Christie Austin and Laurie Steenrod have enjoyed their share of statewide success in individual competition, each having won multiple CWGA championships of that type and qualifying for national USGA events.
But put them in team tournaments, and they’re particularly a force with which to be reckoned.
On Sunday, the pair teamed up to win their second CWGA Chapman Championship in the last three years. Combined, Austin and Steenrod have now captured titles in at least 23 CWGA team events over the years — whether it be in the Chapman, Brassie, Mashie, Club Team or the now-defunct CWGA/CGA Mixed.
The two have had several different partners for their many CWGA team victories over the years, but it’s only in the Chapman that they’ve paired together to win. They prevailed by a whopping 20 shots two years ago, and after Austin didn’t play last year, the two added to their trophy collections Sunday at Haymaker Golf Course in Steamboat Springs. (Pictured above, Steenrod is in yellow and Austin in pink.)
This time, though, was a lot — A LOT — closer than in 2013. In this year’s competition, Austin and Steenrod edged first-round co-leaders Deb Hughes and Sue Davis by one and the other first-day co-leaders, Liz Kennedy and Sally Lawrence, by three.
Austin and Steenrod shot an even-par 71 on Sunday — improving on their first-round total by a whopping eight strokes — en route to a 36-hole tally of 8-over-par 150. Hughes and Davis were left runners-up in the championship flight for the second consecutive year despite a 73 on Sunday, which gave them a 151 total. They made three birdies on the day, but a double-bogey 7 on the ninth hole hurt their cause. And in an event in which every championship flight team improved its score from round 1 to round 2, Kennedy and Lawrence used an eagle and a birdie to post a Sunday 75 to check in at 153.
The format for the Chapman calls for both players from a team to tee off, play their partner’s ball for the second shot, then select which ball to play alternately into the hole from there.
Austin and Steenrod made three birdies on Sunday — including one after driving the green on the 221-yard, par-4 eighth hole and two-putting — but better play down the stretch and improved putting helped them knock eight shots off their first-day total.
“Both Laurie and I talked about what happened yesterday. We both sort of lost our focus (at the end),” said Austin, a three-time CWGA senior champion who was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame earlier this year. “We bogeyed four of the last five holes yesterday. When we got to that stretch today, we were 2 under to that point. And we were like, ‘We are not going to lose our focus.’ There are some very difficult holes coming down the stretch. We played really well (today on that stretch). We bogeyed a couple of the holes, but we were proud of the fact that we were still hitting quality shots.”
And the flatsticks were a lot more friendly on Sunday than on Saturday for the pair.
“The big improvement was putting,” said Steenrod, winner of the 1995 CWGA Match Play and the 2011 Senior Match Play. “We (eliminated) the three-putts and we ran in two long ones. That was a big difference. There’s no question we missed greens today, but we got up and down.”
That includes on the last hole, which made the difference between a victory in regulation and going to a playoff with Hughes and Davis.
“We could have easily been under par had a few more little putts fallen,” Austin said. “I think we were very, very happy with the way we played. Our short games were good, chipping was good, putting was good. All in all, the quality of our golf was better.”
For scores from all six flights of the Chapman, CLICK HERE.
