TIGER'S NIECE CHEYENNE PIPPED BY ASHLEIGH'S BIRDIE-BIRDIE FINISH

FROM THE GOLFWEEK.WEBSITE
By Beth Ann Baldry
SEBRING, Florida – Cheyenne Woods isn’t sure if her uncle has heard of the Harder Hall Invitational, but she might consult him about her runner-up finish there.
“I might have to text him and get some tips on how to close out a tournament,” said Woods, a Wake Forest University junior and niece of Tiger, after she lost to Ashleigh Albrecht by one stroke over 72 holes. 
Albrecht, a sophomore at Kentucky and relative unknown, birdied Nos. 17 and 18 at Harder Hall Golf Club to pip Woods. Buoyed by a course record nine-under 63 in the first round, Albrecht shot even par on a picture-perfect day in Sebring to close with a 10-under 278 total.
“This is my first win since high school,” said Albrecht, No. 328 in the Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings.
Defending champion Kyle Roig had a chance to repeat until her putter went ice cold. Roig missed a 2ft par putt on the 16th hole to drop out of a share of the lead with Woods. She looked primed to regain ground after Woods hit her second shot into the water on the par-5 17th and Roig was pin-high in two.
Woods, however, knocked her sand wedge to 15 feet and saved par and Roig three-putted for bogey, missing a 1ft putt.
“I pretty much gave it away on the last three holes,” Roig said.
Albrecht pounced at the right time, getting up-and-down for birdie on the 17th and splitting the fairway up the last. She and Woods were squared heading into the 18th. Woods took a drop from the cart path onto pine needles and dirt. Her foot slipped on the downswing, and she had 25 feet left for birdie.
Meanwhile, Albrecht hit a wedge from 136 yards to 5 feet. After Woods missed, Albrecht stroked in her birdie putt, then went straight to her father, Jon, a California lawyer who nervously puffed on a cigar all day.
“It was difficult to watch,” said Jon, choking back tears.
Jon Albrecht signed up his daughter for monthly lessons after they moved to Bear Creek Golf Club, hoping she’d have a decent handle on a game she could play for life. Ashleigh humoured him, but took Tae Kwon Do (black belt) and volleyball more seriously.
As a freshman in high school, Albrecht realised she probably wasn’t tall enough to make it in volleyball and, at her father’s urging, played competitive golf for the first time. Albrecht never played in American Junior Golf Association tournaments, but she did win a play-off to qualify for the 2009 US Women’s Open.
“I just had fun this week, and it showed,” said Albrecht, who last week at the Dixie Amateur merely hoped she’d break 80, the rust was so thick.
Plenty of Sebring fans showed up to catch a glimpse of players whom they’ll see on TV in the coming years. The "Harder Hall," first event on Florida's Orange Blossom Tour for female amateurs in January, is a throwback tournament, held on a public course with no ropes.
Fans and players alike zip around in carts. Roving scoreboards are dry erase for a quick fix. There’s nothing pretentious about this event, now run by amateur legend Carol Semple Thompson, who won the senior title this weekend.
Twice during the back nine, an elderly man walked up to Woods with his flip phone and asked her to pose. She obliged, smiling as the man fumbled through taking the picture. Woods couldn’t have handled the inconvenience with more class.
“I’m not a professional, so who am I to shoo them away?” said Woods, who bears a strong resemblance to Tiger when she smiles. “Everyone has been so nice out here. I wanted to give them whatever they wanted.”
Of all the players in the final pairing, the one mostly likely to become an LPGA member first is Victoria Tanco from Argentina, who struggled mightily with a 79. Tanco, a two-time AJGA Player of the Year, plans to petition the LPGA to attend Q-School as a 17-year-old later this year, just like Jessica Korda did in 2010.
Tanco snapped her iron in half when she wrapped it around a skinny pine tree on the 13th. Despite the valiant approach, she bogeyed the hole. Her round in a nutshell.
Tanco and Albrecht will make their debuts in the South Atlantic Amateur next week at Ormond Beach. Roig, 17, needs to speak with her teachers first.

KELSEY MAKES TOP 20 IN FLORIDA FINISH


Scottish champion Kelsey MacDonald finished joint 17th in the Harder Hall Invitational, the first event on Florida's Orange Blossom Tour for women amateurs, at Sebring).
The 20-year-old Stirling University student and Nairn Dunbar GC member made the top 20 in a huge field, thanks to a closing round of one-under-par 71, her best of the four days and better than any of the top eight finishers achieved on Saturday.
Said Stirling University women's coach Lesley Mackay:
"Kelsey hit the ball much better on Saturday than in previous rounds and gave herself plenty of opportunities for birdies. It was a very solid round of golf in very windy conditions.
"Temperature here is around the high 60s to low 70s and everyone looking forward to next week's tournament, "The Sally" (South Atlantic Ladies Amateur Championship) at Oceanside Country Club."
Kelsey finished third in "The Sally" in 2009 and joint 14th last year.
MacDonald's earlier rounds at Harder Hall were 77, 73 and 76 and her total of nine-over-par 297 earned her a share of 17th place. Although Kelsey knows the Harder Hall Golf Club course from previous visits to the Orange Blossom Tour she and the rest of the Stirling University squad did not fly from Scotland to Florida until last Monday, leaving only one day to practise and get over jet lag.
Stirling team-mate Jordana Graham from Southerness finished on 320 with a final round of 76, one shot ahead of former Scotland junior international Rebecca Wilson (Grange, Monifieth) who had an 85 for 321.
Tennessee University student Rebecca Watson (Elie and Earlsferry) totalled 324 with a final round of 82.
Scottish girls cap Alyson McKechin (Elderslie), who starts at Stirling University in the autumn, had a closing 84 for 326.
Eilidh Mackay (Nairn Dunbar) signed off with an 81 for 336 and the final Stirling student, Harriet Beasley (Woburn) ended with an 83 for 340.
English Curtis Cup player Holly Clyburn (Woodhall Spa), runner-up in the Dixie Women's Amateur the previous weekend, finished joint fourth on 285 with a last-round 74.
Curtis Cup team-mate Leona Maguire, 16, from the Slieve Russell club, Ireland, finished a creditable sixth on her debut in the event. She had a last-round 74 for 287.
Charley Hull, a 14-year-old from Kettering, Northampton, finished a creditable 12th on 293 after a closing 73.
Leona Maguire's twin and fellow GB and I team player Lisa tied with Kelsey MacDonald on 297 after finishing with a 72.

LEADING FINAL TOTALS
Par 288 (4x72). Yardage 6,151.
Players from US unless stated.
278 Ashleigh Albrecht 63 74 69 72.
279 Cheyenne Woods 67 69 70 73.
281 Kyle Roig 67 73 68 73.
285 Holly Clyburn (Eng) 70 72 69 74, Erica Popson 67 73 73 72.
287 Leona Maguire (Ire) 72 69 72 74
288 Cydney Clanton 69 70 71 78, Victoria Tanco (Arg) 74 67 68 79.
Selected scores:
293 Charley Hull (Eng) 75 69 76 73.
297 Kelsey MacDonald (Sco) 77 73 76 71, Lisa Maguire (Ire) 74 75 76 72.
318 Carol Semple Thompson 78 79 81 80.
320 Jordana Graham (Sco) 82 76 86 76.
321 Rebecca Wilson (Sco) 84 74 78 75.
324 Rebecca Watson (Sco) 82 74 76 82.
326 Alyson McKechin (Sco) 84 78 80 84.
336 Eilidh Mackay (Sco) 86 84 85 81.
340 Harriet Beasley (Eng) 85 88 84 83.