MGA Women's Amateur Championship Fact Sheet

• 2019 MGA Women's Amateur Round 3
• 2019 MGA Women's Amateur Round 2
• 2019 MGA Women's Amateur Round 1

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The MGA Women’s Amateur Championship
Town & Country Club – Saint Paul, Minn., July 23-25, 2019
 
GENERAL INFO/FORMAT – The 2019 MGA Women’s Amateur Championship will be held at the Town & Country Club, Tuesday through Thursday, July 23-25. The Championship Division (for players with USGA Handicap Indexes of 7.4 or lower) will play 54 holes of stroke play, while the Flighted Divisions (for players with USGA Handicap Indexes of 7.5 and higher) will play 36 holes of stroke play. A tie for the Championship will be broken by a hole-by-hole playoff.
 
The MGA Women’s Amateur champion’s name will appear on the Patty Berg Memorial trophy.
 
LIVE SCORING ON THE WEB – Live Scoring will be available on the MGA web site www.mngolf.org.
 
TOWN & COUNTRY CLUB OFFICIALS – President Bradley Kahley; Vice President Phil Haan; Treasurer Linda Heuer; General Manager Bob White; PGA Golf Professional Tom Skoglund; and Golf Course Superintendent William R. Larson.
 
TOWN & COUNTRY CLUB AND WOMEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP GOLF – Although Town & Country was host to the inaugural Minnesota Women’s State Amateur Championship in 1915, won by member Eleanor Lightner, it was conducted as match play. The state’s first women’s stroke-play championship (the precursor to today’s MGA Women’s Amateur Championship), was held in 1939. Town & Country hosted the 1940 Women’s Stroke-Play Championship, won by Minnesota Golf Hall of Famer Gertrude (Boothby) Dansingburg with a score of 241, and subsequent stroke-play championships in 1942 (Betty Sims, 249), in 1958 (Minnesota Golf Hall of Famer Bea Barrett, 236), and in 1973 (Joan Nesset, 236).

The Town & Country Club was established in 1888 making it one of the oldest golf clubs in America, and more importantly, establishing its membership as the earliest adopters of the new-fangled game of golf in Minnesota. Author Rick Shefchik credits George McCree, a transplanted Scotsman, with the original nine-hole layout, circa 1893. Later iterations of the course were designed by E.J. Frost (c. 1895), and Robert Foulis (c. 1898). By 1907, Town & Country featured Minnesota’s first 18-hole golf course to whom the club credits member, MGA President (1902-1903) and the 1902 MGA Amateur runner-up, Ben Schurmeier, as the architect, (“From Fields to Fairways: Classic Golf Clubs of Minnesota,” University of Minnesota Press, 2012, pp. 1-21).  

LAST YEAR’S CHAMPIONSHIP – Trailing by two shots after the second round, New Prague Golf Club’s Taylor Ledwein aimed to shoot even-par during the final round and take her chances. Helped by a string of birdies to start her back nine, Ledwein did two strokes better by posting 2-under-par 72 to claim the 2018 MGA Women’s Amateur Championship and a four-stroke victory over Natalie Roth, Sophia Yoemans and Grace Kellar, July 25 at White Bear Yacht Club.
 
THE FIELD – This year Taylor Ledwein returns to defend her Minnesota Women’s State Amateur title amongst a formidable field of challengers including former State Amateur Champion Kate Smith, Detroit Country Club (2017).

Ledwein, of New Prague, is a former Minnesota State Junior Girls’ champ (2016), a two-time Class AAA High School individual champ, 2015-2016, the 2018 MGA Women’s Match Play champ, and a senior on the women’s golf team at Bradley University, Peoria, Ill.   

Joining Ledwein in pursuit of the Patty Berg trophy are accomplished competitors  including the two-time MGA Junior Girls’ Player of the Year (2015-2016), two-time State High School Class AA medalist (2016*-2017), and the 2015 Minnesota State Junior Girls’ champ, Anni Heck (Southview CC); a quarterfinalist at the 2017 and 2018 MGA Women’s Amateur Match Play, and the 2017 Ms. Minnesota Golf, Stephanie Herzog (Mississippi National GL); the 2019 MGA Women’s Match Play champ, Grace Kellar (Olympic Hills GC); the 2018 Ms. Minnesota Golf and 2018 Women’s Western Golf Association’s National Junior champ, Janice Kim (Edinburgh USA); the 2017 State High School Class AAA co-medalist, Joanna Kim (Timber Creek GC); the 2011 Minnesota Senior Women’s Match Play and 2015 Senior Women’s State Amateur champ, Brenda Williams (Windsong Farm); three-time State High School medalist (Class AAA, 2017*; Class AA, 2018-2019), and two-time MGA Junior Girls’ Player of the Year (2017-2018), Sophia Yoemans (Mississippi National GL); and the 2018 State High School Class AAA medalist, Kathryn VanArragorn (Minnesota Youth on Course).
* co-medalist

CLUB TEAM EVENT – The MGA Women’s Amateur Championship includes a team competition during the first two rounds (MGA member clubs are represented by two-to-four golfers whose two best net scores are totaled). Ties are broken by a matching of scorecards, per the Official Guide to the Rules of Golf, see Section 5A(6) of the Committee Procedures.  
 
Last year, Olympic Hills GC (Alexa Hanson, Emma Groom and Grace Kellar) posted 290 to win the team competition. 
 
Championship Flight Course Set up – 6,121/6,159 yards, par 36-37--73
 
Hole #1 – 324 yards, par 4       Hole #10 – 372 yards, par 4
Hole #2 – 110 yards, par 3       Hole #11 – 150 yards, par 3
Hole #3 – 163 yards, par 3       Hole #12 – 510 yards, par 5
Hole #4 – 479 yards, par 5       Hole #13 – 270 yards, par 4
Hole #5 – 337 yards, par 4       Hole #14 – 200 yards, par 3
Hole #6 – 460 yards, par 5       Hole #15 – 518 yards, par 5
Hole #7 – 350 yards, par 4       Hole #16 – 501 yards, par 5
Hole #8 – 353 yards, par 4       Hole #17 – 496 yards, par 5
Hole #9 – 396 yards, par 4       Hole #18 – 132/170 yards, par 3
Out           2,972 yards   36      In        3,149/3,187 yards   37
 
Course and Slope Rating:       75.9/135
 
Flights’ Course Set up – 5,339 yards, par 36-37--73
 
Hole #1 – 314 yards, par 4       Hole #10 – 316 yards, par 4
Hole #2 – 100 yards, par 3       Hole #11 – 134 yards, par 3
Hole #3 – 132 yards, par 3       Hole #12 – 450 yards, par 5
Hole #4 – 404 yards, par 5       Hole #13 – 250 yards, par 4
Hole #5 – 315 yards, par 4       Hole #14 – 170 yards, par 3
Hole #6 – 392 yards, par 5       Hole #15 – 419 yards, par 5
Hole #7 – 289 yards, par 4       Hole #16 – 455 yards, par 5
Hole #8 – 313 yards, par 4       Hole #17 – 408 yards, par 5
Hole #9 – 359 yards, par 4       Hole #18 – 119 yards, par 3
Out           2,618 yards   36      In               2,721 yards   37
 
Course and Slope Rating:       71.5/125
 
ELIGIBILITY – To enter the MGA Women’s Amateur Championship, a player must be an associate member of an MGA club and have a USGA Handicap Index of 7.4, or lower, for the Championship Division, or 7.5 and above for the flighted divisions, at the time of entry. 
 

PAIRINGS/NOTICE TO COMPETITORS