It was a successful week for teenagers and sixty-somethings alike at the CWGA Match Play Championship at The Fox Hill Club in Longmont.
While 18-year-old Allie Johnston of Red Hawk Ridge Golf Course became one of the youngest winners in the 97-year history of the tournament, 60-year-old Mary Doyen of Foothills Golf Course proved age and experience can be assets in golf as she claimed the senior division championship title.
Johnston, the 2011 CWGA Junior Player of the Year, rallied down the stretch on Wednesday to post a 1-up win in 36 holes over defending champion Somin Lee of Denver. And Doyen earned her second consecutive CWGA senior title by notching a 5-and-4 title match victory over Deb Hughes of Green Valley Ranch Golf Club. (Johnston and Doyen are pictured above with their trophies.)
“Turning 60 ain’t so bad,” Doyen said after backing up her CWGA Senior Stroke Play win in 2011 with Wednesday’s victory. And, just for good measure, she also recorded a hole-in-one this week, acing the 130-yard 11th hole on Monday with an 8-iron.
“I’ve got good karma,” she said. “It was just a good week.”
Likewise for Johnston (pictured at left), who will play golf for the University of Texas-San Antonio beginning in the fall. She not only won her third CWGA championship — following the 2011 Junior Stroke Play and the 2012 Mashie team title — but she showed considerable resiliency in the process.
Johnston, who was 3 up after the morning round, faltered in the afternoon and was 2 down after 31 holes. But she took advantage of back-to-back three-putts by Lee to win the 32nd and 33rd holes, the second of those with a two-putt birdie.
Then Johnston won a third straight hole with an approach shot that finished a foot from the cup for a birdie at No 16. She kept her 1-up lead on the 35th hole despite a tough, long bunker shot from an uphill lie. She blasted the 25-yard shot to 5 feet and made the par putt.
Then, after Lee lipped out a 6-foot birdie attempt on the 36th hole, Johnston closed out the match by draining a 4-foot par putt.
“I was just extremely angry at myself for losing five holes to her (earlier in the afternoon round),” Johnston said. “I was trying to swing good and I just didn’t want to lose. That was my only thought: I don’t want to lose.”
In playing her last four holes in 2 under par, Johnston denied Lee from becoming the first back-to-back CWGA Match Play champion since Wendy Werley in 1988 and ’89.
“I’m not going to lie: I think I put too much pressure on myself to defend the title,” said Lee (pictured at left), a Pepperdine University golfer who has won four individual CWGA state championships. “I left many shots out there. But I shouldn’t regret anything. (Johnston) played really good. I guess I just didn’t play good enough to win this thing again.”
After lipping out the birdie putt that would have forced extra holes, Lee couldn’t bring herself to watch as Johnston holed the match winner.
Perhaps not coincidentally, Johnston played her best golf when she was fatigued after walking and carrying her clubs for 36 holes on Wednesday.
“I was so tired (at the end) I couldn’t think, so it really helped,” she said with a chuckle. “That was my theory going into this round walking was maybe I won’t think once I get tired.
“But I’m so happy,” added Johnston, who ranks this title as one of her best, along with an AJGA championship she won last year in Texas. “This has just really, really made my week. That was so much fun. I’m still stuck on it.”
In the senior final, Doyen (pictured at left) never trailed and built a 5-up lead after 10 holes en route to her 5-and-4 victory. Doyen’s prowess on the greens proved too much for Hughes, a qualifier for the last two USGA Senior Women’s Amateurs.
“When I grow up, I want to putt like Mary Doyen,” Hughes said with a smile. “That’s all I have to say. It was uncanny. She had her distance correct, she had her pace, her line, everything. Everything was just dead-on. I didn’t stand a chance with her putting.”
Doyen carded three birdies on the day in ending the match at No. 14.
“Today it was there,” she said. “I was listening to a meditation tape by (sports psychologist) Bob Rotella on the way up (driving to Fox Hill),” Doyen said. “I missed the Longmont exit because I was meditating. I was just in a zone. It was one of those days where things were just good.”
The result was Doyen’s second CWGA title in less than 11 months.
“Winning any state championship is just marvelous,” she said. “I’m just elated. I’m just as pleased as I can be that I won a second one. I’m not sure I ever thought I’d win a first one.”
CWGA Match Play Championship
At The Fox Hill Club in Longmont
Open Championship Flight — Allie Johnston, Red Hawk Ridge Wga def. Somin Lee, Heatheridge Associates 1 up
Open Championship Flight Consolation — Amy Hodgkinson, The Fox Hill Club WGA def. Paige Crawford, Patty Jewett Wga 1 up
Senior Championship Flight — Mary Doyen, Foothills Wga def. Deb Hughes, Green Valley Ranch Wga 5 and 4
Senior Championship Flight Consolation — Jessi McVay, Commonground Lga def.Sally Lawrence, Broken Tee Englewood Wga 2 up
First Flight — Charlotte Jorgensen, Highland Meadows GC def. Jennifer Hocking, Valley Hi Golf Course 2 up
First Flight Consolation — Vickie Brown, Canongate Colorado Wgc def. Kristie Schwab, Omni Interlocken 3 and 1
Second Flight — Jenni Chun, Lone Tree Lga def. Sheila Schroeder, Broken Tee Englewood Wga 5 and 4
Second Flight Consolation — Elizabeth Kraemer, Legacy Ridge Wga def. Sue Rose Moore, Cherry Hills CC 4 and 3
Third Flight — Vicki Porter, Commonground Lga def Pat O’Connor, Collindale Wga 6 and 5
Third Flight Consolation — Donna Edelen, Riverdale Wga def. Irene Stein, Collindale Wga
Fourth Flight — Amber Leis, Fox Hill CC def. Meadow Hills Wga 2 up
