Mass Women’s Amateur: Molly Smith Earns Stroke Play Medal; Field Set For Match Play

For Immediate Release: August 15, 2023

DEDHAM, Massachusetts – After two days of battling the tough challenge presented by the Dedham Country & Polo Club, it’s safe to say that the 32 players who advanced to play in the 120th Massachusetts Women’s Amateur Championship are relieved to be able to move their focus on fighting each other.

A shower of rain in the morning put a damper on Tuesday’s start, but it cleared in the afternoon making life easier for the late starters. That’s the case with Westford’s Molly Smith (Vesper Country Club) as he separated the field and earned medalist honors with a 2-under-par 68 in the second round for a 3-over 143. For the second year in a row, Smith will join him in match play . older sister Morgan Smith19, the defending champion, and younger sister Maddie Smith15, who won the Massachusetts Girls’ Junior Amateur Championship two weeks ago.

“It definitely feels good to play well today,” said Molly Smith, 18, who will attend the University of Central Florida this fall. “After yesterday seeing myself play well on this golf course, it shows that I know I can do it going forward.”

The top-seeded Smith will lead the Round of 32 matches at 7:30 on Wednesday morning as he faces. Jillian Johnson (Hatherly Country Club). The winners will advance to the Round of 16 in the afternoon. The quarterfinals and semifinals are scheduled for Thursday, and the 18-hole final match will begin at 7:30 Friday morning.

Online: Championship Central | LeaderBoard- | Photo Gallery | Past champions

Smith made a pair of bogeys early in the round but played the final 15 holes 4-under, including a bogey-free back nine. Smith closed the front with a birdie on the 9th and made his last on the Reverse Redan par-3 17th, becoming the only player to shoot under par.

“It rained during my warm-up, but it softened the greens, so [it was] it’s a little bit easier to hit it today than it was yesterday,” Smith said.

Smith also praised her younger sister as the family continues to make its mark on the state’s golf scene.

“This is the first summer where she’s committed to trying to play competitive golf,” Molly said of Maddie. “He definitely improved the game.”

Molly Smith won medalist honors in the Mass Women’s Amateur honors for the first time. (David Colt)

Team meetings for the University of Virginia women’s golf team begin Friday, but if all goes well for Needham’s Rebecca Scholar (Pine Brook Country Club) he’s in Dedham instead. Skoler, the 2022 runner-up, has yet to make many appearances on the local golf scene this summer. But he didn’t want to go back to Charlottesville without going to the championship.

“I told my coach I should play in the Mass Women’s Amateur,” said Skoler, who shot a 75 on Tuesday with a bogey-free 1-under on the front nine. “I’m happy to be here and so close to home. It was great to have so many family friends come out and watch this weekend. I really like local events, so it’s always a privilege to come out here.

Skoler has been right in the hunt in each of the last three years. Before the final game last year, Skoler was a semifinalist in 2020 and won a medalist before falling in the quarterfinals in 2021.

“It’s definitely a big motivator for me,” Skoler said. “I haven’t won yet so that means the world to me. To be able to compete against such a strong field is amazing.

Rebecca Skoler is determined to make it back to the final game this year. (David Colt)

The rain is hardly affected Mekhala Costello on Tuesday, as evidenced by the fact that he chose to go sans-rain gear (minus the gloves). With two solid days of hitting the ball, Costello shot 73-75–148 to advance to the tournament for the third year in a row and earn a second consecutive top-five finish in stroke play.

It’s as if this moment has been building up all summer for Costello. After this week, she will take a reprieve from golf as she begins her senior season on the Canton High School girls soccer team.

“I have nothing to lose,” Costello said after Tuesday’s round. “I just said ‘Okay, I’m just going to find more pins.’ I made some ups and downs and then I got a lot of birdie times, which was nice. It was much less stressful than yesterday, which was good. “

Costello has missed the Round of 32 the past two years, but following some advice from those closest to him, he hopes to make a longer run this year.

“I’m really going to try to stay strong and not go up and down in that round, so hopefully it’ll be better than the last two years,” said Costello.

Mekhala Costello got the No. 2 seed in match play. (David Colt)

said Billerica Reva Machanavajhula There was already a lot of pop in her swing at the age of 13. The smooth swinging lefty decided to take a big step by competing in the Mass Women’s Amateur for the first time but more than she held. He scored 80-83-163 to clear two strokes.

“I think I played better than I expected myself to play. I gave myself a cutline of 80 or 85 in two days, which I did so I’m very happy about that,” said Machanavajhula, a three-time winner of the Junior-Mite Division of the Massachusetts Girls’ Junior Amateur Championship.

Machanavajhula said playing the course for the past few days has been a pleasure. Membership in Youth on Course, which gives players 18 and younger to play golf at participating courses across the country for $5 a round, is perhaps more valued than anyone else in the entire field. the opportunity than him.

“Any chance I get to play some nice courses I’ll play,” he said. “The greens are my favorite part here because it’s hard, but if you put yourself in the right spots, it’s easier.”

Watch: Round 2 Video Highlights

remarkable

Here’s more news from Day 2 of the Massachusetts Women’s Amateur Championship.

  • Start times were delayed 30 minutes this morning due to rain.
  • Of the 32 players who made match play this year, 19 advanced to the match play portion last year at Orchards Golf Club in South Hadley.
  • The only two siblings to win the Mass Women’s Amateur are Hall of Famers Harriot and Margaret Curtis, the latter of whom won back-to-back titles in 1907 and 1908. Neither Margaret nor Harriot won the title in a year after that. their brother. victory.
  • Tate Hadges (Thorny Lea Golf Club), a senior captain of the Holy Cross women’s golf team, won the Osgood Memorial Cup which is awarded to the player with the Low Net score in stroke play. Hadges, who reached the quarterfinals last year, shot a net score of 67 in the second round to lose. Madison Smith in one.
  • Dean Emerson, who caddies on the PGA Tour for Davis Thompson, was in Morgan Smith’s bag on Tuesday. Emerson, a member of Lowell-based Vesper Country Club, featured in the cover story of the latest edition of MassGolfer Magazine.
  • Rio Pearlstein (Blue Hill Country Club) and Stacey Freda (Andover Country Club) each made an eagle during Tuesday’s second round. Pearlstein carded a 3 on the par-5 4th, while Freda birdied the par-4 8th.

quote

  • I don’t really like wearing my rain jacket. I can’t just swing, and play soccer, you play in the rain. Sometimes it rains and it’s windy and cold. To be honest, it probably helped me a little because it wasn’t a bad time. — Mekhala Costello to choose to play without rain gear.
  • I know Jordan Spieth does it with shorter putts, but my dad thinks everyone should try it, especially in practice because it’s so good. I like to practice this, looking down the hole or looking at your target to try to get your velocity down. When you focus on your target, your brain matches that speed. Sometimes if I’m not super confident with the green speed, I look at the hole and I feel like I hit it better if I do that. — Rebecca Schoolerwith his atypical putting approach of looking at the hole instead of the ball on longer putts.
  • It’s like working in construction now. — Big Mercedeswho played in the first group on Tuesday facing the heaviest rain.
  • It’s really exciting because my goal in the tournament is to make a game play. If I can do it…then I just play for fun afterwards. — Reva Machanavajhula

The Social Scene