University Place, Wash. – Makensie Toole of Australia shot a 2-under 71 to earn medalist honors over the 50-player field who competed today in U.S. Women’s Amateur qualifying on the par-73 Chambers Bay in University Place, Wash.
L to R: Darcy Habgood, Cassie Kim, Ellie Slama, Brooke Seay and Makensie Toole
Claiming the other four available spots in this qualifier are Brooke Seay of San Diego, Calif. and Ellie Slama of Salem, Ore., who both shot even-par 73; and Cassie Kim of Yakima, Wash. and Darcy Habgood of Australia, who both shot 1-over 74. Toole, the George Fox University freshman from New South Wales, got off to a hot start on the front nine, going bogey-free with three birdies to make the turn at 3-under. Although faltering on the back nine with three bogeys, she would tack on two more birdies on holes 13 and 16 to hold on for a first place finish. Toole has been successful in her home country of Australia as she was a member of the New South Wales Combined High School state team, which had gone on to win the 2018 Australian National Championship. Seay, a Stanford sophomore and two-time Women’s Golf Coaches Association All-American (2020, 2021), had two bogeys and two birdies on the day. Slama, a junior at Oregon State, is no stranger to the spotlight, being named the 2015 and 2016 PNGA Junior Girls’ Player of the Year, and the 2019 PNGA Women’s Player of the Year. Although Slama made double-bogey on the par-5 fourth hole, she finished strong, with four birdies on the card. Kim, a Gonzaga sophomore, had three bogeys and two birdies on the day. In 2019, Kim was co-champion for the individual title in the Girls’ Junior America’s Cup, helping Team Washington win its first gold medal in the cup’s history. Habgood, hailing from Nambucca Heads, Australia, is currently a junior at Washington State University. With a WAGR of 611, Habgood had a scoring average of 73.88 through 16 rounds across five tournaments in her 2019-2020 season as a Cougar. Habgood shot a 1-over 74 on the day, stumbling with a double-bogey on the par-3 17th, but doing enough with two birdies on the day to send her to New York.
Click here for complete final scoring of this qualifier. Toole, Seay, Slama, Kim and Habgood will now advance to the 121st U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship, which will be held August 2-8 at Westchester Country Club in Rye, N.Y. Alexa Udom of Portland, Ore. is first alternate from this qualifier, while Adithi Anand of Redmond, Wash. is second alternate. Washington Golf (WA Golf) is the local representative of the United States Golf Association (USGA) and conducted this qualifier for the 2021 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship. To be eligible, golfers must be an amateur with a Handicap Index of 5.4 or less.
