Notebook: Ladden Gets Memorable Win Over 7-Time USGA Champion Thompson

By David Shefter, USGA

Carefree, Ariz. – Laura Ladden listed on her media bio sheet for the 2007 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur that her most memorable match came at the 1996 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Firethorn Country Club when she took then-Arizona State All-American Grace Park to 21 holes before losing.

Laura Ladden took out fellow Pennsylvanian Carol Semple Thompson in the first round Monday at Desert Forest. (John Mummert/USGA)

After what happened Monday at Desert Forest Golf Club, she might have a replacement.

The 31-year-old from Coatesville, Pa., knocked off fellow Pennsylvanian and women’s amateur golf icon Carol Semple Thompson, 58, of Sewickley, Pa., 1 up, in the first round of match play.

Ladden, a 1999 Penn State graduate, built a 4-up lead after eight holes, only to watch it slip it entirely away. In fact, Thompson won four consecutive holes from No. 11 to take a 1-up lead before Ladden recorded a winning birdie at No. 15 to square the match again. Ladden regained a 1-up lead at the par-3 17th.

“I was just having trouble focusing that whole back nine,” said Ladden. “I was backing off a lot of shots.”

That included a 5-foot bogey putt at 18 to halve the hole and win the match. She backed off once and went over the line again with caddie/husband Mike before stroking the ball into the middle of the hole. It was the first time Ladden had beaten Thompson in match play.

“She’s awesome,” said Ladden. “You can never count her out. I knew [being 4 up] wasn’t enough and it wasn’t. I had some putting issues on the back nine and I finally got them under control.

“It was nice to beat her today. She’s a great competitor and I have a lot of respect for her.”

Thompson was happy to make a match out of it after playing poorly over the first eight holes. She had a chance to force extra holes, but missed a 10-foot downhill par putt that she had to back off twice from due to a car alarm going off in the distance. Thompson chuckled a moment before focusing at the putt.

“I just hit a weak putt,” said Thompson, a seven-time USGA titlist and two-time winner of the Women’s Mid-Amateur (1990 and ’97). “I didn’t go for it. I think I had the right line. I just didn’t hit it hard enough.

“I’m a little disappointed. But that’s the way it goes. I haven’t been playing well this summer. Hopefully I will pull myself together for next year.”

Thompson will play a few events over the winter, including the Harder Hall Invitational where she serves as the tournament director, but her next major task is serving as captain for the 2008 Curtis Cup Match at the Old Course at St. Andrews.

Ladden’s next task will be to face 2004 USGA Senior Women’s Amateur champion Carolyn Creekmore of Dallas, Texas. This is Ladden’s first USGA event since the 1998 Women’s Amateur. Thyroid cancer zapped away three years – she has been cancer-free since 2003 – and she had a son (Jake) three years ago.

“Physically, I was not able to compete at the level I wanted to,” said Ladden. “It’s been the past couple years that I began to play competitively again.”

Good Vibes?

Eva Monisteri and Lynne Cowan had split the previous two match-play meetings with each other. Cowan got her at the California State Women’s Match Play, while Monisteri’s win over Cowan came at the 1996 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif. That year, Monisteri advanced to the semifinals before losing to eventual champion Ellen Port.

Thuhashini Selvaratnam kept her fellow Desert Forest members happy with a 19-hole win over Robin Burke. (John Mummert/USGA)

Monisteri, 42, of San Mateo, Calif., and Cowan, 44, of Davis, Calif., met again Monday in the first round at Desert Forest. Monisteri, trailing by three holes after 13, rallied to post a 19-hole win. The comeback began with a chip-in birdie at 14. Cowan followed by three-putting 15 and hitting a shot into the desert on 16 to square the match. Both players bogeyed 17 and 18 to send the match to extra holes, where Monisteri got a break off the tee. Her shot found the dirt cart path and she was able to hit a pitching-wedge approach onto the green and two-putt for par, while Cowan got behind a tree and couldn’t recover.

“It felt good today,” said Monisteri, a native of Sweden who came to the U.S. 21 years ago. “I felt calm even when I was three down.”

Monisteri played on the 1989 NCAA Division I championship team at San Jose State with three familiar names: Pat Hurst, Tracy Hanson and Dina Ammaccapane.

“I got the fifth spot,” said Monisteri. “But I’ve still got my ring. That was a special thing at Stanford [Golf Course]. I think we beat Tulsa by one stroke. Pat Hurst birdied the final hole to win it.”

Surviving … Barely

Sri Lanka native Thuhashini Selvaratnam, 31, made her fellow Desert Forest members sweat a bit Monday afternoon. Selvaratnam, who now lives in Tempe, Ariz., and is an assistant girls’ golf coach at Xavier Prep in Phoenix, was 1 down to 1998 USA Curtis Cupper Robin Burke of Houston, Texas, going to the final hole. But Selvaratnam took advantage of Burke’s mistake off the tee – she hit it right into the desert – to win the hole with a par and force extra holes.

“I thought she made [her 12-foot par] putt on 18,” said Selvaratnam, the 2006 Women’s Mid-Amateur runner-up. “I suppose that’s golf, I guess.”

At the 19th hole, Selvaratnam knocked her 8-iron approach from 127 yards to 10 feet and safely two-putted, while Burke failed to reach the green in two and watched her chip shot roll 25 feet past the flagstick. She missed the par putt coming back.

“I hung in there, I guess,” said Selvaratnam, who won the first three holes, only to see Burke rally and eventually take the lead with a par at No. 16. “I knew coming into it that she was a good player and it would be a tough match. Good players win and good players lose. That’s golf.”

Selvaratnam easily had the biggest gallery following her. Of course, it didn’t hurt that her match was the last on the course. Then again, there’s plenty of interest in this local talent who helped Arizona State win three NCAA Division I titles in the 1990s.

“It is a little different,” said Selvaratnam of competing in front of crowds. “I am trying not to let being at home in Arizona distract me. I am just trying to think that I am away and playing another golf tournament.”

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