Hannah Wood and her dad, Don, won’t soon forget how they spent Father’s Day last year.
Wood, an alternate for the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links after the qualifying tournament, received a phone call that Sunday notifying her that she had a spot in the national championship.
The only problem was, they were in Centennial, and the championship was in Norman, Okla., and competition was starting the next day.
The Woods packed up, hopped in the car about midday on Father’s Day and arrived in Norman about 11:30 p.m. Hannah didn’t have an opportunity to play a practice round, though Don checked out the course in the morning before her afternoon tee time.
Despite the disadvantage, Hannah finished 34th out of the 156-player field in stroke play, earning a spot in match play before losing in the first round.
It was all a fun and exciting experience, but this year, there will be no need to rush around at the last minute.
That’s because the recent Arapahoe High School graduate earned medalist honors on Tuesday in the national Women’s Public Links qualifier at Saddle Rock Golf Course in Aurora.
In fact, Wood left nothing to chance in that regard as her 2-under-par 70 was the best score of the day by a whopping five shots.
“It’s the best feeling in the world,” she said of qualifying for the Publinks again. “Honestly, I love the idea of the Publinks. It’s my favorite tournament by far. And I would love to go to Washington. It’s always been on my bucket list. Especially since this is the last Publinks, it means the world just to qualify.”
Wood, who’s been part of the first two classes of the Hale Irwin Elite Player Program at CommonGround Golf Course, will be going to her fifth USGA championship — all coming in the last two years. She’s also made it to a USGA Women’s State Team, where she finished 11th individually last year, a U.S. Girls’ Junior, a U.S. Women’s Amateur and the 2013 Publinks.
This year’s Women’s Publinks is scheduled for July 14-19 at The Home Course in Dupont, Wash.
Wood, a University of Oklahoma signee, was one of four qualifiers on Tuesday at Saddle Rock. Also advancing to the national championship are three players who carded 75s: Taylor Dorans of Erie, Mikayla Tatman of Fort Collins, and University of Denver golfer Elyse Smidinger of Crofton, Md. (The four qualifiers are pictured above. From left: Smidinger, Wood, Tatman and Dorans.)
Twenty-two players entered the qualifying tournament, though three withdrew beforehand.
Wood, winner of the last two CJGA Tournament of Champions, was coming off a disappointing ending of her high school career at last week’s 5A state tournament. She birdied the final hole to get into a playoff, but three putted the first sudden-death hole to finish second to Rock Canyon’s Michelle Romano.
“I would much rather play in a USGA event,” Wood said. “Of course, I wanted to win state high school, but this is quite the honor. (USGA championships) are the best tournaments in golf. I adore the USGA tournaments and how they set them up, and the courses are just amazing.”
On Tuesday, the 18-year-old (left) made five birdies and three bogeys, finishing on a high note with birdies on 17 and 18. Coincidentally, she also won a high school tournament at Saddle Rock this year with a score of 70, though it was set up much more difficult on Tuesday.
“I had three 5-footers for birdie,” Wood noted. “My ball-striking was pretty good. It was solid — a few birdies, a few bogeys and I just hung in there.”
While all of Tuesday’s other qualifiers have competed in USGA championships before, Tatman will be making her debut in Washington, which will be the site of the final Women’s Publinks after a 38-year run. Also in July, the last men’s U.S. Amateur Public Links will be held. The USGA announced last year that it is discontinuing both championships.
“This is my first USGA event that I’ll be going to,” said Tatman, a redshirt junior-to-be on the Colorado State women’s golf team. “I really wanted this one. I’m very pleased.
“I was one stroke away last year (from a potential playoff at this qualifier). I’ve been close but I’ve never been able to break through. It doesn’t matter if it’s the U.S. Women’s Open or the Amateur or the Publinks; it’s still a national tournament. I’m just ecstatic right now. I really am. It’s special, too, to be able to go to the last one. We’re going to have fun, that’s for sure.”
Tatman, the 2011 CWGA Junior Match Play runner-up, had to dig herself out of a hole Tuesday to qualify. She was 4 over par through three holes, having gone double bogey, bogey, bogey. But she went 1 under the rest of the way and made a 25-foot birdie on No. 18.
“I’ve really been working on mentally staying in it,” she said. “It’s not ever over until your last putt drops on 18. I just kept that mindset and it worked out.”
Tatman, who attended Silver Creek High School in Longmont and played golf for Skyline, was happy to come through not only for herself but in honor of her dad, Lloyd, who passed away in 2012 after battling cancer.
“I’ve just been trying to come out here and play the best I can for him,” Mikayla Tatman said. “So this is very special.”
Dorans, a University of Wyoming golfer who posted four top-six showings in the 4A state tournament while attending Broomfield High, will be going to her first U.S. Women’s Publinks. However, she did play in the 2012 U.S. Girls’ Junior.
On Tuesday, Dorans overcame a double bogey on the third hole to punch her ticket to nationals.
“It’s really special (to qualify) because it’s the last one,” the 19-year-old sophomore-to-be said. “Being able to represent the public courses is an honor. (Qualifying for a USGA event) is unbelievable. They treat you so well and the courses they set up for you are great. It’s like, all your hard work has paid off.”
Dorans, winner of the 2011 CJGA Junior Series Championship, was happy with her solid performance Tuesday after she had struggled some in recent rounds.
“It’s good to have a good round under my belt,” she said. “I felt really good about today, especially coming off the last couple of rounds I had — which weren’t exactly what I wanted them to be. Playing solid today, with a lot of pars, felt really good.”
In her first Women’s Publinks qualifier, Smidinger had to sweat out advancing after being in very good position two-thirds of the way through her round on Tuesday. She was 1 under par through 12 holes, but bogeyed her next four before righting the ship to close with two pars.
“It’s exciting to go there and represent my school as well,” she said of DU. “And we’ll be a part of history in the last one, which is kind of exciting. I’m looking forward to it.”
This will be Smidinger’s fourth USGA championship, and she has the distinction of being one of the rare 64th seeds to beat out a medalist at the U.S. Women’s Amateur. That was in 2011, when she prevailed in a 5 players-for-1 spot playoff that earned her the final spot in match play. She then defeated co-medalist Jihee Kim in her first match before falling in the round of 32.
“That was a lot of fun,” said the two-time Maryland state high school champion. “Hopefully I can make it a little higher on the leaderboard (this time at the Publinks) so I don’t have to beat the No. 1 seed.”
U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links Qualifying
At Par-72 Saddle Rock GC in Aurora
QUALIFIED FOR NATIONALS
Hannah Wood, Centennial 70
Taylor Dorans, Erie 75
Elyse Smidinger, Crofton, Md. 75
Mikayla Tatman, Fort Collins 75
ALTERNATES (In Order)
Morgan Sahm, Centennial 77
Somin Lee, Centennial 77
FAILED TO QUALIFY
Jennifer Kupcho, Westminster 77
Paige Crawford, Colorado Springs 78
Molly Dorans, Erie 79
Tori Glenn, Castle Pines 79
Kayla Riede, Colorado Springs 79
Mary Weinstein, Highlands Ranch 80
Amy Chitkoksoong, Aurora 82
Jenni Chun, Lone Tree 83
Jaylee Tait, Littleton 83
Shanon Spinuzzi, Pueblo 83
Julia Kim, Aurora 85
Jennifer Hocking, Colorado Springs 94
Savannah Walker, Denver 100
Delaney Benson, Littleton WD
Sydney Gillespie, Highlands Ranch WD
Tonya Hardman, Highlands Ranch WD
