SEQUIM — Cal’s Marianne Li turned the tables on Brigham Young University’s Lauren Atkinson, coming from one-stroke back to win the Washington State Women’s Amateur championship by two shots at SunLand Golf & Country Club on Thursday.
The outcome was decided when Atkinson double-bogeyed the par-4 16th and Li birdied the par-3 17th.
Li’s 25-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole came after Atkinson’s birdie attempt missed.
“It was great to play in the final group with Lauren,” Li said.
“I didn’t have my ‘A’ game and was shaky off the tee and on the greens, but I grinded hard out there and played smart.”
Playing together in rainy conditions in the final group, Li, a Newport (Bellevue) High School product, first took the lead after Atkinson bogeyed the first two holes.
Li strung together eight consecutive pars to open her round.
Atkinson bounced back into a tie for the Amateur lead when she birdied the par-4 eighth hole and parred the par-4 ninth hole while Li faltered with a bogey.
Atkinson gave the lead back at the turn by double-bogeying the 10th hole.
Li maintained a two-stroke advantage as the pair each posted bogeys at the 11th, birdies at the 12th and pars on the 13th hole.
A par by Atkinson and a double-bogey by Li leveled the score once again after 15 holes.
But Atkinson double-bogeyed the 16th and Li took advantage, bogeying No. 16 and picking up a birdie on the par-3 17th to take a two-stroke advantage to the final tee.
Each player played the par-5 18th to par and Li became the second-straight Pac-12 golfer to win the state amateur.
Washington State’s Alina Brown won last year when the event was held at the Cedars at Dungeness.
Murdoch wins Mid-Amateur
Victoria’s Alison Murdoch also came from behind to win the Washington State Women’s Mid-Amateur title.
I must say this is quite a bit of a surprise to me, given the strength of the other players in the field,” Murdoch said. The momentum changed in the final round at the ninth hole. “I pushed my drive into the trees,” she said, “and then I actually skipped my second shot across the water, then chipped onto the green and sank a 40-footer for a par, and I thought, ‘Well, okay, you’re still in this thing, so let’s keep plugging away.’”
Murdoch was inducted into the Pacific Northwest Golf Hall of Fame in 2013. She is a five-time PNGA Senior Women’s Player of the Year. She has twice won the Washington State Senior Women’s Amateur (2010, 2014).
She shot a round of 78 to finish at 23-over-par, three strokes ahead of Renton’s Shawn Farmer and Tukwila’s Leslie Folsom.
Folsom led Murdoch by four strokes entering the final round, after leading after the first two days of the three-day championship.
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Compiled using thewsga.org.
