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Girls
Just Want to Have Fun
AJGA
girls make noise during non-AJGA winter events.
By Joe
Mazzeo
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The
AJGA has staged only one event in its 2003-04 season, but six
AJGA members have still managed to bag titles as the chilly
winter months pass. Brittany Lincicome and Angela Park won events
against top-notch fields of women amateurs; while Esther Choe,
Mallory Hetzel, Amanda Blumenherst and Jennifer Pandolfi each
garnered titles at some of the winter’s top junior tournaments.
Lincicome, 18, notched her first national win since last year’s
TaylorMade-adidas Golf Junior at Chateau Elan when she finished
at 1-under-par 287 at the Harder Hall Invitational in early
January. She finished fourth at the event in 2003.
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Brittany
Lincicome |
In the process, Lincicome knocked off a plethora of former AJGA
stars and current collegiate standouts including Naree Song,
Leigh Anne Hardin, Perry Swenson, Ashley Knoll, Nicole Hage
and Lisa Ferrero as well as current AJGA All-Americans Paula
Creamer and Christie Reed.
"I wasn’t planning to win,” Lincicome said.
“I just wanted to shoot good numbers and be under par
to try to get my stroke average down. It didn’t really
sink in until the next day.”
Lincicome, of Seminole, Fla., managed to provide a bit of drama
in the final round at Harder Hall Country Club. She began the
day with a share of the lead at 3-under-par. A roller coaster
final round ensued before she emerged on top. Lincicome birdied
the par-5 sixth hole, but then made triple bogey at No. 7 to
fall back into a tie for the lead.
"After my triple, I was so mad,” Lincicome said.
“I had had the lead, but that brought me back into a tie
with three people.”
Birdies on three of the tournament’s final five holes
clinched the win for Lincicome by two shots over Naree Song.
Heading to the 18th hole, she assured herself she was finally
in control.
“After the birdies I told myself, ‘It’s okay,
you’ve got this under control,’” she said.
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Esther
Choe |
Choe, from La Quinta, Calif., knocked off five 2003 Polo Golf
Junior All-Americans and 22 international players to claim the
title at the 2003 Orange Bowl International Junior Golf Championship.
The 14-year-old Choe built an early lead as she shot 67 and
68 in the tournament’s opening two rounds before finishing
at 4-under-par 284. She was the only member of the field to
post consecutive rounds in the 60s at the Biltmore Golf Course
in Coral Gables, Fla.
"It's really awesome to see different people from all around
the world competing together in an event like this,” Choe
said. “It made me believe I can compete against the best
juniors in the world.”
Past participants of the Orange Bowl International Junior include
Tiger Woods, Sergio Garcia, Annika Sorenstam, Grace Park, Nick
Price and Mark Calcavecchia.
With a four-stroke lead after 18 holes, Choe was forced to hang
on as several members of the field mounted late pushes.
"I was fully prepared,” Choe noted. “But the
(final) round was slow and I didn't get anything going. Excluding
a couple of missed shots, I felt like I hung in there, making
a 15-footer on No. 17 to stay in the lead by one stroke. I didn't
play as well as I wanted to (in the final round), but it was
just enough to win.”
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Mallory
Hetzel |
Trailing Choe in ninth place at the Junior Orange Bowl International
Golf Championship was South Carolina’s Hetzel. But it
was at another winter event in Florida where Hetzel made her
big December splash. The 17-year-old from Summerville, S.C.,
took top honors at the Doral Publix Junior Classic with a three-round
total of 5-under-par 211.
"I hope winning the Doral shows everyone that I have been
working hard to get my game together,” she said. “It
felt great to win again since it had been such a long time.”
The tournament did prove to be simply another opportunity for
Hetzel to continue the torrid play she has displayed in recent
months. She closed her 2003 summer with a seventh-place finish
at the talent-laden Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail Junior Classic
during Labor Day weekend, earning her second top-10 finish of
the season.
Maybe it’s holiday events or just the state of Florida,
but Hetzel’s last trip to the Sunshine State proved fruitful
when she reached the semifinals of the Polo Golf Junior Classic
during the Thanksgiving holiday.
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Jennifer
Pandolfi |
Hetzel, like Choe at the Orange Bowl, built an early lead at
the Doral Golf Resort and Spa and then hung on for the win.
Shooting rounds of 68 and 71, she held a six-stroke lead over
Morgan Pressel and Spain’s Emma Cabrera-Bello entering
the event’s final day.
"Six shots may seem like a lot,” Hetzel admitted.
“But with those two behind me, it felt like a lot less.”
Attempting to set the tone for the final round early, Hetzel
said she hoped to show the competition that defeating her would
require an “awesome round.” Eighteen pars later,
Hetzel had cemented the win against the field of 54 girls from
10 countries. She was the only participant to post three rounds
of par or better.
"The Doral always draws a very international field, which
is great because you get to see what competition there is outside
the U.S.,” Hetzel said. “It is different when you
are playing against a field that you know very little about,
but that is why you have to just play the course and not worry
about your competition until you really need to.”
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Amanda
Blumenherst |
The 2003 Aaron Baddeley World Junior Championship held at Fiji’s
Denarau Golf and Racquet Club offered two AJGA members the opportunity
to showcase the caliber of American junior golf and earn exemptions
to the Women’s Australian Open. Jennifer Pandolfi and
Amanda Blumenherst each scored convincing wins over international
competition in their age divisions as well as coming together
to take the team division title.
Pandolfi, of Navarre, Fla., shot 2-under-par 214 to notch a
five-stroke win in the Under 18 Division, while Blumenherst
also carded a three-round total of 214 to claim the Under 17
Division.
Blumenherst, who hails from Scottsdale, Ariz., made birdie on
the first playoff hole to secure the overall title over Pandolfi.
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Angela
Park |
Park made the trip from Torrance, Calif., to win the Dixie Amateur
at the Palm-Aire Country Club in Pompano Beach, Fla., Dec. 20-23.
The 15-year-old shot an even-par 71 to lead after the first
round but fell one stroke behind Polo Golf Junior Player of
the Year Paula Creamer in the second round.
Park rebounded in the third round with a 4-under-par 67 to take
a commanding lead. She sealed the win in the final round with
a 2-under-par 69 to finish with a tournament total of 281.
Creamer carded a 287 to finish in a tie for second with Lisa
Tyler. |
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