2010 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Storylines
Sept. 25-30
Wichita (Kan.) Country Club
States and countries represented: A total of 36 states and five countries (Canada, Jamaica, Japan, Sri Lanka and Thailand) are represented at the 2010 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur.
Youngest competitor: The youngest player in the field is Karla Murra, 25, of Sioux Falls, S.D. (DOB: 10/20/1984). Murra shot 68 – the lowest score of any of the 130 qualifiers – at Windsong Farm Golf Club in Independence, Minn. She recently won the 2010 South Dakota Golf Association Women’s Amateur and the 2010 Minnesota Women’s State Open.
Oldest competitor: The oldest player in the field is Janice Roberts Wilson, 61, of Dade City, Fla. (DOB: 1/13/1949). Wilson, who has worked as a software engineer for more than 40 years, once asked her boss for time off to try and play professional golf. Her boss laughed, she resigned and signed back on with the company five years later.
USGA champions in the field (12):
Carolyn Creekmore, 2004 USGA Senior Women’s Amateur
Robin Donnelley, 1989 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur
Virginia Grimes, 1998 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur
Kathy Hartwiger, 2002 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur
Sherry Herman, 2009 USGA Senior Women’s Amateur
Joan Higgins, 2008 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur
Diane Lang, 2005, 2006 and 2008 USGA Senior Women’s Amateur
Martha Leach, 2009 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur
Amber Marsh Elliott, 2003 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur
Ellen Port, 1995, 1996, and 2000 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur
Meghan Stasi, 2006 and 2007 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur
Corey Weworski, 2004 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur
Former USA Curtis Cup Team members in the field (7):
Robin Burke, 1998
Patricia Cornett, 1978 and 1988
Robin Donnelley, 1990, 1992, 2000
Virginia Grimes, 1998, 2000 and 2006
Noreen Mohler, 1978; Captain in 2010
Ellen Port, 1994 and 1996
Meghan Stasi, 2008
Individual storylines:
Debbie Adams, 43, of Asheville, N.C., represented the USA in the International Maccabiah Games in Israel, winning both the individual and team gold medals. Adams, who won three collegiate events while at Ohio State University, is playing in her third U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur.
Christie Austin, 53, of Cherry Hills Village, Colo., is in her fourth year as a member of the USGA Executive Committee. Austin, who chairs the Amateur Status and GHIN Committees, was named the 2007 Colorado Ladies Senior Player of the Year by the Colorado Women’s Golf Association after winning both the Senior Match Play and Senior Stroke Play Championships. She is playing in her ninth U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur.
Phara Blair, 41, of Tualatin, Ore., is the daughter of two accomplished golfers, both of whom played collegiate golf at the University of Texas. Her father, Roane Puett, played on the PGA Tour in the 1960s. Her mother, Barbara Puett, a teaching professional at Barton Creek Resort and Spa in Austin, has published two books, one on golf etiquette and one on golf instruction. When she was younger, Phara babysat for Tom Kite and his family, traveling around the country while Kite competed on the PGA Tour. She is playing in her first USGA championship.
Robin Burke, 48, of Houston, Texas, was a member of the 1998 USA Curtis Cup Team that defeated Great Britain and Ireland, 10-8, at The Minikahda Club in Minneapolis, Minn. Burke went 2-0 in foursomes and 0-1 in her singles match. She was runner-up at the 1997 U.S. Women’s Amateur, advanced to the semifinals of the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur in 1998 and 2005 and was the stroke-play medalist in 2003.
Barbara Byrnes, 56, of Mesa, Ariz., is a past president and treasurer of the Arizona Women’s Golf Association, the second-largest women’s golf association in the country. Byrnes, a four-time Arizona State Senior Player of the Year, is a member of the USGA Regional Affairs Committee and volunteered for the last three U.S. Women’s Open Championships.
Julie Carmichael, 46, of Indianapolis, Ind., is the president/CEO of Suburban Health Organization, a consortium of eight central Indiana hospitals. Carmichael, who received her bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and her MBA from Indiana University, teaches a class called Developing Strategic Capability at the Indiana University School of Medicine. She won the 1987 Indiana Women’s State Amateur and is a four-time winner of the Indiana Women’s State Mid-Amateur. Byrnes, who was inducted into the Indiana Golf Hall of Fame in 2005, won the Indiana PGA Women’s Open in 2000 and 2003. She co-owns Martinsville (Ind.) Golf Club with her father Sam.
Corina Cetateanu, 31, of New York, N.Y., played tennis at St. John’s University (1998-2002). She was born in Romania and moved to New York City when she was 10 with her brother Chris. After working in auditing for six years, she quit her job, moved to Florida and has been working on her golf game ever since.
Laura Coble, 46, of Augusta, Ga., was runner-up at last year’s U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur, where she fell to Martha Leach in the final, 3 and 2, at Golden Hills Golf and Turf Club in Ocala, Fla. Coble, who was a quarterfinalist in the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur in 2005 and 2006, helped Georgia to victory at the 2009 USGA Women’s State Team Championship.
Patricia Cornett, 56, of Mill Valley, Calif., was runner-up at the 1987 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur and played on the 1978 and 1988 USA Curtis Cup Teams.
Lynne Cowan, 47, of Davis, Calif., has had ankylosing spondylitis, a form of rheumatoid arthritis, since the age of 18. Cowan, a four-time California Women’s Amateur champion, was a semifinalist at the 2008 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur.
Carolyn Creekmore, 58, of Dallas, Texas, won the 2004 USGA Senior Women’s Amateur and was runner-up in 2009. Creekmore was a semifinalist at the USGA Senior Women’s Amateur and a quarterfinalist at the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur in 2008. She will be inducted into the Arkansas Golf Hall of Fame in October.
Kay Daniel, 39, of Covington, La., is an orthodontist. Daniel, who was born in Cuba and attended Mississippi State University, won the 2005 Louisiana Women’s Amateur and is a three-time Louisiana Women’s Mid-Amateur champion.
Robin Donnelley, 57, of Palm Beach, Fla., won the 1989 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur, beating Page Marsh Lea in 22 holes at The Hills of Lakeway Golf Club in Lakeway, Texas. Donnelley, who was runner-up at the championship in 1998, was a member of the USA Curtis Cup Team in 1990, 1992 and 2000, going 1-0-1 in foursomes and 3-2 in her singles matches.
Kim Eaton, 51, of Greeley, Colo., is the executive director of the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame. Eaton, a quarterfinalist at the 2009 USGA Senior Women’s Amateur, played in the 1991 and 1993 U.S. Women’s Opens. She was named Colorado’s Women’s Player of the Year and Senior Women’s Player of the Year in 2009 and has earned two distinguished service awards as a member of the Evans Police Department (2003 and 2005).
Cynthia Friend, 55, of Lexington, Mass., is a professor of chemistry and materials science at Harvard University. Friend, who earned her PhD. at the University of California at Berkeley, advanced to the third round of match play at the 2005 USGA Senior Women’s Amateur.
Michelle Griffith, 30, of LaGrange, Ga., is the executive director of The First Tee Troup County in Georgia. Griffith is the daughter of 2005 and 2006 U.S. Senior Open champion Allen Doyle. She advanced to the third round of match play in 2006 and the second round in 2008 and 2009.
Virginia Grimes, 46, of Meridian, Miss., won the 1998 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur with a 4-and-3 victory over Robin Weiss Donnelley at Champions Golf Club in Houston, Texas. Grimes, who has reached the semifinals of the championship six times, was runner-up in 2004. She was a member of the winning 1998, 2000 and 2006 USA Curtis Cup Teams, going 4-0-1 in foursomes and 0-2-1 in her singles matches.
Mina Hardin, 50, of Fort Worth, Texas, was runner-up at the 2001 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur. Hardin, who was co-medalist at the championship last year, played on the LPGA Tour from 1983 to 1989, becoming the first Mexican-born player on the tour. She was named the 1982 Mexico Sportswoman of the Year and had her amateur status reinstated in 1991.
Shannon Hare-Rouillard, 38, of Bernardsville, N.J., is a USGA Rules of Golf associate. Hare-Rouillard, who coached the women’s golf team at the University of Oregon from 2000-2008, says her most memorable golf moment is playing a practice round in the 1999 U.S. Women’s Open with Dottie Pepper, Juli Inkster and Nancy Lopez.
Kathy Hartwiger, 44, of Birmingham, Ala., won the 2002 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur, defeating Ellen Port in the final, 2 up, at Eugene (Ore.) Country Club. Hartwiger, a science teacher at Hoover High School in Birmingham, was a member of the winning Alabama squad at the 1997 USGA Women’s State Team Championship. She was inducted into the Birmingham Golf Hall of Fame in 2005.
Sherry Herman, 52, of Farmingdale, N.J., won the 2009 USGA Senior Women’s Amateur with a 4-and-3 victory over Carolyn Creekmore at The Homestead in Hot Springs, Va. Herman was part of a group that started PlayPhone, Inc., a mobile entertainment company that has grown into a multi-million dollar, worldwide company with more than 100 employees.
Joan Higgins, 54, of Glendora, Calif., won the 2008 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur, 1 up, over Lynn Simmons at Barton Hills Country Club in Ann Arbor, Mich. Higgins, who was the stroke-play medalist at last year’s USGA Senior Women’s Amateur, has won every major championship conducted by the Women’s Southern California Golf Association.
Deborah Jamgochian, 56, of Greenwich, Conn., was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2001 and was bedridden for nearly four years. Jamgochian has won golf championships all over the world, including the 1974 Massachusetts State Amateur, the 2007 Senior French Open and the 2008 Bermuda Amateur.
Debbie Johnson, 47, of Stamford, Conn., works in the IT department at A&E Television Networks. An avid traveler, Johnson has traveled through 45 of the 50 states and took a run down the bobsled track used for the 1994 Winter Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway. Johnson, who is competing in her first U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur, played a round of golf at Royal St. George’s Golf Club in 2003, the year the British Open was held there.
Kim Keyer-Scott, 42, of Bonita Springs, Fla., began playing golf in 1998 at the age of 30. Just four years later, she was named the NCAA Division II Freshman of the Year as a member of the Northern Kentucky University women’s golf team. Keyer-Scott, a three-time All-America selection, learned to play golf during a four-year stay in Belgium, where her husband worked.
Diane Lang, 55, of Jamaica is a three-time winner of the USGA Senior Women’s Amateur (2005, 2006, 2008). Lang, who was born in Kingston, Jamaica and moved to Florida to attend Florida Atlantic University, has a 24-2 record in the five USGA Senior Women’s Amateurs she has played in.
Martha Leach, 48, of Hebron, Ky., is defending her title after winning the 2009 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur with a 3-and-2 victory over Laura Coble at Golden Hills Golf and Turf Club in Ocala, Fla. Leach, who is playing in her 22nd U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur – the third-most appearances by a player in the championship’s history, is the sister of six-time USGA champion Hollis Stacy (U.S. Girls’ Junior from 1969-71 and U.S. Women’s Open in 1977, 1978 and 1984).
Jennifer Lucas, 29, of Knoxville, Tenn., was a co-medalist at last year’s U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur. She is an industrial tape specialist.
Jewell Malick, 61, of Rockwall, Texas, is a physician who specializes in pelvic reconstructive and laparoscopy surgery. She joined the Navy in 1972, served five years of active duty as an OB-GYN and was recalled to active duty for Desert Storm, where she spent four months in a combat zone on a surgical support team. She lists her most memorable golf moment as caddieing for her friend, Anna Schultz, when she won the 2007 USGA Senior Amateur.
Amber Marsh Elliott, 41, of Greensboro, N.C., won the 2003 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur, defeating Shannon Ogg in the final, 3 and 2, at Long Cove Club in Hilton Head, S.C. Marsh Elliott, a breast cancer survivor, ran over her golf clubs near the end of August. She called it a blessing in disguise as she discovered that modern technology does make a difference.
Noreen Mohler, 56, of Bethlehem, Pa., was captain of the winning 2010 USA Curtis Cup Team that defeated Great Britain and Ireland, 12½-7½, at Essex County Club in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Mass., in June. Mohler, who was a semifinalist at the 2008 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur, played on the 1978 USA Curtis Cup Team. She owns a seafood restaurant in Easton, Pa., with her husband, Jeff.
Shannon Ogg, 33, of Alexandria, Va., was runner-up at the 2003 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur. Ogg, who won the 2002 Women’s Carolinas Amateur, decided to trade in her Blackberry for a backpack and travel around the world. From May 2007 to May 2008, Ogg visited six continents and 40 countries.
Ellen Port, who turns 49 on Sept. 21, of St. Louis, Mo., is a three-time winner of the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur (1995, 1996, 2000). Port, who was the runner-up in 2002, also earned medalist honors at the championship in 2000, 2001 and 2002. She is a teacher and coach at John Burroughs School in St. Louis.
Kerry Postillion, 47, of Scottsdale, Ariz., is a three-time runner-up at the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur (1995, 2005, 2007).
Martha Redfearn, 49, of Newport Beach, Calif., was Mrs. California in 1990 and finished runner-up at the 1990 Mrs. America Pageant in Moscow, Russia.
Carol Robertson, 27, of Virginia Beach, Va., is the assistant coach for the men’s and women’s golf programs at Old Dominion University. Robertson’s husband, Jason, is playing in this week’s U.S. Mid-Amateur at Atlantic Golf Club in Bridgehampton, N.Y. They were engaged on the Great Wall of China.
Jennie Robinson, 50, of La Quinta, Calif., was born and raised in Leavenworth, Kan., about 200 miles from Wichita. One of her idols growing up was Judy Bell, the championship’s honorary chairman and former USGA president (1996-97). Robinson has a 2½-year-old golden retriever named Riley Rose who rides on the golf cart each time she plays. Over the past two years at The Hideaway Golf Club in La Quinta, Riley Rose has found more than 6,000 golf balls, which Robinson donates to junior golf programs and local high schools.
Lynn Simmons, 42, of Phoenix, Ariz., was runner-up at the 2008 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur. She got her nickname Taz from the first martial arts tournament she entered; she broke her opponent’s nose.
Meghan Stasi, 32, of Oakland Park, Fla., won back-to-back U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur titles in 2006 and 2007. She was a co-medalist last year.
Marlene Summers, 56, of Montgomery, Texas, shocked doctors when she qualified for last year’s U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur after being completely bedridden for five months while fighting a rare disease that attacks and destroys muscle tissue. Her sectional qualifier last year was the first 18 holes of golf she had been able to walk in more than two years. In 2005, Summers founded Grammy’s Cookie Convoy, a nonprofit organization that ships cookies, cards and letters to troops overseas and to wounded troops at Walter Reed Hospital.
Rebecca Thomas, 31, of Wichita, Kan., lives just five miles from Wichita Country Club. Thomas, who attended Wichita State University, is playing in her first USGA championship.
Susan West, 46, of Tuscaloosa, Ala., is the assistant dean of MBA and graduate programs at the University of Alabama. West, who played collegiate tennis at Alabama, was the 1997 USTA National Doubles champion and was once ranked in the top five in doubles and top 10 in singles.
Corey Weworski, 48, of Carlsbad, Calif., won the 2004 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur, defeating Virginia Grimes in the final, 5 and 4, at Holston Hills Country Club in Knoxville, Tenn.
Kelly Wilson, 37, of Cameron Park, Calif., is a former professional tennis player. Wilson, who played in the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur in 2006 and 2008, qualified for the 1996 U.S. Open Tennis Championships and reached a career-high ranking of No. 134 in the world.
Dawn Woodard, 36, of Greer, S.C., was medalist at the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur in 2006 and 2007. She shot the lowest stroke-play qualifying score in the championship’s history, carding a 68 in the first round of the 2005 championship at Shadow Hawk Golf Club in Richmond, Texas.
Compiled by Justin Hancher of the USGA communications staff.