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2008

Joan Higgins

Joan Higgins, 52, of Glendora, Calif., defeated Lynn Simmons of Phoenix, Ariz., 1 up, at Barton Hills Country Club in Ann Arbor, Mich., to become the oldest winner of the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship.

With the victory, Higgins supplanted Carol Semple Thompson, who won the championship at age 48 in 1997.

“I’m still in shock,” said Higgins, a quarterfinalist in 2007. “I really am. I just can’t believe it. Last night in bed I was tossing and turning all night, saying, ‘You could be a national champion, don’t think about it, don’t think about it because it’s probably not going to happen. She’s probably going to go out and clean your clock.’”

Higgins won the first hole and never trailed in the 18-hole match at the 6,189-yard, par-72 Donald Ross design which also hosted the 1998 U.S. Women’s Amateur.

Bunker trouble forced Higgins to concede the sixth hole, which squared the match.

That status lasted for four holes.

“I knew I had my work cut out for me,” said Simmons, 40. “She doesn’t make a lot of mistakes.”

Simmons found the bunker on the par-3 11th and could not save par giving Higgins, a former tennis player at the University of Wisconsin, a 1-up lead.

Higgins, who employed Ken Hartmann, the Golf Association of Michigan’s director of Rules and competitions as her caddie, then three-putted the 14th hole to lose her lead and square the match.

The longer-hitting Simmons, the owner of a personal fitness business, then missed the green on the 15th short with a poor iron shot and could not save par. Higgins, a mother of two sons, two-putted to win the hole for a 1-up lead.

Simmons missed an opportunity to square the match on the par-5 17th, when her 12-foot birdie putt came up short. Both players missed birdie putts and halved the 18th hole.

The finalists, both playing in their seventh Women’s Mid-Amateur, coincidentally played together in the stroke-play portion of the championship.

“We became fast friends,” Higgins said.

In the semifinals, Higgins defeated Lynne Cowan, 45, of Davis, Calif., by chipping in for birdie on the 21st hole and Simmons beat Noreen Mohler, 54, of Bethlehem, Pa., 2 and 1. Two-time defending champion Meghan Bolger was defeated in the second round by Canada’s Lindsay Knowlton.

 
 
Championship Facts

U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur

PAR AND YARDAGE – Golden Hills Golf and Turf Club will play at 6,173 yards and a par of 35-37—72 for stroke-play rounds. For match play, the course will play at 6,193 yards.

COURSE SETUP – The USGA Course Rating® for the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur at Golden Hills Golf and Turf Club is 76.5 and USGA Slope Rating® is 134.

Tees, fairways, approaches and collars, height of grass – 0.425 inches

Putting greens – 0.120 inches with a speed of 10.5 to 11 feet on the USGA Stimpmeter

Intermediate Rough – 0.75 inches (6-foot width)

First Cut, Primary Rough – 1.5 inches (15- to 20-foot width)

Second Cut, Primary Rough – 2.5 inches

ARCHITECTS – Golden Hills Golf and Turf Club was designed by Charles Pace and Lee Popple and opened in 1964. The course was redesigned by Rees Jones in 2005.

THE USGA AND FLORIDA – The 2009 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship will be the 17th USGA championship conducted in the state of Florida. It will be the seventh national women’s championship and the third U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur to be conducted in the state of Florida. In 1988, the championship was held at Amelia Island Plantation in Amelia Island, and in 1992 it was played at Old Marsh Golf Club in Palm Beach Gardens.

 

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