Maddie Szeryk Wins the Women's Western Amateur
Maddie Szeryk, the 2017 Women's Western Amateur champion
(WWGA photos)
ELMHURST, IL (June 17, 2017) -
Maddie Szeryk of London, Ontario Canada won the Women's Western Amateur Championship, with a 3&1 win in the final match at River Forest Country Club.
Szeryk, who just finished her junior year at Texas A&M University and who is a member of Canada's National Amateur Team, defeated Dylan Kim of Sachse, TX in the 36-hole final match. It was a well-played match, particularly in the morning round, where Szeryk had six birdies and had the equivalent of a five-under-par round to take a three hole lead into the afternoon. Kim too played well, making birdie on all four par threes in the morning round and shooting three under par.
But Kim, who finished her sophomore season at Baylor University but intends to transfer to another school, never got closer to two down from that point onward. Skeryk's lead was two holes with two to play, and when Kim could not win the seventeenth, she conceded the hole and the final margin was 3&1.
Both players shot one-under 143 in stroke play qualifying, second only to the medalist Allisen Corpuz of Waipahu, Hawaii.
They then proceeded to win five matches each to reach the final. In the semifinals, Kim beat Sarah White of Calrdonia, MI 5&4 while Szeryk birdied the eighteenth hole to hold off Sophia Schubert of Oak Ridge, TN.
ABOUT THE Women's Western Amateur
The The Western Golf Association (WGA) has
partnered with the Women’s Western Golf
Association to administer the
Women’s Western Amateur. Held without interruption
since 1901, this event is one of the
oldest annual championships in women’s amateur
golf. The list of past champions includes
current stars and legends of the LPGA TOUR,
including Ariya Jutanugarn (2012), Stacy Lewis
(2006), Brittany Lang (2003), Grace Park (1998),
Cristie Kerr (1995) and Nancy Lopez (1976).
The Women's Western Amateur is open to amateur
women who have an up-to-date 18-hole
handicap index
that does not exceed 5.4 under the World Handicap
System. The WWGA Committee limits the
field to a
maximum of 120 contestants.
The championship begins with 36 holes of stroke-
play qualifying, after which the field is cut to
the low 32
players for match play. In the event of a tie for the
32nd position, a sudden-elimination playoff
will determine
the final match play qualifiers. Five rounds of 18-hole
matches will decide the Women's
Western Amateur
champion.
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