•
Click here for results from the New Year's Invitational.
By BETH ANN BALDRY
Senior WriterSEBRING, Fla. – Alison Walshe hasn’t lived in Ireland since she was 5 years old, but she’s still got that lucky touch. Her good fortune started in the third round of the Harder Hall Invitational when she birdied the last three holes thanks to two chip-ins and a 12-foot putt.
It continued on Sunday for the Arizona senior as she watched her ball skip through the water hazard on the par-5 17th, setting up a birdie attempt that closed the door on overnight leader Taylore Karle.
Walshe posted her second consecutive 4-under 68 to win the 53rd Harder Hall by three strokes with a 7-under 281 total at Harder Hall Country Club. Pepperdine’s Karle (72) finished second at 4-under 284 while 2006 champion Stacy Lewis came in third at 1 over. Lewis, the nation’s top-ranked amateur, trailed by three heading into the final round but a poor start coupled with even poorer putting left her a non-factor on Sunday.
Nearly everyone playing in the last few groups at the Harder Hall set a goal of making the 2008 Curtis Cup team. The selection committee is scheduled to meet after next week’s South Atlantic Amateur to determine the eight-player squad. Walshe’s victory at the North and South Amateur earlier this summer already put her in good shape. Add to that a win at the Harder Hall and she’s virtually assured a ticket to St. Andrews this summer.
“I hope this puts me in good position,” said Walshe, who finished the fall No. 5 in the
Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings.
As for Karle, she’s making a late push after sharing co-medalist honors with Glory Yang at the Silver Belle last week. Karle, No. 22 in the college rankings, carded the tournament’s low round of 66 on Day 2. She’s been eyeing a spot on the Curtis Cup team since she found out a year ago it was being held at the Old Course.
“It would’ve been nice to go win-win, but to go 1-2 ... I hope it’s enough,” Karle said.
From tee to green, Walshe might be the first to admit she wasn’t the most solid one in Sebring. She’s been in Massachusetts for the winter holidays and arrived in Florida three days early to shake off the rust. But it might have been those cold temperature back home that helped her take the first-round lead with a 72 in downright miserable conditions.
It was Saturday’s 68, however, that had people talking. After chunking her approach shot 30 yards short on the seventh hole (her 16th), Walshe chipped in for birdie. She then chipped in for birdie with a different wedge from 40 feet on the eighth hole and drained a 12-foot birdie down the last to close the gap between she and Karle to one shot.
On Sunday, both Walshe and Karle birdied the first two holes to kick things off.
“I feed off pressure,” said Karle of the sizzling start.
Walshe held a one-stroke lead at the turn in what was shaping up to be a two-player race, but lost her drive left into the pine trees and palmettos on the 10th.
“I was battling my driver all day so it was bound to happen,” said Walshe, who walked off with a triple-bogey seven.
She recovered nicely, however, with a birdie on the 11th from 15 feet to cut the deficit to one. And when Karle made back-to-back bogeys on Nos. 13 and 14, Walshe capitalized by playing them 1 under to take a two-shot lead with four to play.
Karle gave herself plenty of good opportunities down the closing holes to put pressure on Walshe but couldn’t get any birdie putts to fall. She heads back to Malibu on Monday to begin classes and must wait to see if her efforts prove enough to make Team USA.
Other players looking to get noticed this week were 2006 U.S. Women’s Public Links champion Tiffany Joh (T-4), two-time U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion Meghan Bolger (T-7) and ’07 Women’s Western Amateur champion Mallory Blackwelder (T-7). (Lewis,
Golfweek’s two-time Amateur of the Year, is a lock for the team.)
Blackwelder recovered from a horrendous 83 in the first round with 68-69 over the weekend. The Kentucky junior withdrew from her last event of the fall season with what doctors believed to be a stress fracture on her right foot. She had to wear a boot for five weeks and couldn’t swing a club. Prior to coming to Sebring, Blackwelder played 27 holes to prepare.
“At least I showed I can come back from a bad round,” said Blackwelder, who also finished runner-up at the Trans National Amateur.
Bolger gets one last chance to impress Curtis Cup committee members next week at the South Atlantic Amateur while most college players head back to class. The U.S. will try to defend its title at the Home of Golf May 30-June 1, one week after the NCAA Championship.
• • •
Beth Ann Baldry is a
Golfweek senior writer. To reach her email
bbaldry@golfweek.com.
Final scores with relation to par from the Harder Hall Invitational, played Jan. 3-6 at the par-72, 6,151-yard Harder Hall Country Club in Sebring, Fla.:
| 1. Alison Walshe |
72-73-68-68--281 |
|
-7 |
| 2. Taylore Karle |
74-66-72-72--284 |
|
-4 |
| 3. Stacy Lewis |
74-71-70-74--289 |
+ |
1 |
| 4. Lauren Hunt |
78-73-71-72--294 |
+ |
6 |
| 4. Tiffany Joh |
73-74-75-72--294 |
+ |
6 |
| 4. Isabelle Lendl |
78-72-72-72--294 |
+ |
6 |
| 7. Mallory Blackwelder |
83-75-68-69--295 |
+ |
7 |
| 7. Meghan Bolger |
78-77-71-69--295 |
+ |
7 |
| 7. Virginia D. Grimes |
75-75-68-77--295 |
+ |
7 |
| 7. Kristen Simpson |
76-75-75-69--295 |
+ |
7 |
| 11. Lauren Doughtie |
77-73-77-71--298 |
+ |
10 |
| 11. Marika Lendl |
76-75-73-74--298 |
+ |
10 |
| 11. Jessica Yadloczky |
81-72-74-71--298 |
+ |
10 |
| 14. Alexandra Bodemann |
76-78-74-71--299 |
+ |
11 |
| 15. Natalie Sheary |
79-75-74-72--300 |
+ |
12 |
| 16. Nannette Hill |
81-71-77-74--303 |
+ |
15 |
| 17. Benedikte Grotvedt |
81-72-75-76--304 |
+ |
16 |
| 17. Candace Schepperle |
76-76-73-79--304 |
+ |
16 |
| 17. Sally Watson |
77-77-73-77--304 |
+ |
16 |
| 20. Kelly Fuchik |
79-75-81-70--305 |
+ |
17 |
| 21. Lucy Nunn |
81-77-77-71--306 |
+ |
18 |
| 22. Garrett Phillips |
79-75-78-75--307 |
+ |
19 |
| 23. Emily Street |
83-77-77-71--308 |
+ |
20 |
| 24. Ann Laney |
81-74-78-77--310 |
+ |
22 |
| 25. Heather Burgner |
79-79-77-79--314 |
+ |
26 |
| 25. Meghan Chapman |
86-74-80-74--314 |
+ |
26 |
| 25. Daniela Lendl |
81-75-83-75--314 |
+ |
26 |
| 28. Eleana L. Collins |
81-78-81-75--315 |
+ |
27 |
| 28. Carol S. Thompson |
82-76-78-79--315 |
+ |
27 |
| 30. Tiffany Phelps |
80-77-82-78--317 |
+ |
29 |
| 31. Natalie McNicholas |
81-74-84-79--318 |
+ |
30 |
| 32. Meghan Gockel |
78-78-80-83--319 |
+ |
31 |
| 32. Rebecca Watson |
80-77-80-82--319 |
+ |
31 |
| 34. Alex Schulte |
78-81-81-82--322 |
+ |
34 |
| 34. Erica Still |
83-77-82-80--322 |
+ |
34 |
Posted: 1/6/2008
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