By Steve Derderian
sderderian@massgolf.org
WILLIAMSTOWN, Massachusetts (August 16, 2024) – By her own admission, Westford’s Morgan Smith constantly puts pressure on herself to improve and win at levels she hasn’t reached previously.
With that comes a great deal of intensity and adrenaline, which was still pumping even with a 3-up lead and momentum two-thirds into the 18-hole final match with Brookline’s Julia Imai on Friday morning at the 121st Massachusetts Women’s Amateur Championship. Smith nearly hit her second shot out of bounds on the 13th hole yet still managed to win it with a bogey putt, giving her a chance to win it all on the next hole.
Standing on the par-3 14th tee at the highest point of Taconic Golf Club with its gorgeous, sunlit views of the surrounding green mountaintops, her younger sister and caddie Maddie Smith decided to lighten the mood a bit and draw a smile from her sister by saying, “Do what Nicklaus did,” referring to Jack Nicklaus’ famous practice round hole-in-one, at Taconic during the practice round for the 1956 U.S. Junior Amateur.
Morgan didn’t walk away with an ace, but with a smooth strike and one last putt, she staked her place to the lore of that hole and the club itself by doing something The Golden Bear never did — win a championship at Taconic. Smith sank an 8-foot uphill birdie putt on the 14th hole to defeat Imai, 5&4, and capture the Women’s Amateur title for the second time in three years.
“It feels really good. I’m really pumped. It’s a great way to end the summer and get things rolling for school,” said Smith, who had the car packed and ready to drive south to the University of Georgia as a transfer from Georgetown. “You’re hoping for a long week coming into this tournament, and I think coming in with that mindset makes the length of the week a bit easier.”
In addition to reclaiming the trophy, Smith earned an exemption into the 2025 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Bandon Dunes in Oregon. Smith made match play at the event last week, playing alongside both her sisters, Molly and Maddie, at Southern Hills in Oklahoma.
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🏆 Champion Again 🏆
Morgan Smith wins the 121st Massachusetts Women’s Amateur Championship.#MassWomensAm | #MassGolf pic.twitter.com/wIx13gfvrA
— Mass Golf (@PlayMassGolf) August 16, 2024
Smith’s win two years ago came on the heels of proving herself that she was worthy of playing golf at the Division I level. She had rededicated herself to the gym with the goal of adding distance and building a golf swing that could compete on that level. With two big wins in 2022, she landed a spot at Georgetown, where she was among the Big East’s top players. However, when an opportunity presented itself to transfer to a nationally ranked program in the SEC, it was the culmination of several years of raising the bar.
As expected, this time around, the Mass Women’s Amateur presented its own kind of challenges, and that prove-it mentality served as motivation again. That was especially the case Thursday was the long-awaited clash of sisters between Morgan and Molly, arguably the two best female amateur golfers in the state. Morgan won that bout in 20 holes by making three clutch putts down the stretch to find a way to prevail in the emotionally draining match.
“Having the transfer portal on your radar, it definitely put a little bit more pressure on your golf game,” Smith said. “I just have felt for these last 2-3 years, I’ve had to be proving myself constantly, whether it was against Molly or college coaches because I put a lot of pressure on myself. Going into the transfer portal is a risk. I didn’t know how coaches were going to take that. And now I’m playing golf for a top-25 program, and I couldn’t be more excited.”
On Friday, Smith’s distance was on display, outdriving Imai on every hole except No. 4 (not including par-3s), leaving her 9-irons and wedges into most greens. Her well-rounded game commanded early as she won three of the first five holes. Imai got one back by hitting a fairway wood to about 7 feet pin high on the 7th and making the birdie putt, drawing a smile from her and her brother and caddie James Imai, a 3-time Mass Junior Amateur winner who graduated from Northwestern University. James flew in at 9 p.m. last night after playing in the U.S. Amateur in Minnesota and made it to the Berkshires in time to caddie for his little sister.
After Imai’s birdie, Smith went right back to work by cranking the next drive to within 100 yards of the hole and making a birdie to regain the lead.
“I want to hit it farther than where I’m hitting it now, and I think that will help my golf game get to the next level,” Smith said. “You have to want to hit it hard, and when I was 17, I was just trying to hit fairway finders and to play at the next level, you can’t be hitting fairway finders; you need to be going after it.”
Imai won the 12th after Smith’s chip from the back of the green rolled down to the lower tier. Despite Smith’s nervy second shot into the 13th, Imai also missed the green, hit her third long, and her chip rolled past the hole on the fourth shot. Smith’s chip also rolled off the green, but she managed bogey there, giving her a chance to win it on the 14th.
“I was leaving quite a few putts short today,” Smith said. “I do think the putt on 13th was an important make, and I had a feeling I was going to make the putt on 14, so that was a nice way to end it.”
While Imai had a smooth tempo to her swing, Taconic’s length spelled trouble, as she found several of the course’s lurking bunkers and began missing greens in regulation. On the 14th, she did have an outstanding up and down for par from the greenside bunker, forcing Smith to make the putt to close it out. It was reminiscent of the Mass Open earlier in the summer when she watched her brother make a long par lengthy putt on the closer at Willowbend, only to see his opponent make one after to win it.
While Imai couldn’t pull off the upset, it was a valiant effort throughout the week for the Brookline native, who played well at the high school level but until recently wasn’t finding promising results in statewide summer competition. In fact, this week was the first time playing multiple matches in a single day. Still, she has grown into a promising player who enjoys the game, no matter the level of competition. Now, she’ll attend the University of Wisconsin-Stout beginning this fall.
“As I moved through middle school and high school and started taking golf more seriously, it was definitely the goal,” Imai said of her college golf prospects. “Seeing my brother play and how much fun he had, I wanted the same experience.”
As for her main takeaway for the week, “This week was very fun and special for me,” Imai said. “I did not expect to make it to the final match. I was just trying to enjoy the course because I’ve never been here, and I’ve heard such good things about it, and it was such a fun course to play. I played with friends, and I was just trying to enjoy the moment the entire week.”
Hometown: Westford, MA
Instagram: @morgansmith2904
ROAD TO THE FINAL
Stroke Play: 71-73–144 (+2)
R32: Def. Lorelai Flanagan, 4&3
R16: Def. Annie Dai, 7&5
Quarterfinals: Def. Christine Mandile, 4&3
Semifinals: Def. Molly Smith, 20 holes
Finals: Def. Julia Imai, 5&4
Here are some other tidbits from the final match at the Massachusetts Women’s Amateur Championship:
For complete coverage of the 121st Massachusetts Women’s Amateur Championship, visit MassGolf.org or follow Mass Golf on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at @PlayMassGolf and use the hashtag #MassWomensAm.
