Mass Women's Amateur: Skoler Medalist; 32 Advance To Match Play - MASSGOLF

Rebecca Skoler Hangs On To Medalist honors; Match Play Begins Wednesday at Plymouth Country Club

For Immediate Release: August 10, 2021

PLYMOUTH, Massachusetts –The final 18-hole round of stroke play in the 118th Massachusetts Women’s Amateur Championship on Tuesday at Plymouth Country Club (par-70, 5,884-yards) proved to be even more challenging than the day prior with no players shooting under-par.

But after 36-holes, the low 32 players of the 94-player field get to wipe the slate clean as they advance match play, which begins Wednesday, August 11. The cut for match play came at 21-over, 161, with two golfers playing off for the final spot in the bracket.

Rebecca Skoler (Pine Brook Country Club) followed up her record-breaking 6-under 64 with a 6-over 76, but still claimed stroke-play medalist honors with an even-par 140.

Rebecca Skoler earned stroke play medalist honors in the 118th Massachusetts Women’s Amateur. (David Colt)

ONLINE: MASS GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL | ROUND 2 SCORES | MATCH PLAY BRACKET | PHOTO GALLERY | PAST CHAMPIONS

The Round of 32 matches begins at 7:30, with top-seeded Skoler taking on Emma Abramson (The Ridge Club), who earned the final spot in a sudden-death playoff against Jacqueline Cingel (MIAA). The Round of 16 follows in the afternoon, followed by the Quarterfinals and Semifinals on Thursday, and the final 18-hole match taking place Friday at 7:30 a.m.

Keira Joshi (Nashawtuc Country Club), had the Low Net score of 2-under 68 and earned the Osgood Memorial Cup. Joshi, 16, finished T19 overall and earned a spot into match play. Net score is calculated using the Handicap Indexes of the players as of Thursday, August 5.

WATCH: DAY 2 RECAP VIDEO

WHAT HAPPENED

Following up a record-breaking round from the day prior is never easy with potentially an entire week of championship golf ahead. Fortunately for Rebecca Skoler, she played well enough where her top spot was never in jeopardy.

Skoler, a sophomore at the University of Virginia, made just one birdie (the par-5 12th, 445-yards) and shot 6-over, but she said she was just trying to enjoy the day, not fixating over the score on the card.

“I felt really confident in my game yesterday, and then did not have it today, but that’s what Nelly Korda says [is] you don’t know the outcome, all you can do is have a good time, have fun, keep smiling so that’s what I tried to do, even though it was a rough one.”

Rebecca Skoler hits a putt on the 7th green during Tuesday’s round. (David Colt)

The main difference Tuesday was that Skoler wasn’t hitting as many fairways, setting up more difficult approach shots into greens.

“My game today was very different than yesterday, so I think I was put in a lot of different positions today,” Skoler said. “If you miss greens, it can be hard [to make] up and downs. There’s a lot of trouble surrounding the greens, and then even putting, my speed wasn’t as good as yesterday and there’s a lot of undulation in these greens so it can be kind of tough to read them and then have to play the right pace based on your line.”

After making the semifinals each of the last two years, Skoler will now try to go for it all again. If she wins her first match, she could end up facing No. 17 Allison Paik (The Cape Club of Sharon), the defending champion, in the Round of 16.

The best round of the day came from Tracy Martin (Vesper Country Club), who was the only player to shoot even-par on Tuesday and finished second overall in stroke play. Martin, playing in a twosome alongside U.S. Senior Women’s Open qualifier Sue Curtin (Boston Golf Club), finished strongly with consecutive birdies on holes 7 and 8. Her round began on the 10th.

Martin, the runner-up in 2012, sank an 8-footer that just rolled over the edge for birdie on the volcano green par-4 7th (317-yards) and then hit an accurate tee shot within 4 feet of the flagstick on the par-3 8th (122-yards).

“I gave a couple [strokes] back on the holes before that, but playing with Sue (Curtin) is always a fun time, and we were just pumping ourselves up,” Martin said. “I barely made it on 7, and on 8 we just matched each other.”

Sue Curtin, left, and Tracy Martin celebrate their birdies on hole 7. (David Colt)

Martin also added birdies on the 12th (445-yard) and 16th (490-yards), sinking a 20-footer on the 16th to move to 1-under for the day. Though she had longer irons into the greens Tuesday, she was able to be more aggressive with a softer surface from the day prior.

“It’s a course that you have to play a few times to really get comfortable,” said Martin after her third-round ever at Plymouth. “A lot of the shots I hit in that I would have hit yesterday didn’t jump and I definitely put myself in different positions. I just kept playing my game and made some more confident swings.”

Megan Buck (Thorny Lea Golf Club), the medalist last year, closed out a top-3 finish by shooting 4-over 74 that included all pars on her final 10 holes.

Sana Tufail (Southborough Golf Club), who’s originally from the United Arab Emirates, is one stroke behind Buck, while 2019 champion Angela Garvin (The Ranch Golf Club) moved to 5th overall with a 3-over 73 in the second round.

NOTABLE

Here are some other tidbits from Day 2 at the Massachusetts Women’s Amateur Championship. 

  • The cut for match play came at +21, 161, tied for the lowest total since stroke play was increased to 36-holes in 2019.

 

  • Keira Joshi is the first teenager to win the Osgood Memorial Trophy (Low Net) since Isabel Southard won the honors in 2014 at age 19. Southard was also medalist in 2014 and went on to win the championship.

 

  • Angela Garvin, a junior at the University of Maryland, had Maryland senior Dillon Brown caddying for her for the first time. Brown once shot 63 in a practice round at Plymouth, and Garvin said somebody suggested she reach out to see if he’d caddy. The results panned out as 2019 champion Garvin shot 3-over 73, to move into 5th overall. Garvin also has a connection with U.S. Women’s Amateur winner Jensen Castle, as the duo were paired in an AJGA event.

 

  • Match play qualifier Sana Tufail (Southborough Golf Club) had one of the best shots today as she holed out for eagle on the par-4 6th (274-yards.) Tufail’s had a semi-blind, uphill approach shot but pulled her 58-degree wedge and hit to just right of the pin. She couldn’t see the shot initially, but when searching the green, she found it in the cup.

 

  • Defending champion Allison Paik, the 19-year-old Columbia University student, who was the No. 7 seed last year, is looking to make another triumphant run in the Women’s Amateur. This year she shot consecutive 77s to finish T16 alongside Christine Mandile (Winchester Country Club, who will attend the University of Richmond in the fall. The winner of that match would play either top-seeded Rebecca Skoler or No. 32, Emma Abramson, in the Round of 16.

 

  • The following players who made match play also competed in at least one USGA event this year: Molly Smith (US Women’s Amateur, U.S. Girls’ Junior Amateur), Morgan Smith (U.S. Girls’ Junior Amateur), Rebecca Skoler (U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball).

 

  • Alice Fan (Bas Ridge Golf Course), a junior at Boston University, benefited from a good deed from a random stranger on Tuesday. On Monday she got a ride from an Uber from the course but left behind a bronze participant’s medal given to each competitor. On Tuesday, the same Uber driver returned to Plymouth Country Club to return Fan’s medal.

 

  • Mackenzie Whitney (Oak Hill Country Club) has been added to the roster for the 2021 New England Junior Amateur next week at Val Halla Golf in Cumberland, Maine. She replaced Victoria Veator (MIAA), who is unable to attend the event.

 

Keira Joshi holds the Osgood Memorial Cup for Low Net score at the Massachusetts Women’s Amateur. (David Colt)

QUOTABLE

    • I’m just going to go and have some fun, have some amnesia and forget about today so that’ll be good. — Rebecca Skoler, on her approach heading into match play.

     

    • I thought maybe it had gone past, maybe it’s gone short because I couldn’t see the green. You’re looking all over the green, maybe it’s gone in the rough, and then I looked in the hole, and there it was. It must have rolled off the hill and rolled in. — Sana Tufail, on her pitch in for eagle on hole 6.

     

    • Yesterday, the tee shots were releasing more roll, the greens, you were playing for maybe 9 or 10 yards release, but today it was more like target golf, and it’s tricky because you don’t want to be above the pins on this course, but at the same time, you’ve got lots of false fronts, and it can run short and roll all the way back. That’s what I was struggling at points together, but I feel like I held it together on the back nine the last few holes. — Sana Tufail, on the Day 2 layout.

     

    • Playing in match play was my goal going into this, so anything above that, I’m just happy to be here. And then as for the Low-Net, I didn’t how it worked, so that was a nice surprise. — Keira Joshi, on winning Low Net honors.

     

    • He helped navigate some of the tee shots and knowing which side of the fairway to be on and also with these tabletop greens, it’s nice to know what side of the green to be on so that was definitely helpful. — Angela Garvin, on having fellow University of Maryland golfer Dillon Brown on the bag.

     

    • I was playing everything as a par-5 today. — Kim Walecka on the course playing longer than the day prior.

 

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