Worldwide field seeks Women's Western Am title

Writing from Frankfort, Illinois

Friday, July 17, 2020

The Women’s Western Amateur has played through a pair of world wars and is now about to play through its second pandemic. Few other tournaments on the planet’s golf calendar can boast that, and none have the stature of the Women’s Western Am.

This will be the 120th soiree, all in a row, and despite the inconveniences of the day, from masks to relative isolation, should be one befitting the pedigree of the past.

This is, effectively, a good chunk of an LPGA field five or six years from now. One is tempted to tout the combatants who will take to the Prestwick Country Club course in the manner of a ring announcer, but more than four corners are needed.

There’s Antonia Matte of Santiago, Chile, who was runner-up in last year’s Women’s Western Am at Royal Melbourne in Hawthorn Woods. There’s Erica Shepherd of Greenwood, Ind., and Duke University, who already has two USGA titles – including the 2017 U.S. Girls Junior – to her name.

There’s Tristyn Nowlin of Richmond, Ky., the Illinois grad who was runner-up at Mistwood in the 2018 Women’s Western Am. From closer to home comes Lemont’s Lauren Beaudreau, the Notre Damer who captured the IHSA Class 2A title in 2019 and has already set records for low tournament score for the Fighting Irish. And don’t forget Sarah Arnold of St. Charles, last year’s Illinois Women’s Amateur champion.

It’s a worldwide field, including players from Guatemala, Peru, Spain, Japan and Canada, along with Matte, the Chilean. Handicaps range from plus-4 up to 5.

“Given all the (pandemic) conditions, this is the best field we’ve ever had,” said Susan Buchanan, the WWGA’s tournament chair. “They’re looking for something to play in, because so many tournaments have been canceled.”

Buchanan, from Athens, Ga., was in the Prestwick clubhouse on Friday, organizing the tournament headquarters. By the weekend, the field, fittingly totaling 120, will have joined her at Prestwick, located on the far south side of Frankfort, a leafy, sprawling suburb on the south edge of the metropolitan area. You don’t have to go far from Prestwick to find cornstalks growing robustly after a spring of heavy rains. Superintendent Tim White, who worked on Dave Ward’s crew at Olympia Fields during the 2003 U.S. Open, has the rough up as well.

The course dates to 1964, a Larry Packard design that fits snugly into a residential community of golf lovers, many of them members. It’s not long by tournament standards – only 7,024 yards from the tips – but need not be for the ladies, who will play from a maximum of 6,374 yards to a par of 72.

A Prestwick member contemplates his approach options on the uphill par-4 13th hole, the first of the course's six difficult finishing holes. (Tim Cronin / Illinois Golfer)

Prestwick member Tim Gowen’s guided tour revealed the course may be largely between homes, but the residences don’t come into play for anyone. Packard fashioned a shot-placement course where one must think before taking out the driver on the tee, or taking aim on the second shot.

The par-4 16th is a great example. Likely a 369-yard test for the ladies, the tee shot appears to lead to a left-hand dogleg. Instead, it leads to a right-hand dogleg and a moderately narrow green. And that hole follows the No. 4 and No. 2 handicap holes on the course, and before that the uphill 342-yard par-4 13th, making for six really solid tests in a row coming home.

There are birdies out there, especially for the long hitters, but woe on anyone who is above the hole on an approach or on the wrong side of the many hogbacks running through the middle of the putting surfaces. They’re subtle, but they’re there, and if the greens are up to speed – 11 might be the magic number – par will be a meaningful score in the qualifying session, and “You’re away” will be the last thing someone wants to hear in match play.

Hostilities commence Tuesday with the first of two qualifying rounds. The top 32 players after 36 holes begin match play on Thursday morning. The championship match, trimmed to 18 holes last year, is set for Saturday morning. The winner and runner-up are expected to be invited to play in the U.S. Women's Amateur, which will also have its 120th playing this year.

– Tim Cronin