By Julie Williams
Hannah O’Sullivan needed only to protect her four-shot lead on Sunday
to break a 20-year-old Symetra Tour record. But O’Sullivan, a
16-year-old amateur from Paradise Valley, Arizona came out of the gate at Longbow
Country Club in Mesa, Arizona, with two birdies in her first three holes.
She added two more to finish the front nine, and became all but
untouchable.
O’Sullivan cruised to a four-shot victory at the Symetra Tour’s season-opening Gateway Classic, posting a final-round 3-under 69 for a 15-under 201 total.
She becomes the youngest winner in the history of the USA's No 2 ladies' pro tour which used to be called the Futures Tour. Hannah breaks an age record set by Cristie Kerr in 1995 when Kerr won the Ironwood Futures Classic as a 17-year-old.
O’Sullivan also becomes the first amateur winner since Kellee Booth in the 1999 Pacific Bell Futures Classic in Riverside, California.
For O’Sullivan, the Symetra victory comes after a year that included several milestones. She committed to play college golf for the University of South Carolina in 2014, was a semi-finalist at the U.S. Women’s Amateur and a member of the victorious U.S. Junior Ryder Cup team at Blairgowrie last September.
O’Sullivan also owns the Arizona high school state championship titles from 2013 and ’13
O’Sullivan’s performance in Mesa suggests a successful career ahead of her, especially in college. Among the pursuers that O’Sullivan was able to hold off were a handful of former top collegians – Italy's Giulia Molinaro, a former Arizona State player who was second individually at the 2013 NCAA Championship, and Stephanie Kono, formerly the top player at UCLA, among them.
Haley Italia finished runner-up to O’Sullivan at 11 under, and Molinaro was three shots behind that.
TO VIEW ALL THE SCORES
CLICK HERE
O’Sullivan cruised to a four-shot victory at the Symetra Tour’s season-opening Gateway Classic, posting a final-round 3-under 69 for a 15-under 201 total.
She becomes the youngest winner in the history of the USA's No 2 ladies' pro tour which used to be called the Futures Tour. Hannah breaks an age record set by Cristie Kerr in 1995 when Kerr won the Ironwood Futures Classic as a 17-year-old.
O’Sullivan also becomes the first amateur winner since Kellee Booth in the 1999 Pacific Bell Futures Classic in Riverside, California.
For O’Sullivan, the Symetra victory comes after a year that included several milestones. She committed to play college golf for the University of South Carolina in 2014, was a semi-finalist at the U.S. Women’s Amateur and a member of the victorious U.S. Junior Ryder Cup team at Blairgowrie last September.
O’Sullivan also owns the Arizona high school state championship titles from 2013 and ’13
O’Sullivan’s performance in Mesa suggests a successful career ahead of her, especially in college. Among the pursuers that O’Sullivan was able to hold off were a handful of former top collegians – Italy's Giulia Molinaro, a former Arizona State player who was second individually at the 2013 NCAA Championship, and Stephanie Kono, formerly the top player at UCLA, among them.
Haley Italia finished runner-up to O’Sullivan at 11 under, and Molinaro was three shots behind that.
TO VIEW ALL THE SCORES
CLICK HERE
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