EAST FALMOUTH, Massachusetts – Emma Abramson (The Ridge Club) didn’t enter round 2 with a lead, but she walked off the course at Cape Cod Country Club with a three-stroke advantage to capture her first Women’s Stroke Play Championship title. Christine Mandile (Winchester Country Club) followed Abramson in second place and Grace Farland (Marlborough Country Club) finished in third. Christine Gagner (The Tour) secured the Tournament Division title in a playoff.
“I’m feeling great. I was really proud of how I pulled it together today and really turned my game around with my birdie on eight. That really set the tone for the rest of the round,” Abramson said.
Asked how it felt to be battling against Mandile in the final round, with a two-person race happening at the top of the leaderboard, Abramson responded, “It’s been really good to be back in that tournament condition where you know, every shot counts coming down the stretch, because I really haven’t had that since last August for the Women’s Am, so it’s really good. And I really love that mentality of tournament golf competition. Gotta be on your game. So it was really fun.”
She finished with a final score of 4-over-par with a gross score of 146.
Abramson also had her dad along for the ride with her on the bag during this championship.”I mean, starting last summer he really caddied for me for a lot of our big championships for Mass Golf, the Women’s Am, and here today. It’s always a lot of fun! We give it back to each other and I trust him with all of my game.”
This is the start of a busy summer schedule of competition for Abramson: “June is full of USGA qualifiers, so I’ll try to make it to at least one USGA qualifier and see what I can do there. And of course, we have the Mass Junior and Mass Women’s Am as well. So, we’re going to make some noise in those events.” On May 30th, she has her Girl’s High School Sectionals competition; June 5th is her State competition, followed by a US Open qualifier on June 7th.
Christine Mandile, the round one leader, put up a tough battle against Abramson, but fell short of securing the title. Mandile finished with a final score of 7-over-par with a total score of 149.
Overall, Mandile was encouraged by the result: “I’ve been putting a lot of time in like I said before. I think my putting was definitely a lot better than it’s been. I didn’t really make any putts today so I was happy I was still able to putt well enough to still shoot a decent score.”
Cape Cod Country Club’s layout presents a variety of challenges, so she did her best to take advantage of the scoring opportunities. “I’d say a lot of the short par 4’s because I can hit a lot of my hybrids off the tee. I really like my three hybrid right now and having a lot of wedges in two sets you up nicely for birdies. I’d say the par 3’s but they’re right in between clubs, so they didn’t actually set up that well for me. But, it was a good experience playing on them” said Mandile.
“I’m excited, I think this sets me up well! I mean, I’m always looking forward to the Mass Am at the end, so I think I have some stuff to work on [such as] little greens and some sand shot stuff. But, I’m excited so I’m going to put some work in this summer” said Mandile.
Christine Gagner played the last three holes at even par to force a playoff with Barb Hecimovich (The Tour). Gagner (77-77) and Hecimovich (74-80), each posted +12 in regulation.
On the first and only playoff hole, Gagner drew an unlucky break off the tee, when her tee shot settled underneath a tree. She was forced to play backwards to safety, but followed it up with a stellar approach shot to 12 feet to put the pressure back on Hecimovich.
Hecimovich’s approach from the fairway bunker flew the green and her tricky downhill chip rolled off the front of the green. She eventually made a double bogey, allowing Gagner to two-putt her way to victory.
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