Jennifer Kupcho won her first CWGA championship at the grand old age of 17.
It took her eight days to notch victory No. 2.
The senior-to-be at Jefferson Academy followed up last week’s CWGA Junior Stroke Play win with a title in one of the association’s most prestigious championships, claiming the top spot Thursday in the 99th CWGA Match Play at Lone Tree Golf Club.
That means that in the last 5 1/2 weeks, Kupcho has won the 4A state high school tournament and the two CWGA titles, qualifying for the U.S. Girls’ Junior in between for good measure.
“It’s exciting to accomplish all that,” said the Wake Forest recruit (pictured above and below). “Hopefully I can just keep going. It’s exciting to get it all done in one year.”
At 17 years old, Kupcho becomes one of the youngest champions in the history of the CWGA Match Play, which was first contested in 1916. Becca Huffer is believed to be the youngest Match Play champ, having won the 2005 championship at age 15. And now Kupcho and Huffer are the only players to have claimed the CWGA Match Play and the Junior Stroke Play titles in the same year.
Kupcho completed her trifecta with a 6-and-5 victory over University of Colorado golfer Tori Glenn in Thursday’s 36-hole title match. Kupcho, part of the Hale Irwin Elite Player Program at CommonGround Golf Course, won her last three matches at Lone Tree 4 and 3, 5 and 3, and 6 and 5.
“Jennifer is a solid player. I really respect her game,” said Glenn, a Castle Pines resident who placed fourth in the 2013 4A state high school meet as a Valor Christian senior. “She was making so many birdies, so it was kind of hard to compare with that.”
After shooting a 4-over-par 76 in the first 18 against Glenn (left), Kupcho made five birdies in the 13 holes of the second 18, standing 2 under par in that round when the match concluded. She closed things out with an 8-foot birdie on the par-3 13th that Glenn couldn’t match from slightly closer.
“This means a lot,” said Kupcho, the 2013 CWGA Junior Player of the Year. “Most of the people in the field were college players, and it’s exciting to get the opportunity to play against them.”
The Westminster resident won the first two holes of Thursday’s match with pars as Glenn started double bogey-bogey. But Glenn, a former gymnast who has only been playing golf for a little over three years, managed to cut the deficit to 1 down through 19 holes.
Kupcho responded with birdies on 2, 3, and 5 in the second round to give herself a cushion she wouldn’t relinquish.
“The second 18, to win the hole you had to birdie,” said the 19-year-old Glenn. “It was fun.”
And on the par-5 11th hole in the afternoon, even a birdie wasn’t enough as the players halved the hole with that score when Kupcho got up and down from the bunker (left) and Glenn drained a 15-foot putt.
Kupcho’s putter was much more cooperative during the final 18 than it was in the first round.
“I started making putts more in the afternoon, so I was able to make more birdies,” she said. “I didn’t really have confidence in the first 18. Once I got done with 18, I practiced putting and I got my confidence back.”
Even though Kupcho has won both CWGA championships she’s competed in in 2014, it sounds like she’s going to give her competitors a break for the remainder of the CWGA events in 2014. She’ll be in San Diego for the Callaway Junior World Golf Championships when the CWGA Junior Match Play is scheduled next month, and she’ll be in Flagstaff, Ariz., for the U.S. Girls’ Junior when the CWGA Stroke Play is contested.
CWGA Match Play Championship
At Lone Tree GC
Championship Final — Jennifer Kupcho, CommonGround GC, def. Tori Glenn, Ridge at Castle Pines North, 6 and 5
Championship Flight Consolation Final — Mackenzie Cohen, Inverness GC, def. Taylor Dorans, Eagle Trace GC, 1 up
For the Match Play Tree, CLICK HERE.
