Thursday Notebook: Bolger Heats Up Chilly Women’s Mid-Amateur Final

By David Shefter, USGA

West Point, Miss. – Cold.

Rainy.

Damp.

Windy.

Miserable.

All are ample descriptions of the uncomfortable weather conditions that were dealt to the two finalists of the 2006 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur at Old Waverly Golf Club on Thursday morning.

Thuhashini Selvaratnam tried her best to stay dry in Thursday's final. (Steve Gibbons/USGA)

No, it wasn’t quite a frozen tundra. But you would have loved to hear how legendary NFL Films announcer John Facenda might have orally opined the situation.

“On a drizzly, unbearable morning in rural northeastern Mississippi, Meghan Bolger and Thuhashini Selvaratnam, the last remaining survivors of this national championship for women 25 and older, trudged through an ugly October autumn morning filled with bone-chilling wind and biting drops of rain in search of golfing glory.”

Or as Jeff Hall, the USGA’s director for the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur, appropriately stated: “The gift shop here is called the Fore Seasons and we’ve had all of them this week.”

Indeed. Spectators were bundled up in raingear to stay dry. Selvaratanam wore a mitten on her left hand to keep the circulation going. USGA officials even had gloves on. The interior of the Old Waverly Golf Club is littered with golf paintings from famous Scottish courses and it felt like St. Andrews in the fall.

Well, there was a little warm relief for the locals who braved the elements to watch the final. Meghan Bolger, the 28-year-old women’s golf coach at the University of Mississippi, did her best to overcome the nasty conditions to deliver a 5-and-4 victory over Thuhashini Selvaratnam of Sri Lanka.

Whether it was her New Jersey upbringing – she was raised just outside of Philadelphia in Haddonfield, N.J. – or the experience of playing in all kinds of conditions while a player at Tulane University, Bolger almost seemed oblivious to the 50-degree temperatures and a wind chill that made it seem about 10 degrees cooler.

While Selvaratnam also competed in adverse conditions as a student at Arizona State in the late-1990s, she now resides in Tempe, Ariz., where the weather is much warmer and drier.

“I was hitting longer and longer clubs each time,” said Selvaratnam. “[The rain] was miserable. I’m happy that it was not pouring down. It could have been worse. But both me and Meghan had to deal with it and she did better.”

Bolger’s performance was downright balmy. She hit 11 of 14 greens and had just two three-putts – on one and three – in shooting the equivalent of one over par with the usual match-play concessions. In all six matches this week, Bolger shot even-par 36 on the front nine and for the time in six outings, she lost the opening hole only to win the second.

Meghan Bolger endured the nasty elements quite well in Thursday's Women's Mid-Amateur final. (Steve Gibbons/USGA)

“She played a lot of college golf and you are out there all the time [in tough conditions],” said Bolger’s father/caddie, Michael. “They don’t have too many cancellations [for the weather], so I think that had a lot to do with it. And the other part is she’s an athlete. She played all different sports and knows how to cope with things and knows how to get things done.”

In high school, Bolger starred in basketball, soccer and golf, receiving scholarship offers from Division I school in all three. She settled on golf and Tulane, where she enjoyed a fruitful four-year career before moving on to become an assistant coach at Ole Miss. A year later, at the age of 23, she became the youngest Division I head coach for any sport in not only the Southeastern Conference, but also the NCAA.

Dealing with players, scheduling and all the other duties a head coach must endure, certainly has made Bolger mentally stronger, especially when you have to compete in adverse conditions.

“The weather was a lot better than I thought it was going to be,” she said. “And I’ve played in a whole lot worse. You play in everything [in college]. That’s what I’ve been doing for the last 10 or l1 years of my life, so we’ve seen a lot.

“I was prepared for anything. I have a great caddie … and he made it a lot easier. I think I hit him in the head about 10 times with the umbrella. But we had good chemistry going and a really good routine getting to the ball and being prepared [to play my next shot].”

Bolger didn’t have too much time to celebrate the title as she was quickly off to Auburn to be with her team, which begins a tournament on Friday. Then again, you can bet the team has a little party in store for its coach upon her arrival. Well, sort of.

“I don’t know where this came from, but I guess I owe them a cake,” said Bolger. “We have a lot of team dinners. We’re able to share those, so I guess I’m making a cake. I like to cook.”

This week, Bolger had the right recipe for Old Waverly, the unusually cold weather and her Women's Mid-Amateur opponents.

Better Luck Next Year

With Bolger winning this championship in her adopted home state of Mississippi, Selvaratnam was asked about playing the 2007 Women’s Mid-Amateur in her adopted state of Arizona.

In fact, Selvaratnam is a member at next year’s home site, Desert Forest in Carefree, Ariz. Not only will she have a small home-course advantage, but the weather likely will be a bit warmer.

“It’s interesting,” she said. “I’m not going to put pressure on myself, saying that it’s in Arizona at my home club. I know there was a lot of hope [here] that someone from Mississippi [would win] and I’m sure there’s going to be a lot of hope for someone from Arizona to do well next year, too.”

On The Radar?

Bolger was asked if she will try to play more events in an attempt to make a run at the 2008 USA Curtis Cup team. Winning national championships never hurts a person's chances of making the eight-woman squad for the biennial Match. The short answer is Bolger will try to play as many competitions as she can fit into her busy calendar.

“I’m going to play the Doherty and the Dixie Amateur this winter,” said Bolger. “I have played the Southern [Amateur], the North and South, the Eastern.”

Bolger can also make room on the competitions calendar for the next two U.S. Women’s Amateurs now that she is exempt for the 2007 event at Crooked Stick in Carmel, Ind., and the ’08 championship at Eugene (Ore.) Country Club. She also has an exemption from local qualifying for the next three U.S. Women’s Opens. Bolger would love to qualify next year for Pine Needles since her parents own a home in the Pinehurst, N.C., area and are members at nearby Country Club of North Country.

She also is exempt for the next 10 Women’s Mid-Amateurs, but she’ll have to make sure not to schedule any tournaments for her Ole Miss team for those weeks.

“It’s still very exciting right now,” said Bolger. “It’s new. Seeing my name in the exemption [categories] is cool. I qualify for the [Women’s] Am … and that’s even more exciting because I just love match play.”

Selvaratnam also is exempt into the 2007 U.S. Women’s Amateur and the next five U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateurs.

David Shefter is a USGA staff writer. E-mail him with questions or comments at dshefter@usga.org.