Marianne Li with Washington Women's Amateur trophy
(Washington Golf Association Photo)
SEQUIM, WA (June 23, 2016) -- Marianne Li of
Bellevue, Wash. won the 23rd Washington State
Women's Amateur, Alison Murdoch of Victoria, B.C. won
the 7th Washington State Women's Mid-Amateur, Lisa
Smego of Olympia, Wash. won the 17th Washington
State Senior Women's Amateur and Karen Madison of
East Wenatchee, Wash. won the 3rd Washington State
Super Senior Women's Amateur.
The four championships were held concurrently at
Sunland Golf & Country Club in Sequim, Wash. and
were conducted by the Washington State Golf
Association (WSGA). The Women's Amateur and Mid-
Amateur championships were contested over 54 holes
of stroke play, while the Senior and Super Senior
championships consisted of 36 holes of stroke play.
Li came from behind in today's final round to win by
two shots over second-place finisher Lauren Atkinson of
Bow, Wash. The outcome was decided when Atkinson
double-bogeyed the par-4 16th and Li birdied the par-3
17th.
"It was great to play in the final group with
Lauren," Li said. "I didn't have my 'A' game and was
shaky off the tee and on the greens, but I grinded hard
out there and played smart." Li's 25-foot birdie putt on
17 came after Atkinson's birdie attempt missed.
Li just finished her freshman year playing for the
University of California-Berkeley, and qualified as an
individual for last month's NCAA Women's
Championship, held at Eugene (Ore.) Country Club.
Li was the top-ranked junior golfer in Washington
while at Newport High School, qualifying for five USGA
national championships and winning the 2014 Pacific
Northwest Junior PGA Championship. She was a
semifinalist in the 2012 Pacific Northwest Junior Girls'
Amateur, which was also held at Sunland G&CC. She
now joins an elite list of past champions of the
Washington State Women's Amateur - Paige Mackenzie
(2002), Erynne Lee (2011), Jimin Kang (1999), and
Kelli Kamimura (2001), among others.
Murdoch also came from behind to win the Mid-
Amateur by three shots over Shawn Farmer of Renton,
Wash. and Leslie Folsom of Tukwila, Wash. Folsom has
won this championship in 2012 and 2013.
"I must say this is quite a bit of a surprise to me,
given the strength of the other players in the field,"
Murdoch said. The momentum changed in the final
round at the ninth hole. "I pushed my drive into the
trees," she said, "and then I actually skipped my second
shot across the water, then chipped onto the green and
sank a 40-footer for a par, and I thought, 'Well, okay,
you're still in this thing, so let's keep plugging away."
Murdoch was inducted into the Pacific Northwest
Golf Hall of Fame in 2013. She is a five-time PNGA
Senior Women's Player of the Year. She has twice won
the Washington State Senior Women's Amateur (2010,
2014).
In the Senior Women's Amateur, Smego sank a 20-
foot par putt on the first playoff hole for the win.
This is the fourth title in this championship for
Smego, having previously won in 2006, 2007 and 2013.
She has also twice won the Washington State Women's
Mid-Amateur (2010 and 2011).
"I'd been having some back problems," Smego
said, "but my good friend Ginny (Burkey) was nagging
me to come up and play. So I came up (to Sequim) and
stayed together. I had a pretty good week, but I can't
say that anyone played particularly well today; I'm not
sure why, because the course was set up fairly, but the
scores just weren't out there today."
Paired with Kathy Provazek-Ross of Mercer Island,
Wash. in the final round, Smego said she knew she was
close to the lead in the end, and was offered to be told
what the scores were while playing the last few holes.
"But I declined," she said. "I knew Kathy was playing
well on the back nine, so I wasn't surprised to learn that
she and I were in the playoff."
Smego defeated Provazek-Ross in the playoff, after
Kathy had bogeyed the par-5 18th hole in the final
round to fall into a tie with Lisa.
Madison was the only player in the Super Senior
Women's field to break 80 in both rounds, and found
herself seven shots clear of second-place finisher Carol
Dick of Lakewood, Wash. who had won this
championship in 2014.
"Well, this is a great event," Madison said. "It's a
great opportunity for those of us over 65 to be able to
compete in it, so thanks to the WSGA for this. (Sunland)
is a beautiful course, the greens were very fast."
Madison had only played the course just once prior
to the championship, in the practice round. "I didn't hit
very many greens in regulation," she said, "but I did
chip and putt pretty well, and I hit a lot of fairways,
which is important on a course like this."
Last year, Madison won the Pacific Northwest Super
Senior Women's Amateur, on her way to earning the
2015 WSGA Senior Women's Player of the Year honors.
View results for Washington Women's Amateur & Mid-Amateur