Courtney Dow breaks through at the fourth annual NCGA Women's Mid-Amateur
Courtney Dow (right) (NCGA Photo)
Courtney Dow's mission to keep improving her game resulted in some hardware.
Dow, a 26-year-old Texas native now living in Los Angeles, carded a final round 1-under 70 Sunday at Poppy Hills to come from two shots back to defeat defending champion Catherine Kim and win the 4th annual NCGA Women's Mid-Amateur Championship.
For Dow, who made the trip north with her husband, Collin, it was her first win since playing collegiately at Texas A&M.
"It feels really good," said Dow, who finished with a 36-hole total of 3-under 139. "I just want to keep putting in work. This was another event to get the competitive juices flowing."
In 2023, Dow made her mid-am debut at the U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur at Stonewall in Pennsylvania. During the stroke play qualifying portion of the event, she'd post the competitive course record (64) on Stonewall’s North Course. The 64 was also the 18-hole stroke play record at the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur, besting a 66 by Jennifer Peng in 2021.
At Poppy Hills, she carded a front-nine 35 with three birdies to catch Kim. A birdie later on the par-3 15th gave Dow a two-stroke lead with three holes to play. While Dow bogeyed the 16th to let Kim get a within a shot, the two would both play their final two holes at even-par, giving Dow the one-shot victory.
Kim, who only picked up golf four years ago, would card a final round 73 a day after a tourney-low 67.
"I played pretty well tee to green and gave myself a lot of chances," Dow said. "I avoided any major trouble, and lots of risk. I managed to leave myself a lot of tap-in putts."
Third place went to 2023 NCGA Women's Player of the Year Lauren Gebauer at 144 after a final round 71.
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ABOUT THE NCGA Women's Mid-Amateur
The NCGA Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship was
created in 2021 as a partner of
the annual NCGA Mid-Amateur Championship. Open
to all NCGA female members
who have reached their 25th birthday on or before
the first day of the tourament
and have a numeric handicap index listed on their
club’s master report of 14.4 or
less on the date of registration. The championship
will be 36 holes stroke play (18
holes per day).
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