There were plenty of turning points in Wednesday’s CWGA Match Play final, which seemed only appropriate considering the contestants are both at forks in the road of their golf careers.
Somin Lee of Denver was competing in her last tournament before departing for the West Coast to begin her college career at Pepperdine University. And Brooke Collins of Louisville was probably playing in her final CWGA championship as she plans to become a teaching professional after her college days are over.
In a battle of golfers who have both won state high school titles and CWGA junior championships, Lee never trailed in the 36-hole final at CommonGround Golf Course in defeating Collins 3 and 1.
It was the first open-division CWGA title for Lee, and it kept Collins from becoming the first player since 2004 to sweep the Stroke Play and Match Play championships in the same calendar year.
“That was definitely on my list of things to do this summer, but I just got outplayed all around today,” said Collins, a University of Oklahoma senior-to-be who won the CWGA Stroke Play by six strokes last month.
As for the 19-year-old Lee, she said, “I’m really excited to go and play college golf. I’m excited for everything. This was my last tournament before college, so it was a good way to end it.”
Lee, who won her 2010 state high school title at CommonGround, built a 5-up lead after 10 holes Wednesday by winning five consecutive holes.
“When I was 5 down, I was like ‘Oh my gosh, I can’t let this happen,'” said Collins (pictured at left looking on as Lee tees off). “So I kicked into gear.”
The result was a case of turnabout being fair play as Collins won five of the last seven holes of the first 18 to square the match. That stretch included a 116-yard hole-out for eagle on the 13th hole.
But Collins wasn’t at her sharpest as she was taking some medicine to battle a case of strep throat she contracted late last week. And it showed, particularly on the greens.
“My putting was awful,” said Collins, who noted she had three 3-putts on the first five holes of the second 18. “I putted like a blind fool. That really hurt me. Three-putts aren’t good for your confidence, and you try to get some momentum through putting. I just didn’t have it today.”
Lee wasn’t at her best after the first 11 holes, either, but she pointed to one shot that she thought got her over the hump. On the 11th hole of the afternoon round, she hit a 4-wood from 245 yards that stopped within 3 feet of the flag on the par-5. After Collins missed her birdie attempt, she conceded Lee’s eagle.
Collins then drained a 20-foot birdie putt on the next hole to even the match again, but Lee felt she still gained some momentum from the eagle.
“I think that was kind of the turning point for me because I didn’t have any birdies (in the second 18) until then,” said Lee (pictured at left).
After Collins’ birdie, Lee won the next two holes as Collins hit into a deep fairway bunker on No. 13 and couldn’t get up and down for par on No. 14.
The players halved the next two holes before Collins made bogey on No. 17 and conceded Lee’s birdie putt, giving the 19-year-old the victory.
“I was never 1 up in the match, so she basically had it in her hands the whole time,” Collins said. “Somin Lee played great, she’s a great player and she has a bright future in front of her.”
For Lee, though she was playing solidly enough, the match couldn’t end soon enough. “I was nervous the whole second 18,” she admitted. “My hands were shaking because I really wanted to win one.” Both players had their dads caddying for them and their moms watching all the action. Lee regretted giving her dad a bad time when she was losing the big lead she built early in the match.
“I was blaming him on the back nine of the morning (18),” Lee said. “I was being mean and rude and he was mad and I was mad. But I’m really thankful for my dad; he’s always been there for me. And my mom, she doesn’t come out too much to watch me, so I was really nervous. I thought, ‘I have to win this.'”
It was the fourth CWGA championship for Lee, who also won the Junior Match Play in 2008 and 2009 and the Junior Stroke Play in 2009.
As for this spring and summer, besides her win Wednesday, she’s been low amateur in the HealthOne Colorado Women’s Open, and the medalist in qualifying for the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship.
“This was a big tournament and I played a great player in Brooke,” Lee said. “She outdrives me 10-20 yards most of the time. She kind of put pressure on me to play well.”
Steenrod Pulls Off Upset to Win Senior Division:
In the senior division of the CWGA Match Play, Laurie Steenrod of Aurora defeated defending champion Kim Eaton of Greeley in 19 holes to claim the title.
Eaton had not only won last year’s senior division of the Match Play, but she’s claimed the last two CWGA Senior Stroke Play titles.
“This (win) ranks right up there,” said Steenrod, the 1995 CWGA Match Play champion. “Kim is notably one of the better players around and has dominated golf for many years and decades. To one-better her was fun for me because I was the underdog and that’s just what it is.”
Steenrod, a 55-year-old recently-retired teacher from Aurora Public Schools, went into the 17th hole 1 down, but made a 10-foot birdie there to pull even. Then she won the match by two-putting for par from 15 feet on the first extra hole, while Eaton three-putted for bogey.
CWGA Match Play
At CommonGround GC in Aurora
Championship Flight
Somin Lee, GC at HeatherRidge def. Brooke Collins, Omni Interlocken Resort 3 and 1
Championship Flight Consolation
Christina Spinzig, Hiwan def. Lindsay Cone, Overland Park GC 1 up
Open Div. 1st Flight
Mikayla Tatman, Twin Peaks GC def. Sarah Moore, Cherry Hills CC 2 up
Open Div. 1st Flight Consolation
Kaylan Self, Cherokee Ridge def. Kristie Schwab, Omni Interlocken Resort 3 and 2
Open Div. 2nd Flight
Kim Gosche, CommonGround GC def. Jeanine Wasielewski, West Woods GC, 3 and 2
Open Div. 2nd Flight Consolation
Mary Smith, Fox Hollow GC def. Melanie Lunsford, Executive Women’s GA, 4 and 3
Sr. Div. Championship Flight
Laurie Steenrod, Saddle Rock GC def. Kim Eaton, Riverdale GC 19 holes
Sr. Div. Championship Flight Consolation
Ruth Van Zee, Blackstone GC def. Mary Doyen, Broken Tee GC 2 up
Sr. Div. 1st Flight
Nancy Ziereis, Valley CC def. Lynn Larson, Pinery CC, 5 and 4
Sr. Div. 1st Flight Consolation
Brenda Cook, Pinery CC, Bye
Sr. Div. 2nd Flight
Holly Russell, Pradera GC def. Suzann Burley, Meadow Hills GC 20 Holes
Sr. Div. 2nd Flight Consolation
Vicki Porter, CommonGround GC def. Theresa Lange, Blackstone CC, 5 and 3
Sr. Div. 3rd Flight
Irene Stein, Collindale GC def. Dolly Moreno, Broken Tee GC, 8 and 7
Sr. Div. 3rd Flight Consolation
Joan Schopf, Saddle Rock GC def. Becky Finger, Riverdale GC, 2 and 1
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Moore is only 46, but the two competitors above her on the leaderboard after two rounds at Cherry Creek Country Club are a 21-year-old and a 15-year-old.
“I told Kent (her husband and caddie), ‘I’m playing with somebody a third my age,’” Moore related. “He said, ‘No honey, she’s less than a third your age.’ I was like, ‘thank you very much.’”
Moore, a five-time CWGA Stroke Play champion, will see if she can overtake the young-uns in Thursday’s third and final round of the tournament. Brooke Collins of Louisville, a former state high school champion and current University of Oklahoma golfer, increased her lead to three strokes on Wednesday over 15-year-old Calli Ringsby, a sophomore-to-be at Cherry Creek High School, and is five ahead of Moore.
Collins (pictured above), sister of 2009 CWGA Match Play champion Chelsey Collins, shot a 2-over-par 74 on Wednesday and stands at 1-over 145 overall. Ringsby, runner-up in the 5A state high school meet last month, made a double bogey on her 16th hole Wednesday en route to a 75 and a 148 total. Moore carded a 76 to come in at 150. The only other player within eight strokes of the lead is reigning 4A state high school champion Lindsay McGetrick (81-71–152).
“It’s the Colorado Women’s Stroke Play and I’ve always wanted this title,” said Collins, the 5A state high school champ in 2007. “I feel like I’m going to put some pressure on myself and pretend like it’s a big college tournament. … Overall I like the position I’m in, so I can’t complain.”
Collins, winner of the 2006 CWGA Junior Stroke Play, has used her length off the tee to good advantage at Cherry Creek Country Club, making six birdies and seven bogeys in two days. “I’m a long-ball hitter so I feel like I drive over everything that gets a lot of other people in trouble, so that’s definitely an advantage,” she said. “I’m just going to hit it long and straight tomorrow and see what happens.”
Despite her young age — and a three-stroke deficit — Ringsby (pictured hitting at left, with Moore looking on) believes she’s well within striking distance of a victory Thursday.
“I think I’m in a good position; it’s not too far behind,” said Ringsby, who’s part of a family who once owned the Denver Rockets, who later became the Denver Nuggets. “I think it’s probably easier to be chasing than to sleep with the lead. Hopefully I can get it done.
“I’m not gun-shy. I’m not afraid. I think I can be aggressive and play my way up instead of down.”
Ringsby could have been closer to Collins, but on the par-5 16th hole Wednesday she went for the green in two, ended up on the edge of a fairway bunker, pulled her third into a hazard and ended up with a double bogey.
“I wasn’t really comfortable with going for it; it was a mental error on my part,” she said. “I should have just laid up. I was in a bad position. I think I could have saved myself two shots or maybe three.”
As for Moore, she’s going for her first CGA Stroke Play title since 1997, though she tied for second last year with Collins. And she figures if all aspects of her game fire on the right cylinders on Thursday, she could come back to win.
“It’s possible, because it’s golf,” she said. “I definitely thinks it’s doable. Brooke and Calli are playing great, so it won’t be an easy task, but you have to think optimistically.
“The golf ball doesn’t know how old you are. It’s like, ‘just get it in the hole.’”
Collins, Ringsby and Moore will tee off Thursday at 11:57 a.m.
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