The USGA announced in the spring that this year’s Women’s State Team will be the final one held. The last USGA Men’s State Team Championship was conducted in 2016.

The team representing the CWGA completed its final round on Thursday morning. With the top two individual scores each day counting toward the team total, Colorado shot rounds of 163-160 for a 35-over-par 323 total.

Emily Gilbreth of Denver, the 2017 CWGA Match Play champion, led the way for the Coloradans, shooting 80-77 for a 13-over-par 157 score. Janet Moore of Centennial went 83-83-166 and fellow Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Christie Austin 85-88–173.

The field was cut from 48 teams to the low 21 and ties after two rounds, and Colorado failed to advance to the final round.

But Eaton, who now lives in Arizona, did play the third round, with the Arizonans finishing nine strokes behind champion Tennessee. Individually, Eaton posted scores of 77-78-81 for a 20-over-par 236 total.

The top finishes by Colorado in the 12 USGA Women’s State Team Championships were sixth place in 2009 and 2013.

USGA Women’s State Team Championship
At The Club at Las Campanas in Santa Fe, N.M.
32. Colorado 163-160–323
Emily Gilbreth of Denver 80-77–157
Janet Moore of Centennial 83-83–166
Christie Austin of Denver 85-88–173

Also
51. (of players who completed 54 holes) Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Kim Eaton, competing for Arizona 77-78-81–236

For complete results, CLICK HERE.
 

The team representing the CWGA will miss the 36-hole cut in the final USGA Women’s State Team tournament that will be held. The top 21 teams and ties — out of an original field of 48 — will advance to Thursday’s final round after round 2 wraps up. Play was suspended for the day at 6:22 p.m. Wednesday, with two of the three Colorado players still having to complete one or two holes of their second round.

After Wednesday, the Coloradans stand in 33rd place, at 35 over par for just shy of two rounds. The top two individual scores each day count toward the team total.

The CWGA team is 36 strokes behind leader New York and 17 shots back of the teams tied for 21st place.

Individually, 2017 CWGA Match Play champion Emily Gilbreth of Denver is leading the way for the Colorado contingent, finishing at 13-over-par 157 (80-77), which leaves her in 57th place. Janet Moore of Centennial is at 22 over par through 35 holes and fellow Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Christie Austin of Denver is 25 over through 34 holes. (The Coloradans are pictured, from left: Gilbreth, Moore and Austin.)

Another Colorado Golf Hall of Famer, Kim Eaton, will be sticking around for the final round as her Arizona team is in sixth place at 291, leaving the Arizonans four strokes out of the lead. Individually, Eaton has carded rounds of 77-78 and sits in 51st place.

The top finishes by Colorado in the biennial USGA Women’s State Team were sixth place in 2009 and 2013.

USGA Women’s State Team Championship
At The Club at Las Campanas in Santa Fe, N.M.
33. Colorado 163-+16–+35
57. Emily Gilbreth of Denver 80-77–157
100. Janet Moore of Centennial 83-+11–+22 (through 35 holes)
107. Christie Austin of Denver 85-+12–+25 (through 34 holes)

Also
51. Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Kim Eaton, competing for Arizona 77-78–155

For complete results, CLICK HERE.

This month’s USGA Women’s State Team Championship will be the final one ever held, as the USGA announced earlier this year that it was retiring its State Team Championships for both men and women.

The men held their final one last fall, and the women take a final bow Sept. 26-28 at The Club at Las Campanas in Santa Fe, N.M.

Ironically, the 12th and last USGA Women’s State Team Championship will be the first one for Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Christie Austin.

“I’ve been an alternate in previous years but this will be my first and only, since it’s the last one ever,” the former USGA Executive Committee member said in a recent email.

Austin will captain the three-person squad that will represent Colorado and the CWGA in New Mexico. The CWGA recently named its final team, which features some of the top female amateurs in the state, not including active college golfers as they aren’t allowed by the NCAA.

Joining Austin on the Colorado squad are another Colorado Golf Hall of Famer, Janet Moore, as well as the reigning CWGA Match Play champion Emily Gilbreth, who moved to Colorado from Houston in April. Gilbreth, like Austin, will be making her USGA Women’s State Team debut, while Moore is headed for her third appearance in the event.

At the State Team Championship, each day the best two scores for each state count toward the team total. All 50 states, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, are eligible to field teams. All competitors much reside in the state or territory for which they play, which is why current Mesa, Ariz., resident Kim Eaton, a Colorado Golf Hall of Famer, will represent Arizona.

The field will be cut to the low 21 teams and ties after 36 holes, plus any individual who is within five strokes of the lead.

Here’s a brief look at each of Colorado’s representatives for this year’s championship:

— Christie Austin of Denver: Austin, who didn’t take up golf until age 26, recently won her 18th CWGA title, this one with Kathy West in the CWGA Brassie. Moore has been Austin’s teammate for many of those championships. … She’s won two CWGA Senior Stroke Plays, one Senior Match Play, six Brassies, six Mashies, two Chapmans and one Mixed. … This summer, Austin qualified again for the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur and she’s a first alternate for the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur. … She’s a two-time CWGA Senior Player of the Year. … She won the 2010 Women’s Trans National Golf Association Senior Four-Ball with Eaton.

— Emily Gilbreth of Denver: The recent college graduate won this summer’s Match Play in her CWGA championship debut, defeating Maddie Kern 6 and 4 in the scheduled 36-hole final. … She played college golf at the University of Houston, where she was part of the school’s first women’s golf team. Three years after Houston added a women’s golf program, it won a conference championship. Individually, she won a college title in March 2016. … Recently, she competed in stage I of LPGA Tour Q-school, finishing 144th out of a field of 361ß, though she didn’t advance to stage II.

— Janet Moore of Centennial: After advancing to the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur, U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur and USGA Women’s State Team this year, Moore has qualified for — or be named to — a total of 25 USGA championships. That includes three U.S. Women’s Amateurs. … The Mashie title she won with Susie Roh in June was believed to be Moore’s 21st CWGA championship. The former University of Arizona golfer captured the CWGA Stroke Play title five times in the 1990s, including four in a row.

In 2015, the last time the USGA Women’s State Team was conducted, Colorado finished 32nd with its then-all-teenager team of Jaclyn Murray, Mary Weinstein and Delaney Elliott.

Colorado finished sixth in the 2013 USGA Women’s State Team, matching the state’s best showing ever, first accomplished in 2009. The 2013 team included Jennifer Kupcho, Hannah Wood and Melissa Martin.

The USGA Women’s State Team trophy awarded to the champions is named after Judy Bell of Colorado Springs, the first female president in the history of the USGA.