FORMER CHAMPIONS THROUGH TO US SENIOR WOMEN'S LAST EIGHT

FROM THE USGA WEBSITE
By Rhonda Glenn, USGA
Chattanooga, Tennessee  – Two former champions from Texas, Anna Schultz of Rockwall and Mina Hardin of Fort Worth, won their third-round matches to advance to the quarterfinals of the 2011 USGA Senior Women’s Amateur at the 5,876-yard, par-72 Honors Course.
Schultz, 56, played a brilliant approach shot to the 18th green to edge Leigh Klasse, 51, of St. Anthony, Minn., 1 up. Hardin, the defending champion, defeated Brenda Pictor of Marietta, Ga., 5 and 4.
Leading 1 up at the 18th hole, Schultz drove into a divot deep in the left rough. From the middle of the fairway, Klasse hit the shot she had to have, an iron to within 5 feet of the hole. Schultz used a 6-hybrid club to slam her ball out of the divot.
“That’s gonna be pretty good,” Schultz said. Her ball took several bounces and curled to a rest 15 feet past the flagstick. When she calmly rolled in the putt, the match was hers.
“It’s fun when you can pull off shots like that because you don’t practice them that much,” said Schultz after the match.
Hardin eased past Denise Desilet of Wichita, Kan., 4 and 2, and then regrouped during the lunch break to face Pictor in the third round.
“I was a little discombobulated this morning,” Hardin said, “then I went to the range and all the gears fell into place. My irons lasered in this afternoon.”
With the usual match-play concessions, Hardin was two over par for the 16 holes of her match with Desilet and two under par for 14 holes against Pictor, who battled illness in the afternoon.
Schultz, who won in 2007, and Hardin are the only two remaining past champions in a field that once boasted seven. Four-time champion Carol Semple Thompson of Sewickley, Pa., and the 2004 winner, Carolyn Creekmore of Dallas, lost in the second round. Thompson lost to Pictor, 4 and 3. Creekmore fell to Terri Frohnmayer of Salem, Ore., 1 up.
The medalist (leading qualifier), Lisa Schlesinger, 53, of Laytonsville, Md., ended the hopes of Cheryl Grigg, 54, of Sea Island, Ga., 5 and 3.
Schlesinger outhit Grigg by more than 60 yards from the tee and Grigg said she was unable to take advantage of Schlesinger’s few mistakes. “I played my own game but I just didn’t execute,” Grigg said.
Kim Eaton, 52, of Greeley, Colo., sent Peggy Brady, 63, of Denver, N.C., to the sidelines, 5 and 3. The match was all square when Kim discovered a putting flaw on the sixth green. “I moved a bit closer to the ball and started putting better,” Eaton said.
Eaton went 1 up with a par on the seventh, 2 up with a conceded birdie on the ninth, and rolled in a 15-foot birdie putt on the 11th hole to go 3 up. She closed out the match on the par-4 15th hole. “I was so happy to drive it in the fairway there,” said Eaton. “I’ve lost a lot of golf balls on that hole. In stroke-play qualifying, I made an 8!”
Nancy Smith, the 63rd qualifier, continued her run of victories with a 4-and-3 win over Maggie Leef of Brookfield, Wis. Smith, 64, is the oldest of the quarterfinalists. “I’m excited,” Smith said. “I never thought I’d even qualify this year, so it’ll be fun to play in the quarterfinals.”
Susan Rheney, 52, of Greensboro, Ga., defeated Pat Brogden, 57, of Garner, N.C., 5 and 3. Frohnmayer, 55, of Salem, Ore., ousted 1972 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion Mary Budke, 57, of Palm Springs, Calif., 4 and 3.
Budke, a longtime Oregon resident, said she had won a 36-hole match against Frohnmayer in the final of the Oregon Women’s Amateur many years ago, but couldn’t remember which year. “I just remember that it was hard, very hard.”
Budke has been excited to return to competitive golf after retiring last year from her career as an emergency room physician, but isn’t accustomed to playing double rounds as she did Tuesday.
“I did not play well this afternoon,” Budke said. “I drove it poorly and I’m a little bit pooped.”
In Wednesday’s quarterfinal matches, Schlesinger will face Mary Jane Hiestand, 52, of Naples, Fla. Hiestand outlasted Kathy Kurata, 50, of Pasadena, Calif., winning on the 19th hole. Eaton will play Frohnmayer and Smith will go against Schultz. Hardin will play Rheney.

RESULTSHonors Course, Chattanooga, Tennessee. Par 72. Yardage 5,876
Round -- (Round of 16)
Lisa Schlesinger, Laytonsville, Md. (139) def. Cheryl Grigg, Sea Island, Ga. (154), 5 and 3
Mary Jane Hiestand, Naples, Fla. (160) def. Kathy Kurata, Pasadena, Calif. (151), 19 holes
Kim Eaton, Greeley, Colo. (152) def. Peggy Brady, Denver, N.C. (157), 5 and 3
Terri Frohnmayer, Salem, Ore. (157) def. Mary Budke, Palm Springs, Calif. (152), 4 and 3
Nancy Smith, North Port, Fla. (163) def. Maggie Leef, Brookfield, Wis. (153), 4 and 3
Anna Schultz, Rockwall, Texas (160) def. Leigh Klasse, St. Anthony, Minn. (151), 1 up
Mina Hardin, Fort Worth, Texas (148) def. Brenda Pictor, Marietta, Ga. (153), 5 and 4
Susan Rheney, Greensboro, Ga. (160) def. Pat Brogden, Garner, N.C. (150), 5 and 3

QUARTER-FINAL PAIRINGS ON WEDNESDAY
8 a.m. Lisa Schlesinger, Laytonsville, Md. (139) vs. Mary Jane Hiestand, Naples, Fla. (160)
8:10 a.m. Kim Eaton, Greeley, Colo. (152) vs. Terri Frohnmayer, Salem, Ore. (157)
8:20 a.m. Nancy Smith, North Port, Fla. (163) vs. Anna Schultz, Rockwall, Texas (160)
8:30 a.m. Mina Hardin, Fort Worth, Texas (148) vs. Susan Rheney, Greensboro, Ga. (160)

EARLIER REPORT FROM RHONDA GLENN

Chattanooga, Tennessee – Medalist (leading qualifier) Lisa Schlesinger of Laytonsville, Maryland, advanced to the third round of match play in the USGA Senior Women’s Amateur at the 5,876-yard, par 72 Honors Course, Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Two former champions, Carolyn Creekmore of Dallas and Carol Semple Thompson of Sewickley, Pa., were sent to the sidelines. Creekmore, 59, lost to Terri Frohnmayer, 55, of Salem, Ore., 1 up. Brenda Pictor, 56, of Marietta, Ga., defeated Thompson, 4 and 3.
Schlesinger, 53, defeated Frances Gacos, 56, of Flemington, N.J., 4 and 3, and faces Cheryl
Grigg, 54, of Sea Island, Ga., this afternoon. Grigg defeated Sandy Woodruff of Santa Cruz, Calif., 2 and 1.
Gacos went 1 up with a birdie at the second hole and held the margin through six holes, but Schlesinger won the seventh, eighth and ninth holes to take a 2-up lead into the second nine. Schlesinger’s birdie on the par-4 10th hole gave her a 3-up edge. She won the 12th with a par to go 4 up and closed out Gacos on the 14th green.
Grigg and Woodruff exchanged holes in an up-and-down match that ended on the 17th green. “It was back and forth all day,” said Grigg. “I started on the slow side but then I started bringing it on and rolled in some putts.”
Grigg and Woodruff halved only three holes of the match. Grigg was 3 up after 14 holes when Woodruff won the 15th with a par and the 16th with a birdie to narrow the margin. But Grigg was dormie two, and her par closed out Woodruff on the 17th green.
“I know I have to play my game against Schlesinger,” Grigg said. “I know she bombs it about 100 yards past me off the tee, so I can’t worry about that. I just have to play my game.”
In 1968, Peggy Brady, 63, of Denver, N.C., was a national champion. She won that year’s U.S. Girls’ Junior title but has competed little since. Tuesday morning she defeated another nationally-known player, Pat Cornett, 57, a two-time Curtis Cup player from Mill Valley, Calif.
Brady and Cornett showed some of their old fire in their return to national competition. Cornett won the first hole with a par but neither held more than a 1-up lead throughout the match. After 16 holes Brady was 1 up but Cornett evened the match at the par-5 17th with a birdie.
“I hit that wedge shot to a tough hole location and put it five feet from the hole,” Cornett said. “I was proud of that.”
With the match all square, Brady had a good chance to end it on the 18th. To a front hole-location she hit a towering 7-iron to within 5 feet of the hole. Cornett struggled, hitting a squirrely little iron shot some 10 yards short of the green. Playing quickly, Cornett lobbed a beautiful pitch to within 1 foot of the hole and her par 4 was conceded. Brady misread the putt and halved with a 4.
Forced to play extra holes, they went to the 19th. Cornett’s drive was slightly pulled and kicked off a hillside into the left fairway bunker. Brady’s tee shot was on the edge of the fairway to the right, but she had a nice angle into the flagstick, which was on the left side of the green.
Cornett hit a fine iron shot out of the fairway bunker, her ball ending about 10 yards to the right of the green.
Brady is lithe but tremendously strong. She cuts off the follow-through of her swing but she has powerful hands and gets good clubhead speed. Using a 25-degree hybrid, she smacked yet another approach shot right at the hole and it settled some 10 feet away.
“The shots on the 18th and the 19th were the two best shots I hit all day,” Brady said.
Cornett chipped some 12 feet past but made the putt for a par. Brady had the birdie putt for the match. “I just tried to hit a good putt and prayed,” Brady said.
Her putt dropped for a birdie and the win, 1 up. Brady faces Kim Eaton of Greeley, Colo., in the third round.
Andrea Kraus, 50, of Baltimore, Md., was playing in her first USGA Senior Women’s Amateur. In her match against Maggie Leef, 51, of Brookfield, Wis., Kraus was 7 up after the 11th hole when she was disqualified. Kraus’ caddie had a short string of yard attached to his divot repair tool that he used to judge wind direction. It was a violation of Rule 14-3b, which stipulates that a player may not use any artificial device “for the purpose of gauging or measuring distance or conditions that might affect his play.”
A Rules official spotted the infraction. The penalty for breach of Rule 14-3b is disqualification and the match was awarded to Leef.