Championship News September 23, 2015

Burkey and Smego Victorious at 16th Washington State Women's Best-Ball

The duo of Ginny Burkey of Eugene, Ore. and Lisa Smego of Olympia, Wash. shot rounds of 67-71 for a two-day total of 138 in winning the 16th Washington State Women's Best-Ball Championship. The pair had also won this title in 2013.

Ginny Burkey (L) and Lisa Smego, winners of the 16th Washington State Women's Best-Ball Championship.

The championship was held at the RMG Club at Oakbrook in Lakewood, Wash. and was conducted by the Washington State Golf Association (WSGA).

Burkey and Smego finished three shots ahead of the team of Kelly Gardner of Gig Harbor, Wash. and Kim Titus of Anacortes, Wash. Gardner and Titus had won this championship last year, when they held on for a one-shot victory over Burkey and Smego. This year, Burkey and Smego got off to a fast start, setting the pace with a 5-under-par 67 in yesterday's first round and then cruising home with a solid 1-under-par 71 in today's final round.

Last week, Burkey and Smego had paired together to win the 33rd Pacific Northwest Women's Senior Team Championship, held at Sunriver (Ore.) Resort. It was the second year in a row they had won that title. Earlier this summer, Burkey won the 16th Washington State Senior Women's Amateur.

"Well, as I said earlier, we've known each other since the beginning of time," Smego said with a laugh. "We team well together and we try to pull each other up when things are going so well, and I think that's the key aspect of team competitions, that you're supporting each other all the time."

Of their finish this year over last year's champions, Smego said, "Yes, we lost by one stroke last year (to Titus and Gardner). We had played better in the second round but they had gotten out to such a big lead that we couldn't catch them. This year, we kind of did the same thing to them - we built a good early lead and they weren't able to catch us in the final round."