Monday, April 09, 2018

Stephanie Meadow scores first Symetra Tour 

victory after play-off in California

There was just as much drama on the back nine of Morongo Golf Club at Tukwet Canyon yesterday as there was at the Masters, and when the dust settled, Team Ireland-supported Stephanie Meadow, pictured below, was crowned the 2018 winner of the  Symetra Tour's IOA Championship presented by Morongo Casino Resort  and  Spa at Beaufort, California

The path to a first Symetra Tour victory for the Northern Ireland player wasn’t simple, however. After 36 holes, both Meadow and Carleigh Silvers (Martinsville, Indiana) were tied for the lead at 4-under par overall.

“I would’ve pretty much doubted it,” said Meadow, regarding how everything played out. “I thought if I was going to be in a playoff, I probably would have had to shoot 7-under to catch her. It happens, people have tough days on the last day and if you just stay steady, you never know what can happen.”

On the first sudden-death play-off hole (No. 18), Meadow drained a 40-foot putt to put the pressure squarely on Silvers, which proved to be the deciding factor. 

“To make it, and it was dead center, was pretty awesome,” Meadow said with a big smile on her face. “Honestly, I hadn’t made anything all week so for those two putts—No. 18 in regulation and then the playoff hole—to go in, was pretty special. I guess I was saving them up.”

Entering the final round, Meadow sat tied for fifth at 2-under par. She was seven shots back of 36-hole leader Jenny Haglund (Karlstad, Sweden), who limped to an 8-over par (80) finish, ending tied for seventh at 1-under. 

Meadow erased an early double bogey on No. 6 with two birdies to shoot even par going out. Then the back nine started tough with a bogey on No. 10, but she remained calm and found her way to birdies on Nos. 13, 16 and 18. 

Two groups behind Meadow was Silvers who, for a brief moment this afternoon, took the outright lead at 4-under par thanks to a birdie on No. 16. From there, the two went back and forth. Meadow then tied Silvers at 4-under with her birdie on No. 18, just before Silvers snagged a one-stroke advantage back with a birdie on No. 17. However, her bogey on the final hole led to the playoff.

“She made her putt and that was awesome,” said Silvers. “She earned that, making that long birdie putt. That was pretty cool, so congratulations to her. I just wanted to give mine a chance and I did, it really looked pretty good until the last two feet.”

It is the first Symetra Tour win for Meadow, the former four-time All-American at the University of Alabama. The victory is also the first on the Symetra Tour for a woman from Northern Ireland. 

“It has been a long road for me so the hard work pays off,” Meadow said. “It just feels amazing right now.

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