By ANNE MARIE TOBIN
When it comes to having a good day, it just doesn’t get any better than the one 20-year-old Hannah Ghelfi of East Falmouth had at Myopia Hunt Club. On August 3, the University of Michigan rising sophomore won the 114th Massachusetts Women’s Amateur Championship at the historic South Hamilton course.Ghelfi was 3-down with10 holes to play but rallied to defeat 16-year-old Angela Garvinof Feeding Hills 2-up in the final.
Ghelfi had a little help from a Michigan alum who knows a thing or two about miracle comebacks.
“Before the match, I was hoping that Tom Brady would drive me to victory because he’s the head cover of my driver and it’s his birthday,” said Ghelfi.
Ghelfi secured the win on the 18th hole, drilling an 8-iron from 126 yards to within 3 feet of the hole.
Garvin’s approach shot sailed over the green. With no green to work with, Garvin ran her chip shot 15 feet past the hole. In a classy move, Garvin picked up Ghelfi’s ball marker, conceding the birdie, and then congratulated the new champ.
“She (Garvin) was great to play with, she made a lot of short putts early,” said Ghelfi. “I love the golf course, but the greens are just so difficult, you knew it would come down to who could make the short putts. With a course like this, you have to think just Fairways and greens and, when you miss, you have to put it where you can recover, otherwise you are in big trouble.”
That’s putting it mildly. Legend has it the Myopia greens were so severe that a player in one of the four U.S. Opens held at the club from 1901-1908 is said to have putted his ball off the fourth green … and lost the ball.
In the semifinal round earlier that day, Ghelfi defeated Butter Brook’s Tracy Martin 5 & 4 while Garvin,the reigning WGAM Junior Player of the Year,
advanced with a 2 & 1 win over two-time champion Claire Martin. 2016 champion Jacquelyn Eleey was the only player in the field of 71 to match par in the qualifying round, shooting 73 to win medalist honors. Garvin and Ghelfi were one shot back at 74.
In the President’s Cup flight, Elizabeth Corcoran defeated Caroline Schemecker 4 & 2.
Several players with North Shore ties played in the championship, most notably Myopia member and 2016 New England Amateur champion Katie
Barrand of Beverly. She qualified with a 78, then defeated Emily Nash in the round of 32 but fell to Shannon Johnson 2 & 1 in the round of 16. Rockport’s Abby Hood shot 80 and was ousted in the second round. She defeated Jacqueline Gonzalez 2 & 1 in the first round, then lost to
Jennifer Keim 3 & 2.
Winchester CC member Tracy Welch, a two-time champion, made the cut with an 81, but lost in the first round to Megan Buck 3 & 2.
Salem CC member Diane Carter shot 86 to make the cut by two shots, but was eliminated in the first round by Johnson 7 & 6.
In the Presidents Cup, Bass Rocks member Jenny Ceppi shot 95 and advanced to the semifinals, where she fell 1-down to Schemecker.
Two-time champion Karen Richardson of Ould Newbury shot 102 and was eliminated in the round of 16 by Linda Goulet 3 & 2.
The Meadow of Peabody’s Abigail Taney shot 107 and lost in the first round to Danielle Lee 3 & 1.
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