OSWGA Amateur: Reilly's putting game too
much for Caffrey
The 49-year-old fourth
seed will meet second-seeded Valerie Blinn in today's
finals of the
With Reilly on the green prepared to shoot for birdie on the final
hole, Caffrey ran into trouble. She failed to get the
ball on the green on her first three shots so she conceded and awarded the
match to Reilly.
"It was gracious of her to concede the match," Reilly
said. "I don't think I would have three-putted from the green. She is a
terrific kid and really an elite golfer. The strong suit for me today was the
putting. That was probably the most fun match that I've ever had in my
life."
Reilly, the fourth seed, will meet second-seeded Valerie Blinn in today's finals. Blinn
(Crestwood) scored a 4 and 3 victory over Jennifer Hendrick
(
Reilly and Caffrey were tied heading
into the 11th hole which Reilly birdied to win and go 1-up. Caffrey
evened it up by sinking a birdie putt for victory on the 12th, but Reilly
buried a 15-foot birdie putt on the par-3 13th to go back up by a hole. The two
then both birdied the par-5 14th.
"At that point we were both playing really good golf,"
Reilly said.
Reilly took a two-hole lead when she won the 15th hole with a putt
for par, but on 16, Reilly hit the ball into a bunker and bogeyed the hole. Caffrey birdied it to cut Reilly's lead to one.
"On the 17th hole, I had a putt for birdie that I should not
have missed," Reilly said. "That would have ended the match. She had
an exquisite par on that hole from jail. We halved the hole."
On the 18th hole, Caffrey chipped in an
eagle to win the hole and send the match into extra holes.
"We both had our opportunities in those last holes to close
it out but didn't," Reilly said.
Unlike the quarterfinal round where Blinn
struggled at the start of her match with Marisa White and trailed by three
holes after four holes of play, yesterday Blinn was
focused right from the start. She needed to be because Hendrick
was 1-under through the first nine holes. Blinn,
however, was 3-under.
Blinn won the first hole by sinking a short
putt for par, but after the two halved the second hole, Hendrick
tied it up when she rolled in a long birdie putt on the par-3 third.
The score remained deadlocked until the fifth hole which Blinn won when she buried a short birdie putt, but she
double-bogeyed the par-3 sixth, and Hendrick took
advantage, winning the hole with a short putt for par.
"After I made that double-bogey, my swing and everything just
started clicking," Blinn said. "I started
hitting the ball better, knocking down my targets a little better, and started
to narrow in on the pins. I felt like the golfer in me came out today."
Blinn recovered nicely on the par-4 seventh
which she birdied to win the hole and go 1-up. That was the beginning of the
end for Hendrick. Blinn won
holes 8-10, and 12 to take a commanding five-hole lead
and though Hendrick won the 14th hole which Blinn bogeyed, she would not win another hole.
"She played super," Hendrick
said of Blinn. "She had five birdies and was
just rolling in her putts. She only made one mistake. . . I'm not unhappy with
the way I played, Val was just rolling in the putts.
It was wonderful to see her play that well."
"She played great," Blinn said
of Hendrick. "She played solid golf and when you
get into these last couple of days, pars and birdies are what's
going to win it for you. She played great but I made (5) good birdies."
"The nice thing for me is that nobody expects me to
win," Reilly said about her matchup with Blinn. "Nobody expected me to win today either. It's
kind of a nice position for me to be in. I just have to go out and play my game
and keep putting well. I really think that's the key."