Headline: Four Teams Punch Tickets to 2018 U.S. Women's Amateur Four-Ball Championship; Final USGA Qualifier of the Season Held at Boston Golf Club

A happy group of USGA qualifiers take a moment to enjoy their achievement at Boston Golf Club.

For Immediate Release: October 2, 2017

Hingham, Mass. – The 18th and final USGA qualifier of the season hosted by the Massachusetts Golf Association was conducted on Monday at Hingham’s Boston Golf Club, where four teams of two advanced to the 2018 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship, being contested at Southern California’s El Caballero Country Club from April 28-May 2.

The qualifier was the ninth of 27 held across the United States between August 29 and early April 2018 and currently has the fourth largest field size with 18 teams in action.

After one bogey interrupted an otherwise straightforward front nine, the veteran pair of Chelsea Curtis (Boston) and Claire Sheldon (Cambridge) tallied three birdies on the back nine to finish at 2-under par 70 and earn medalist honors by one stroke over the experienced duo of Pam Kuong (Wellesley) and Sue Curtin (Westwood).

With their spot atop the leaderboard, the Curtis/Sheldon duo, former golfers at Georgetown and Harvard, respectively, punched their first ever ticket to the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four Ball Championship.  

Click here to view full results from the Boston Golf Club qualifier.

“We both played well,” said Curtis following her round with longtime friend Sheldon. “One of us was able to get a birdie or a par. We only had one bogey out there. We started making some putts out on the back nine to get a couple of birdies."

It was those birdies which helped push them to the top of the leaderboard and seal their medalist finish on Monday.

Coming off an appearance in the USGA Women’s State Team Championship just last week, the duo, who played two days of stroke play against teams from each of the other 50 states, said that playing together again so soon positively impacted their play in Monday’s qualifier.

“It’s always fun to see somebody’s game, and we don’t get to play together all that often so being together down in New Mexico and see how our games compared really helped,” said Sheldon, who will be making her fifth overall appearance in a USGA Championship Proper. “I think our games match up well so it was nice to get a feel for that in New Mexico.”

In addition to Curtis and Sheldon, the duo of Kuong and Curtin finished at 1-under par 71 on Curtin’s home course to net their second straight appearance in the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship. This past May, the two competed in two days of stroke play at The Dunes Golf & Beach Club, Myrtle Beach, S.C. to kick off their 2017 seasons.

The other two groups to qualify for the 2018 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship were the high school duo of Emily Nash (Lunenburg), the reigning WGAM Junior Amateur Champion, and Allison Paik, of Providence, and Norton residents Shannon Johnson and Megan Buck. Both pairs shot an even par-72 and finished T3 on the leaderboard. 

Nash and Paik recorded five birdies in their first 11 holes to help them garner their tickets to their first U.S. Women’s Four Ball Amateur Championship, while the team of Buck and Johnson overcame two early bogeys to move into the final qualifying spot. Buck is a former golfer at Northern Arizona University and Johnson, a former Indiana University golfer, was the runner up at the 2016 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship.

The high school duo of Anne Walsh (Boston Latin High School) and Gabrielle Shieh (Concord Carlisle High School), who had to go eight playoff holes to determine the MIAA Girls Golf Championship at this past year’s state high school tournament, teamed up Monday and finished at 1-over par 73 to net first alternate status, while the sister duo of Molly Smith and Morgan Smith, regular competitors in the Massachusetts Father & Daughter Championship with their father Phil Smith, finished at 4-over par 76 to earn second alternate status.

Entries are open to sides of amateur female golfers with an individual up-to-date Handicap Index® not exceeding 14.4 under the USGA Handicap System™. A Handicap Index must be issued from a “golf club” (as defined in the USGA Handicap System Manual) which is licensed to use the USGAHandicap System. The USGA accepts an up-to-date handicap issued from the international body of golf that would be equivalent to a USGA Handicap Index® within the prescribed limit for entry into the Championship. Two players who play as partners comprise a side. Partners are not required to be from the same club, state, country, etc.

For more information on the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four Ball Championship, visit www.usga.org