Chilly Women's Open Qualifier Produces Familiar Faces


May 13, 2008

By David Shefter, USGA

Gladstone, N.J. - Paige Mackenzie emerged from the spacious clubhouse at Hamilton Farm Golf Club clutching her cup of coffee as if it were a precious piece of jewelry. On this unseasonably cold, damp and windy day, warm beverages were the ideal 19th-hole libation for any of the contestants at the U.S. Women's Open local qualifier Monday.

The conditions were more Northern Ireland - think Royal Portrush in October - than northern New Jersey. A relieved Mackenzie was just thrilled to be in cozier confines. Never before had Mackenzie been so thrilled to post an 8-over-par 80. With the 6,576-yard, par-72 layout playing  more like 7,000 yards, anything around 80 was like shooting 70.

Former Curtis Cupper Paige Mackenzie never felt better about shooting an 80. (USGA Photo Archives)

Of the 67 players who finished - one contestant did not show and 11 others withdrew - only seven managed to break 80, with Jeanne Cho of Orlando, Fla., gaining medalist honors with a highly respectable 75. Several golfers failed to break 90 and one shot 106. A total of 22 qualifying spots for next month's 36-hole sectional qualifiers were available, and a playoff for the final five spots came at 83.

Growing up in Yakima, Wash., and competing in college at the University of Washington, Mackenzie had played in her share of rainy and damp conditions. But with temperatures in the mid- to upper-40s and the winds gusting, the atmosphere tested the patience of even the most-experienced golfers.

"Mentally, I think it was really tough from the beginning," said Mackenzie, a member of the victorious 2006 USA Curtis Cup team and the stroke-play medalist the 2006 U.S. Women's Amateur. "You knew it was going to be a long day. You had to be 100 percent focused on every shot, especially when the wind was up. Toward the end, I couldn't feel anything, so physically it became difficult. But it was a challenge all day."

The 25-year-old Mackenzie is in her second year on the LPGA Tour, but her rookie campaign saw her struggle with issues on and off the course. On the course, she made just nine of 19 cuts, with a T17 at the season-opening Open in Hawaii being her best showing. She finished 118th on the money list with $49,104. Couple that with being stalked - the LPGA Tour assisted with extra security at tournaments - and her first season in the play-for-pay ranks turned into a harrowing adventure.

"It was very difficult for me to focus," said Mackenzie, who is a non-exempt LPGA Tour member in 2008. "It's unfortunate because not only did it affect last year, but it is affecting my eligibility this year. So now I am in a better place and I'm able to focus and he's not around anymore."

Unfortunately, the legal system could not do anything to the individual but place restraining orders. Mackenzie used the offseason in La Quinta, Calif., to decompress and get re-focused for 2008. She has made two of four cuts this season and will play the next two weeks at Sybase in Upper Montclair, N.J., and the Corning (N.Y.) Classic. Her Women's Open qualifier will be a day after the McDonald's LPGA Championship (she's not yet in the field) at Woodmont Country Club in Rockville, Md.

In 2005 she posted a top-15 finish at the Women's Open as an amateur. But she has yet to play in the championship as a pro.

"I feel really good about my game," said Mackenzie. "I didn't have any three-putts today, which is awesome. I was very pleased, especially in these conditions."

Two former U.S. Women's Amateur had a more anxious day at Hamilton Farm. Meredith Duncan, the 2001 titlist, and 2003 winner Virada Nirapathpongporn each carded 83s and were in the 7-for-5 playoff. Eight players actually shot 83, but 2003 U.S. Girls' Junior champion Sukjin Lee Wuesthoff left the premises prematurely and thus became the third alternate.

Duncan played in the Michelob Ultra Open last weekend in Williamsburg, Va. She did not have an opportunity to play a practice round, but managed to shoot her 83, despite a quadruple bogey. She made a routine par at the first playoff hole to secure her spot in the sectionals. The unseasonable conditions were a bit of shock to Duncan's system. She's from Louisiana.

The extra layers of clothing cost the 5-foot-1 Duncan distance and turned the course into a monster.

"When you have that many pieces of clothes on, you can't make a full turn at it," said Duncan, a member of the victorious 2002 USA Curtis Cup team. "If I see weather like this [at home], I am usually putting my pajamas back on and getting back into bed. I don't voluntarily play in this."

In three full seasons on the LPGA Tour, the 28-year-old Duncan has yet to finish higher than 126th on the money list. She is fully exempt in 2008, but has struggled on the weekends with a 75.6 stroke average in the three events where she's made the cut. Last week in Williamsburg, she opened with rounds of 68-68, only to shoot 77-76 on the weekend to tie for 63rd. In Phoenix earlier this year, she fired two consecutive 70s, but carded 76-73 on the weekend.

"I'm just trying to get it [going] four days in a row," said Duncan.

Nirapathpongporn, 26, has had a similar story since turning pro following her stellar 2003 amateur season, where the Thailand-born golfer also finished runner-up to Michelle Wie at the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links. In 2005, she finished second on the Futures Tour money list to gain full LPGA Tour privileges the following season.

And her good play continued when she finished No. 72 on the LPGA Tour money list ($143,196), but her performance the last 18 months has dropped precipitously. She only made nine of 20 cuts in 2007. This year as a non-exempt tour member she has only managed to get in four events, earning just $10,634.

"It's not fun when you are thinking about the cut or thinking if I don't make the cut, I'm not going to make money," said Nirapathpongporn, a former Duke University All-American. "You didn't think about anything like that when you are playing amateur golf."

Virada Nirapathpongporn, the 2003 U.S. Women's Amateur champion, garnered the 22nd and final qualifying spot at Hamilton Farm G.C. (USGA Photo Archives)

At Hamilton Farm, Nirapathpongporn was on the verge of being relegated to alternate status for the sectional. But after 17-year-old amateur Marina Alex of Wayne, N.J., lipped out a 3-foot par putt, Nirapathpongporn and Morgan Olds each had new life as the playoff dwindled to three golfers for the final spot. Alex was eliminated at the par-5 second hole with a double-bogey 7, with Nirapathpongporn and Olds moving on with matching pars. At the par-3 third, Nirapathpongporn stuck a 22-degree hybrid to 4 feet and converted the birdie putt after Olds got up and down for par.

Nirapathpongporn now moves on to Sybase and then Corning before going to Decatur, Ill., for a Futures Tour event just prior to her Women's Open sectional at Skokie (Ill.) Country Club. At this point, she's searching for the same magic that made her college star and elite amateur performer.

"[Pro golf] is more demanding for sure," she said. "But I work at the game harder, if not harder [than when I was in college]. I have more time to step up my game. The biggest challenge [for me] is going back to remembering why you play the game. Finding that passion. We didn't have to make cuts before. We didn't have to worry about making cuts to make money. Right now, I try not to think about the result because I am really trying to think about the long run."

Qualifying notes: Besides Cho, Simi Mehra (76), Sandra Gal (76), Beth Allen (77), Natalie Tucker (78), Kris Tschetter (79), Patricia Baxter-Johnson and Anna Grzebien (79) all broke 80. Tschetter was the runner-up to Annika Sorenstam at the 1996 Women's Open.Three amateurs advance, including 13-year-old Annie Park of Levittown, N.Y., who shot 82. Susannah Aboff, a Princeton University junior, shot an 81, while Brittany Altomare, a high school junior who has verbally committed to the University of Virginia, earned a spot in the playoff with a gorgeous up-and-down par from the greenside bunker at the first hole.Second alternate Alex had an interesting day. Two of her fellow competitors, Danielle Downey and Karen Soper, both withdrew during the round, leaving Alex to play with a USGA official serving as her marker. During her second nine, the Vanderbilt-bound golfer wound up joining another twosome and then lipped out a par putt at the first playoff hole that would have sent her to the sectionals for the second consecutive year.Barbara Israel, 62, the oldest golfer to file an entry for a second consecutive year, withdrew after making the turn. The apologetic New Yorker simply couldn't grip the club in the cold conditions. "My hands just really stopped working," said Israel, who has competed in "six or seven" USGA championships. When asked if she would try again next year, she replied: "The jury is still out."

DavidShefteris a staff writer for the USGA. E-mail him with questions or comments at dshefter@usga.org.