Ocean State Women's Amateur: Knock on wood; Fortune smiles down on
Murphy
BY PAUL KENYON
Journal
Sports Writer
FOSTER
-- Only in match-play golf can there be a turnaround as dramatic as the one
Katherine Murphy and Jennifer Hendrick lived through
yesterday at Foster Country Club.
For
a few seconds, Murphy felt as if all was lost after she hit her tee shot on the
second extra hole of her quarterfinal match against Hendrick
in the R.I. Women's State Amateur, sponsored by the Ocean State Women's Golf
Association.
"I
thought I was gone," Murphy said. "I was going to go get another ball
and hit my second shot."
Using
a fairway wood on the 270-yard, par-4, a dog-leg left, Murphy had pulled her
tee shot into a section of trees. Murphy hit a provisional, but didn't need it.
As she said later, "I got lucky."
Her
ball ricocheted off the trees and down the fairway. Instead of being out of the
hole, she was in great shape. She made routine par from there, which turned out
to be enough to pull out the exciting victory when Hendrick's
five-footer for par slid past the hole.
The
20-hole decision moved Murphy into this morning's semifinals along with fellow
teenager Samantha Morrell of
Reilly
provided the day's big surprise, ousting medalist
Amanda Sabitoni of Alpine Country Club, 5 and 4. Blinn, from Crestwood, topped home-course favorite Beth Ellinwood,
4 and 3, and Morrell won the final three holes to beat Donna Warner, 3 and 2.
The
Murphy-Hendrick match was the one that provided the
day's excitement. It was wild throughout.
"I
played super on the front and she played super on the back," is the way Hendrick summed it up.
Wanumetonomy's
Murphy, a recent Portsmouth High grad who is headed to Penn State, won the
first hole, but Hendrick stormed back and was 4-up at
the turn. Murphy was struggling.
"I
wasn't feeling very well going to 10 and my caddy, Bridget Druken,
said, 'You're just as good as her. If you play your own game, you'll be all
set.' It was all mental for me," Murphy said. "I stayed calm after
that."
Murphy
won the 10th to start her rally. The key, Hendrick
felt, was the par-5 14th.
"I
parred, but she birdied," Hendrick
said. "That was the big hole."
Still,
Murphy did not pull even until the 18th, which she won after Hendrick hit her tee shot out of bounds. On the first extra
hole, both made clutch, par-saving putts, first Murphy from 12 feet, then Hendrick from six feet, to keep the contest going.
When
the trees were kind on the 20th, Murphy had the victory. She will take on
Reilly in the semis. Reilly, as is her style, played steadily and took
advantage of putting problems by Sabitoni to
eliminate the medalist. Reilly had a 4-up advantage
by the turn and never let go.
The
other semi also will pit a teenager against a veteran, although the
"veteran" in that pairing, Blinn, is not exactly aged.
"I'm
25 now so I'm a veteran?" she quipped. "I didn't know I was
old."
She
certainly is proven. Blinn already has won the event
three times. Even though she is playing less this year as she helps run the
insurance business that was run for so long by her late father, she still
figures to be the player to beat. She blitzed Ellinwood with an early six-hole
lead. Even even losing three holes in a row did not
prevent her from registering her 4-and-3 decision.
Morrell,
15, showed the poise of a veteran in topping Warner. Warner long has been one
of the state's best putters. But this time it was Morrell who made the key
putts. Morrell had not been happy with her work on the greens when she shot a
78, finishing second in qualifying.
"I
went to Button Hole after we played and spent about an hour and a half working
on my putting, mostly short putts," she said. She found something.
"My
putter really helped me today," she said. "I made every short
putt."
Warner
was impressed with the newcomer, who will be a junior at North Kingstown High
this fall.
"She's
a very nice young lady and a good player," Warner said.
Morrell
ended the match in style, hitting her 9-iron approach on the par-4 16th within
12 feet and draining the downhill putt for bird.
The
semifinals in all divisions will be played this morning and the 18-hole finals
in the afternoon.