Seniors vying with Amateurs at Doherty women's golf championship
FORT LAUDERDALE — The Ione D. Jones/Doherty Women’s Amateur Championship not only has become one of the most prestigious tournaments for senior golfers, it’s also become one of the most beloved.
That’s why women 50 and older such as Vilma Sapp of Weston, Ann Fulginiti of Plantation, Evelyn Blackmon of Nashville, Tenn., and Liz Haines of Gladwyne, Pa., opted to play against golfers one half to one quarter of their age in Monday’s qualifier and Tuesday’s opening round of match play.
Because the Senior division of the 89th edition of the tournament at Coral Ridge Country Club had such a long waiting list to get into the 40-player field, with three quarters of those women having handicap indexes of 2.0 or less, the aforementioned golfers, all with higher handicaps, opted to compete in the Amateur division.
They thought there would be more seniors playing in the division, but it turned out that they were the only brave ones.
They knew it wouldn’t be easy playing matches on a longer course - the amateur division plays at 6,260 yards and the seniors play at 5,594 yards - against longer-hitting college and high school golfers. But they entered anyway, teed it up and gave it their best shot.
Three-time champion and top seed Alexa Pano, 17, of Lake Worth, closed out her match against Blackmon on the 10th hole to win 9 and 8. Fulginitti took Canice Screene of the United Kingdom, who plays for Boston College, to the 13th hole, losing 6 and 5. Haines gave Kayla Holden of Coral Springs all that the University of Tennessee player could handle before falling 3 and 2. And Sapp advanced to the 14th hole before losing 5 and 4 to the second-seeded Elle Nachmann of Boca Raton, who plays for the University of Pennsylvania.
“I was 14th on the waiting list,” said Sapp, a super-senior Doherty veteran who plays to a 5.1 handicap. By comparison, the 18-year-old Nachmann has a plus-6.2 index.
“It was our choice," Sapp added. "I hadn’t played 6,260 yards in eight years. But you know what? It was worth it to play the golf course. And it was an absolute thrill and honor to see such a lovely young lady. She’s got the most amazing attitude of a young lady I think I’ve ever seen.
“You know what? I got my money’s worth. I had the opportunity to play with her. I could sit home and mope and complain or I can come out and just enjoy life, so here I am.”
In the other Amateur matches, Peyton Costabile of Ayr, Ontario, beat Staci Pla of West Palm Beach 1 up; Samantha Perrotta of Bordentown, N.J., defeated Lea Zeitler of Austria 1 up; Brooke Oberparleiter of Jupiter won 5 and 4 over Marie Arnoux of Miami; and two-time champion Meghan Stasi of Oakland Park, seeded 11th, downed sixth seed Noelle Maertz of Clark, N.J., 3 and 2.
Terrill Samuel, who was the Senior division medalist with a 1-under-par 71, went 3 up in her match against Anna Schultz of Heath, Texas, then would lose a hole and win a hole before posting a 2-and-1 victory.
“At times we both played well and at times we didn’t, so it was a good match,” said Samuel, of Etobicoke, Ontario, who spends several months in Boynton Beach this time of year. She plays Diane Lang of Weston, a 1-up winner over Laura Carson of Vero Beach.
A three-time finalist, Samuel raved about the restoration of the Coral Ridge course done in 2020 by Rees Jones. That restoration included reshaping bunkers, elevating greens and tweaking their contours.
“The changes are really nice. I think it made the course fairer in certain spots,” she said, noting that approach shots used to run off the back and side of the 10th green. Shots also no longer run off the back of the 17th green.
Also advancing were two-time Senior champ Kim Eaton of Mesa, Ariz., a 1-up winner over Therese Quinn of Jacksonville, and 2011 champion Mary Jane Hiestand of Naples, who defeated Kathy Glennon of Naples 3 and 2.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Pano, Nachmann take on seniors at Jones/Doherty Women's Amateur and win
