Federal Way, Wash. - Mallory Kent of Tukwila, Wash. went wire-to-wire to win the 20th Washington State Women's Amateur, while Lisa Smego of Olympia, Wash. won her third Senior Women's Amateur title at the 14th Washington State Senior Women's Amateur. Both championships are conducted by the Washington State Golf Association, and were held concurrently at Twin Lakes Golf and Country Club in Federal Way, Wash.
Kent, who just completed her junior year at Washington State University, carded a final round 4-over par 76 to win by one stroke. She led the championship the first and second rounds, but going into the final round this afternoon she got off to a rough start on the front nine going 4-over par and losing her lead in the championship. But Kent, who favored the back nine all week long, shot even par on the back nine and made her way back to the top of the leaderboard to win by one stroke over Jordan Ferreira of University Place. "It was definitely a rough start on the front nine, but I was able to get it back going on the back nine holes. I had a few chances at birdies which ended up being easy pars" said Kent. "It was really my ability to get up and down for pars this week that won me the championship" she added.
Kent's head coach for the WSU women's golf team is Kelli Kamimura, who won this championship in 2001. Kent is looking to use this momentum as she prepares for the U.S. Women's Amateur qualifier and the Pacific Northwest Women's Amateur. Watch Kent's interview here.
Lisa Smego of Olympia, Wash. battled through very wet conditions in the morning to run away with the Senior Women's Amateur. She carded a final round of 8-over par 80 to win by seven strokes. This will be Smego's third Senior Amateur title; she also won in 2006 and 2007. Her low round of the week was yesterday, when she carded an impressive round of 2-over par 74 to give herself a comfortable four stroke lead going into today's final round. "It was very difficult conditions today out there, because if you missed the green you had to chip over casual water because we have had so much rain. I did some things that made my day a whole lot harder, but I did manage to still shoot an 80 and that was enough to win and I am very grateful for this victory" said Smego. Next on Smego's championship schedule is the PNGA Women's Mid-Amateur in July "I am looking forward to playing in the PNGA Women's Mid-Amateur at Wine Valley, it's one of my favorite golf courses on the West Coast" said Smego. Watch Lisa Smego's interview here.
Shots From the Championship
The Washington State Women's Amateur is the state's premier amateur championship for women golfers, and traditionally attracts the region's finest players. Past champions have gone on to make their mark in the golf community, and include Paige Mackenzie (2002), a member of the University of Washington Athletic Hall of Fame who finished her senior year ranked the No. 1 golfer in the nation by Golfweek, and who currently plays on the LPGA Tour; Kelli Kamimura (2001), a former four-time high school state champion and All-American at the UW, who now is the head coach of the women's golf team at Washington State University; Jimin Kang (1999), who was the runner-up at the 1999 U.S. Women's Amateur while still in high school, and who now plays on the LPGA Tour; Molly Cooper (1997 & 2000), who was the medalist at the 2000 U.S. Women's Amateur qualifier, and who now is the Director of Tournament & Member Programs at the Pacific Northwest Section PGA; and Erynne Lee (2011), who was selected the WSGA Women's Player of the Year in three consecutive years, made it to the quarterfinals or better of the U.S. Women's Amateur three times, and is now a rising star on the UCLA women's golf team.
The format for both championships called for 54 holes of stroke play.
