The Washington State Golf Association has announced the team that will represent Washington State in the 10th USGA Women's State Team Championship, to be held on the South Course at NCR Country Club in Kettering, Ohio from September 17-19.
Seattle's Leslie Folsom, Denise Kieffer of University Place and Shawn Farmer of Bellevue, Wash. have been selected based on their standings on the WSGA Performance Points List, compiled over the last two years (August 1, 2011 - August 1, 2013).
Earlier this summer, Folsom defended her title in the Washington State Women's Mid-Amateur Championship, having also won it in 2012. She also recently won the 2013 WSWGA State Championship, and finished runner-up in the 2013 SWGA City Championship, a title she won in 2012. Folsom qualified for the 2012 U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur, and made it to the Round of 32. She was selected the WSGA's 2012 Women's Mid-Amateur Player of the Year.
Kieffer won back-to-back titles in the PSWGA Championship, winning in 2011 and '12. She was the medalist at the 2012 USGA Senior Women's Amateur Qualifier, and ultimately made the Round of 64 in that championship. She finished runner-up (behind champion Folsom) in the 2013 WSWGA State Championship, and earlier this summer was a semifinalist in the 2013 PNGA Women's Amateur.
A veteran in competing in USGA national championships, Farmer qualified for the 2011 U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur, where she made it to the Round of 16, and was the medalist at the 2012 U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur Qualifier and would eventually make it to the Round of 64 in that year's championship.
All 50 states and the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico may enter teams of three players. Eighteen holes of stroke play are scheduled for September 17-19, with the two lowest of the three individual scores counting as the team's score for each day's round. The team with the lowest aggregate score through 54 holes will win the title.
The competition, as well as the Men's State Team Championship, grew out of the United States Golf Association's centennial anniversary in 1995. USGA officials believed that a new championship, one in which each state could be represented by amateur, non-college golfers, was an appropriate way to cap the USGA's year-long birthday celebration. The competition proved to be such a success that the Association decided to continue conducting the championship biennially.
The format was fashioned after the biennial World Amateur Team Championship, which involves three-person teams in a 3-count-2 stroke-play format. State associations were given a variety of options in which to select its team members.
In 2009, the USGA decided to hold the Men's State Team and Women's State Team competitions at separate sites, and beginning in 2010, the schedule was changed to have the competitions alternate years, with the Men's State Team Championship conducted in even years and the Women's State Team in odd years.
Opened in 1954, NCR Country Club was created by Stanley Allyn during his tenure as president of National Cash Register (NCR) as a world-class recreational facility for NCR employees. The club has previously hosted the 1986 U.S. Women's Open, the 1998 U.S. Mid-Amateur and the 2005 U.S. Senior Open.
