or whatever and put these dates down. The Club Delegates Day on Saturday, April 12th at Old South. If you are the club delegate, please write down the date. We will have a luncheon meeting at 11:00 followed by 9 holes of golf (weather permitting). As a delegate, you are our “lifeline” to your club members. You will also be the guest of the MSGA-WD at our annual fall luncheon and meeting. On April 28th our annual 1 day Rules Seminar, coordinated by Jean Mulcahey, will be held at the Elkridge Club. Presenters will be Randy Reed and Clyde Luther. The entry form can be found in the Newsletter and price includes a Rules Book, continental breakfast and lunch. It pays to know the Rules; it can save you strokes! Also at Old South on July 28th is the extremely popular 4 Lady Invitational which benefits our Junior Girls golf program. That entry is also in the Newsletter. Come enjoy a great day of golf with your friends and go home with items for fun, golf, or many miscellaneous items you purchased at the Auction or if you were the lucky name chosen at the Choice Auction. One major change the Executive Committee has initiated for 2014 deals with handicaps. We wanted to better define “an up-to -date USGA handicap” which appears on all of our entries. To this end, these will be the guidelines for all tournaments except the Team Championship: 1. To be eligible for a tournament, you must have 20 scores posted from the current year including scores from the past year. For example, the Mid-Am tournament entries begin on May 9. You must have 20 scores dating back to May 9 of 2013. 2. You are responsible for posting all MSGA-WD tournaments denoting your score as a “T” (tournament round). Failure to post may result in denial of a tournament entry. I look forward to meeting those of you I have yet to know at one or more of our tournaments. You’ll play a great variety of courses this year so join us at as many as you can fit into your schedule. Melly Tucker, MSGA-WD President Page 2 Maryland State Golf Association Women’s Division In This Issue NEW HANDICAP REQUIREMENTS FOR 2014 These guidelines apply to all tournaments except the Women’s 2014 Team Championship: You must have at least 20 scores posted dating from the tournament opening date 2014 Schedule 3 back 12 months. You are responsible for posting your score and must use a “T” (tournament Junior Championship 4 score). Failure to do this can result in denial of a tournament entry. Reminders: Two Woman Team 5 Post all scores from this winter played in regions considered by the USGA to be in an active season (i.e. Florida, Virginia, Carolinas, Arizona, etc.). USGA Qualifiers 6 All scores are to be posted for stroke and match play. If 13 or more holes are played, the player shall post an 18-hole score. If 7 to 12 holes are played, the player shall post a nine-hole score. If you begin play of a 4 Lady Entry Form 7 hole, but do not complete it, you record the score you most likely would have made. Any holes not played are to be posted using par plus any handicap strokes Junior Team Matches 8 you would have received on the hole. ROHRBACK CLAIMS HER THIRD AMATEUR TITLE Annual Luncheon 9 The 92nd Women’s Amateur was contested July 22 - 25 at Rules Seminar 10 The Elkridge Club. The weather started out hot and humid, with a threat of storms for the first couple of days and ended with the final two days being perfect golfing weather. Team Championship 11 The golf started hot and stayed that way, with reports from the course of birdies and eagles flying in the holes. Kaitlyn Rohrback from Crofton Country Club captured the Championship title, as well as the Medalist award. She shot a 3 under par, 69, on Monday, giving her the second seed in Spring Newsletter the Championship Flight and ultimately pairing her against Contributors the defending Champion, Andrea Kraus from Hayfields Country Club in the finals. Kaitlyn is a senior at the University of Oklahoma and Joankay Kent plays on their golf team. She went to the University of Kaitlyn Rohrback Editor and Design Layout Tennessee for 2 years and transferred to Oklahoma for her junior year. Kaitlyn also won the Maryland Women’s Amateur in 2010 and 2011. Rohrback defeated Becky Gossard in her first match, then took on Bryana Nguyen Kim Daniels in the Wednesday afternoon match and won it with birdies and an eagle. Kraus Editor and Design Layout defeated Carol Davies in her first match and had a hard fought battle against Elyse nd Smidinger in the 2 round with a 2 & 1 win to make it to the finals. Kaitlyn was never down in her final match with Andrea and took the lead on the par 5, #3, with a birdie, finishing the front nine, 2 up. She made a long putt from the front of the par 4, #10 green, for birdie to go 3 up—Kraus rallied back with a birdie on the par 4, #14, but Rohrback answered with her own birdie. Kraus made par on #16 and Rohrback made bogey but came back with a birdie on the par 3, #17, to close out the match with View this 2 under par. newsletter in FLIGHT WINNERS: color at First: Hauen Lee (Beaver Creek) def. Clare Connolly (Chevy Chase) - 2&1 Second: Elisabeth Herzfeld (MSGA eClub) def. Diana Brown (Congressional) - 7&6 Third: Alexa Calomiris (Congressional) def. Jessica Fernandez (Sparrows Pt.) - 2 UP www.msgawomen.org Fourth: Micaa Thomas (Glenn Dale) def. Shannon McKew (Fox Hollow) - 7&6 Fifth: Carley Stenger (Links at Challedon) def. Liz Hall (Norbeck) - 5&4 Sixth: Diane Crowley (Bowie) def. Christina Thomas (Elkridge) - 5&4 -Reported by Bonnie Lennox Spring 2014 Newsletter Page 3 SUH WINS OPEN WITH THIRTEEN-UNDER-PAR MSGA-WD Forty players, both amateur and 2014 SCHEDULE professional, came to Argyle Country Club to play in the 15th MAY 3, 10, 17, 18 Maryland Women’s Open on TEAM MATCHES October 15-16. Following 5 inches Various Sites of rain and unforgiving rough, professional Jenny Suh shot a 5- JUNE 5—6 under-par 68 on the opening day WOMEN’S MID AMATEUR for the course record. Also Montgomery CC shooting under par at 71 were Brooke Baker (p) and Lisa JUNE 18—19 Schlesinger (a), followed by Melly Tucker and Jenny Suh JUNIOR GIRLS Ashley Greir (p) at 72. Montgomery Village GC On the second day, Jenny saw her lead increase after a chip-in eagle at #3 and birdies on #s 4 and 7, finishing the front nine with a 33. On the back nine, she JUNE 27—29 carded birdies on #s 11, 14, 17 and 18 for a 32 shooting 65, once more a new course JR. GIRLS POINDEXTER CUP record, and a two day total of 133. Brooke Baker, a newcomer to this tournament, River Marsh GC added a 75 to her 71 for 146, and second place in the event. Tied for third place at 147 were two past Open Champions, Stephanie Connelly (2010) and Ashley Greir JULY 14—17 (2006). WOMEN’S AMATEUR On the amateur side, Lisa Schlesinger shot 72 giving her a 3 under total of 143, Chartwell G&CC followed closely by Bryana Nguyen at 144. Rounding out the amateur field were: Rachel Lee 148, Andrea Kraus, 154, Lauren Kim and Jordan McKelvin at 156.