57th Senior Women's Amateur |
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Teresa Cleland 2009 Women's Senior Champion
Sandra Wood 2009 Women's Super Senior Champion |
T - rrific at 57th State Senior ChampionshipThendara, N.Y. — Teresa “T” Cleland and Sandra Wood each entered the final round at Thendara G.C. with a three-stroke lead in their respective divisions. On Wednesday, Cleland and Wood used the three-stroke advantage to fend off former senior champions and capture the 57th Senior and 3rd Super Senior Championship, respectively. Entering Wednesday’s round with a lead created an interesting dilemma in Cleland’s gameplan. “You don’t want to protect a lead because you still want to play. I never mind in tournaments when I’m a couple shots behind because I can be aggressive but I certainly liked the lead,” says Cleland. Cleland started Wednesday’s final round off the back nine and picked up right where she left off on Tuesday in rattling off four straight pars, thereby giving her a score of even par through 22 holes of play between the two days. It wasn’t until a member of her own group made the comment, “Te, you’re a machine,” at the 13th green for Cleland to make her first bogey on the day one hole later. From there, she carded three bogeys at nos. 14, 15, and 16 but made par on 17 and 18 for a three-over-par score of 39 on the back. “It’s a tough back side. I thought, OK, I can get by with a 39 on the back and make some more pars on the front side,” says Cleland. Cleland, who plays out of Bellevue C.C., made the turn with a five-stroke lead over 2007 Senior Champion Jan LaVigne. Cleland would follow through on her thought process of making up ground on the front as she tallied her lone birdie of the day at the par-5 dogleg first hole, the same place where she made eagle the day before. However, LaVigne had the same intention of kicking it up a notch on the front and fired an eagle to cut the lead down to four strokes. At the par-5 second hole, it took Cleland three strokes to reach the green before a three-putt effort for a bogey. Meanwhile, LaVigne continued with her success on Thendara’s par-5’s with an eagle for a two-stroke swing and the lead dwindled to two strokes. LaVigne was unable however to keep up the momentum and played the remaining seven holes at five-over-par, including five straight bogeys to close her round. For the second time of the day, Cleland survived a stretch a three straight bogeys which came at nos. 6-8, all of which being par-4’s. By the time the lead group reached the 9th green, a full gallery of players created a semi-circle outside the clubhouse to watch the finale. Cleland did not disappoint the crowd as she nearly sunk a 15-foot downhill putt from the top of the hump to the back right pin location on the undulated green. She would tap in for par and tip her cap to the ovation of the crowd. Her two-day total of 152 was eventually good for a four-stroke victory. As we approach the last few days of August, Cleland continues to gear up for more events; three of which being on the national platform. A week prior to the state senior’s, Cleland was the low medalist at Lancaster C.C. with a three-over-par performance in the U.S. Senior Amateur Qualifier. Similar to the state senior’s, Cleland will be making her first appearance in the USGA event which will be hosted by The Homestead in Hot Springs, Virginia. Two days from now, Cleland will participate in a U.S. Mid-Am qualifier as she vies for her 3rd appearance in this event. “I love competing on the national level,” says Cleland. Last year, Cleland lost to the eventual Mid-Amateur champion Joan Higgins on the 17th hole. This year’s state senior champ was named to the State Team along with three-time Women’s Amateur champion Christy Schultz and Rene Sobolewski. The appearance will be Cleland’s second as she represented the state of New York two years ago in the biennial event. Meanwhile, a three-stroke lead was also good enough for Sandra Wood to capture the title in the super senior field. “I’m very proud and I’m really surprised,” says Wood on winning the super senior crown. “I had no idea when I came here that I would even have a chance to win.” The Ithaca resident gave herself a chance to win from the opening day with a 5-over-par 78, making her the only super-senior to break 80 that day. Wood, who plays out of Robert Trent Jones G.C., posted an 86 on Wednesday for a two-day total of 164. She closed the day with six straight bogeys but avoided registering a big number with just one double bogey on her first hole of the day. Wood used a birdie on the par-4 17th to separate herself from the field which included two-time defending champion Gail Brophy and former senior champion Sue Sims. At the 17th, Wood hit a perfect drive down the middle and knocked a 9-iron to within a foot from the cup for a tap-in birdie putt. Starting off the back nine, Wood entered the day with a wave of different emotions. “I was very nervous and very tentative,” says Wood. She had the intentions of posting a similar round to the day before where committed few mistakes and was pleased with her short-game play. However, she experienced a much different round from Tuesday’s round as she struggled with her putting but had a stronger day off the tee with driving the ball. “My driving and my shots to the green were a little better, but I put myself in bad locations. Yesterday I was always on the good side of the hole, putting up the hill but today I was on the bad side of the hole, having to putt down the hill,” says Wood. The tables will turn for this year’s super senior champ in a few weeks. Wood, who was appreciative of husband and PGA professional Dan Wood’s help in caddying all week, will be the one assisting her husband in the inaugural season of the Ithaca College women’s golf team. Wood will be the volunteer assistant at Ithaca in the launch of the school’s new athletic program. “If we can just get the whole team to break 100 and shoot in the 85-100 range, that would be the main goal,” says Wood. Submitted by Kevin Solan
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