Alexa Pano – Page 2 – Syndication Server

Augusta National Women’s Amateur: Nine women comprise one of the most-exclusive clubs in Augusta

Experience goes a long way, especially at the ANWA.

Statistical milestones are common across sports and entertainment. Major League Baseball has its 3,000-hit club. The National Football League has the 500 club for passing yards in a game. Saturday Night Live has the five-timers club for hosts.

This year at the 2022 Augusta National Women’s Amateur, there’s a unique group that’s just as exclusive as the event’s namesake. Meet the ANWA three-timers club.

Of the 72 players in the field for the biggest women’s amateur event on the golf schedule, nine have competed in the two previous events: Florida junior Annabell Fuller, last year’s runner-up Emilia Migliaccio, 17-year-old Alexa Pano, Duke junior Erica Shepherd, Oregon State senior Ellie Slama, UCLA junior Emma Spitz, Florida State senior Beatrice Wallin, as well as Stanford junior Angelina Ye and freshman Rose Zhang.

Shepherd, Spitz, Wallin and Zhang are the only players to make the cut in each of the previous two events.

Meet the field: Americans | Internationals
ANWA: Breaking down the new greens at Champions Retreat

“I guess I haven’t looked at it that way before, but it’s awesome, and any course knowledge you can bring into this place, it’s a really tough track, I think it will benefit me,” said Shepherd of her advantage as an ANWA three-timer. “This course, Champions Retreat, is a gem in itself. I think that with the new greens and everything, there’s a lot to account for. I’m just trying to still be a learner out here.”

At last year’s event, Shepherd was flirting with the cut line and thought to herself that she wasn’t going to advance to the weekend. But the Indiana native dug deep and fought back to qualify for the final round, where she improved on her T-23 finish in 2019 with a T-16 in 2021 after COVID-19 cancelled the tournament in 2020.

“It’s such a special event, don’t stress out too much about the golf and needing to make the cut because we all want to do that, I want to do that,” advised Migliaccio, who lost in a playoff to 2021 champion Tsubasa Kajitani. “But you’ll really play well if you just cherish everything about the tournament.”

Easier said than done.

“It is really hard. I think the key is to stay in the moment and not get too high or too low,” said Shepherd of the challenges to not look ahead to the potential trip down Magnolia Lane on Saturday, which could require a playoff to break any ties to determine the 30 who will play the final round at Augusta National. “Obviously, everyone is just grinding to get into the low 30. It’s a hard low 30, and 30 only. So it’s definitely a big goal for this week and for everyone here.”

“I really want to be in the same position I was last year, but if I want to be in that position, I can’t focus on that,” echoed the always-bubbly Migliaccio, who played with Shepherd and her fellow Blue Devil, Phoebe Brinker, during Tuesday’s practice round. “So just really trying to focus on each hole. I mean, Nelly Korda always says, ‘one shot at a time,’ and it’s so key because if you just get too ahead of yourself, even on one hole, like already thinking about where you want to be on the green, well, if you haven’t hit your tee shot, that’s going to determine how you’re going to play the next one.”

“But I think anyone who’s played the course before is going to have an advantage,” continued Migliaccio, “and I think that’s a pretty equal advantage. Like if you’ve played it before, played it two times, like it’s going to help.”

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Is this the year Alexa Pano breaks through at Augusta National Women’s Amateur? She’s ‘motivated’

“Technique-wise she had gotten into a bad habit.”

Alexa Pano received her first golf lesson when she was 5 years old.

It wasn’t in the traditional sense … hit a bucket of balls, chip a few onto the green, work on your putting. It was more a conversation any first-grader might have with an 80-something renowned professional golf instructor.

So when Pano was done talking with Hall of Famer Bob Toski, she had one question.

“Do you live in a cage?”

Toski is known as “Mouse” — as in Mighty Mouse — a name given to him by Sam Snead because of his small stature and driving prowess. His biography, written by former Palm Beach Post golf writer Brian Biggane, is titled “The Elegant Mouse.” So when a 5-year-old hears someone repeatedly referred to as “Mouse,” what would you expect her to ask?

“He sat there and talked to her for maybe 45 minutes,” Rick Pano, Alexa’s dad, said of that conversation that took place at the old Sherbrooke Country Club.

“That was her introduction.”

The day Mighty Mouse met Wonder Woman.

Long list of accomplishments

Alexa Pano is a golf prodigy who now is the ripe old age of 17. Pano, who lives in Lake Worth Beach with her dad, is building a resume she hopes one day is even more extraordinary as she continues to break down barriers.

Already, Pano is tied for most U.S. Kids Golf World Championships with five and she was the first three-time national finalist in the Drive, Chip and Putt event at Augusta National.

She played in an LPGA Tour event when she was 13, and was the youngest golfer (11) to play an LPGA of Japan Tour event. In 2016, she was on the winning United States Junior Ryder Cup team. In 2019, she was the youngest golfer to qualify for the U.S. Women’s Open (she missed the cut) and played on the winning Junior Solheim Cup team.

And 2019 also was the year Pano was the youngest player in the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur, which then became one of her biggest disappointments after she missed a playoff by one shot to qualify for the final round played at Augusta National.

She failed again on her second try last year to advance — making this week one of the biggest in her young career.

“I’m definitely motivated to try and make the cut,” she said. “It’s been a big goal of mine for a long time to compete at Augusta.”

The tournament starts Wednesday with two rounds at Champions Retreat Golf Club before they move to Augusta National for a practice day Friday and the final round Saturday. All competitors, even those who did not advance to the final round, play the practice round. Alexa has played that practice round twice but did not keep score.

That will happen when she plays it with a championship at stake.

2021 U.S. Girls' Junior — Alexa Pano hits a pitch shot on the 13th hole during the first round of stroke play at the 2021 U.S. Girls’ Junior at Columbia Country Club in Chevy Chase, Md. on Monday, July 12, 2021. (Photo: Kathryn Riley/USGA)

Driven from a young age

Ultimate success never is guaranteed for whiz kids. The sports landscape is littered with those who burned out, a number far greater than those who reach the top of the mountain. Pano became “addicted” to the game from the first time she picked up a club at 5, saying, “I knew it at an early age.”

Since, she has been around the world and played at the highest level as a junior. With a maturity beyond her years, her game will continue to evolve and her ego will remain in check.

“I’ve definitely been playing a lot of golf for a long time,” she said. “I think it’s just taking it day by day, and week by week. I’m one of those people who believes everything happens for a reason and I’m never thinking too far ahead. Just focusing on what I have ahead this week.”

Rick, who has put his career on hold to work with Alexa, believes her roots — she was born in Westborough, Massachusetts, about 35 miles west of Boston — and love for golf keep her grounded.

“We’re from New England, and she’s spent enough time up there to know if you walk around and brag up there you don’t last long,” he said. “But she just loves to play. She’s probably a throwback. Put her on the golf course and let her play. But she is very humble.

“I believe she’s driven by the thought of ‘How good can I be?'”

And she has been humbled. Pano understands the accomplishment of just competing in the ANWA. But twice failing to advance to the final round played on the holy grail of golf courses has her more focused this week.

“It’s most disappointing when I have to go play the practice round (at Augusta National) the next day after missing the cut,” she said. “I know how badly I wished I would be playing it again the following day.”

Making that cut will be one of the hardest things Alexa will have to do in her young career with the field of 72 being reduced to just 30. She struggled a year ago, shooting an opening-round 77, followed by an 80. At the time, she was not playing her best and had a heart-to-heart with her instructor, Chris O’Connell.

“Her technique had gotten off a little bit and she needed to kind of make that change to get back to playing the golf she’s accustomed too,” said O’Connell, a PGA Tour instructor from the Dallas area who works with Matt Kuchar among others.

“Technique-wise she had gotten into a bad habit.”

The biggest area that need attention was her full swing … driver and iron game. Alexa also worked on her putting tempo and stroke.

“Golf’s always been pretty easy for her and there’re times in her life she doesn’t have to think about her swing,” O’Connell said. So he told her she needed to spend time thinking about that swing and trying to change her motion “rather than just getting up and swing.”

Which is not always easy for someone who has done that her whole life and with such extraordinary results.

“She’s not used to golf being difficult, and for a few months there golf was hard,” O’Connell said.

Rick said it took about eight months before Alexa started feeling completely comfortable.

“We didn’t want to go through the down times when she was older so we chose to do it at 16 years old,” Rick said. “She didn’t like it … the struggle for awhile. But she knew long term it was going to help her.”

Didn’t like it … but accepted it was something she needed to continue to reach the high standards she sets for herself.

Rick started seeing the results at the Junior Ryder Cup exhibition at Whistling Straits in September, and then at Stage II of LPGA Q-School in October where Alexa shot a 9-under 67. One month later, Alexa was runner-up at the AJGA Rolex Tournament of Champions.

“I feel like I’m pretty close to where I want to be going into the Augusta Women’s Amateur with my game,” she said.

Close enough perhaps to playing at Augusta National when it counts … on Saturday.

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Brooke Oberparleiter tops Alexa Pano at Jones/Doherty Women’s Amateur Championship

“I’m so honored to have even gone to the finals, and to win the event is huge for me.”

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Brooke Oberparleiter and Kim Keyer-Scott saved their best golf for last, as they both captured their respective division titles in the 89th Ione D. Jones/Doherty Women’s Amateur Championship on a cool, breezy Friday morning at Coral Ridge Country Club.

Oberparleiter defeated Amateur division defending champion Alexa Pano 2 up. It was the first time the 16-year-old, who spends winters in Jupiter and the rest of the year in Blackwood, N.J., played in the event, whose past winners include current LPGA Tour pros Charley Hull and Lexi Thompson, as well as former professionals JoAnne Carner, Michelle McGann, Natalie Gulbis, and Vicki Goetze.

Keyer-Scott, 54, of Estero, won the Senior championship, defeating Susan Curtin of Westwood, Mass., 4 and 3. Corey Weworski of Carlsbad, Calif., beat Amy Kennedy of Naples to win the Senior first flight title.

“That was definitely one of the best rounds I’ve ever played in my life, and that’s what I needed today, so it came at the right time, that’s for sure,” said Oberparleiter, who started playing tournament golf when she was “11 or 12” and whose only previous victory was this past summer in an American Junior Golf Association tournament.

“I’m so honored to have even gone to the finals, and to win the event is huge for me,” said Oberparleiter, who credited her swing coach, Jeff Leishman, who teaches at Dye Preserve in Jupiter, for taking her game to the next level.

“I will 100 percent be back next year. This is a great tournament, it was run great and the course was in great condition. The greens were just amazing.”

After halving the first hole with Pano, who was seeking her third consecutive Doherty title and fourth overall, Oberparleiter lost the second hole with a bogey, and halved the third. She then birdied the fourth, halved the fifth with a birdie, and went 1 up with a birdie at the sixth.

“The first couple of holes my nerves were definitely up, but then I decided to calm down and that’s when the birdies started coming,” Oberparleiter said.

The match went back to all square when Oberparleiter bogeyed the seventh, she halved the eighth, then she birdied the ninth to get back to 1 up.

She and Pano parred the next four holes, then Oberparleiter birdied 14 to go 2 up. They halved 15, then Oberparleiter lost 16 after she lipped out her par putt.

“Going into 17, I was definitely feeling it,” Oberparleiter said of her nerves. “I just tried to relax and take a couple of deep breaths and hit the driver like I’d been hitting it all day.”

Both she and Pano hit good drives on 17, reached the green in regulation and two-putted for pars. On 18, after Pano hit her approach from 90 yards onto the front of the green, Oberparleiter put a 58-degree wedge from 75 yards nine feet from the pin.

Facing a tricky uphill-downhill putt from more than 20 feet away, as soon as Pano stroked her birdie attempt she knew it wasn’t going in and she walked over to Oberparleiter and conceded the hole.

“Today was obviously pretty frustrating,” said Pano, 17, of Lake Worth, who will start playing the LPGA’s developmental Symetra Tour as an amateur at the end of February, and play in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur at the end of March.

“I hit 16 greens, made a couple of birdies. I probably played well enough, but I didn’t make enough putts to win. They weren’t dropping and that’s something I’m really not used to. Usually my putting’s one of my biggest strengths.

“I left the door wide open for her.”

Keyer-Scott and Curtin were both competing for the first time in the most prestigious tournament for female amateurs 50 and older aside from the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur.

“I played great,” said Keyer-Scott, who was 3 under par for her 15 holes. She won the first hole with a par and the second with a birdie, halved the third, won the fourth, halved the fifth, and had a tap-in birdie on the sixth to get to 4 up. “Once I got up, all I was doing was trying to hit greens and make her make putts. She almost made some putts, unfortunately she hit a lot of edges.”

“She played awesome,” Curtin said“Steady, steady, steady.”

After they halved 10 and 11, Keyer-Scott won 12 with a two-putt par to get back to 3 up. After two more halves, she ended the match with a birdie at 15.

It was a meaningful victory for Keyer-Scott, who won the Florida State Golf Association’s Women’s Senior Amateur and Women’s Senior Open last year.

“This is as good as the others,” said Keyer-Scott, who didn’t take up golf until she was 30, went to college when she was 34 and was a four-time Division II All-American at Northern Kentucky University, as well as the National Freshman of the Year. “It’s a really nice course, a friendly staff … it’s really nice to be appreciated.”

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Alexa Pano is one of three players competing in LPGA Q-School too young to advance

There are three players in the field who will not be eligible to compete in Q-Series.

Stage II of LPGA Qualifying begins this week in Venice, Florida. A field of 179 players will compete in a 72-hole no-cut event Oct. 21-24 on both the Panther and Bobcat Courses at Plantation Golf & Country Club.

The top 45 players and ties will advance to Q-Series, held Nov. 29-Dec. 12 on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail in Alabama. There are three players in the field, however, who will not be eligible to compete in Alabama because they do not meet the minimum age requirement of 18 for the LPGA.

Florida’s Alexa Pano (17), Xiaowen Yin of China (16) and Chanoknan Angurasaranee of Thailand are the three players who will not be eligible to advance to Q-Series. Every player in the field at Stage II will receive some form of Symetra Tour status based on finish.

Players must be 17 years or older to compete on the Symetra Tour as of January 1, 2021.

Pano told Craig Dolch of the Palm Beach Post in August that new LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan had denied her petition to compete for an LPGA card before the age of 18. Pano made the cut at Stage I on the number.

There are four 18-year-olds in the field for Stage II as well as four 19-year-olds.

Yin, currently the seventh-ranked amateur in the world, has twice won this year on the China LPGA and hasn’t finished outside the top 10 in a ranked event since 2019. She has won eight times in the past two years.

Angurasaranee turned professional in April.

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16-year-old prodigy Alexa Pano is entering next month’s LPGA Tour Q-School

Alexa Pano made a bunch of birdies Tuesday at the 45th Girls Junior PGA Championship – and some news after the round. After shooting a 7-under 66 at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky, to take a two-shot lead, the 16-year-old Pano said she …

Alexa Pano made a bunch of birdies Tuesday at the 45th Girls Junior PGA Championship – and some news after the round.

After shooting a 7-under 66 at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky, to take a two-shot lead, the 16-year-old Pano said she is entering next month’s LPGA Tour Q-School.

First, the golf.

Pano birdied three of her first four holes and added five more birdies for her lowest score of the year. The 66 on the par-73 course gave her a two-shot advantage over Isabella McCauley and Jaclyn LaHa heading into Wednesday’s second round.

“I just played solid,” Pano said. “I birdied all of the par-5s and I kept it in play. I’ve shot a lot of scores around even par this year. It’s nice to not make many mistakes that prevented me from going low.”

Next, her future.

Pano, who turns 17 on Aug. 20, said she will retain her amateur status when she plays in Stage 1 of LPGA Tour’s Q-School Aug. 15-22 at Mission Hills. Her reasoning to try Q-School?

“Mainly the experience,” Pano said. “Q-School is something a lot of people are unprepared for. It’s a tough test of golf. There are quite a few amateurs who are going to be there. It will help me be prepared for what’s coming in the future.”

Pano wouldn’t commit to turning pro if she were to make it through all three stages. She’s not even sure if she would have that option because the LPGA Tour has a minimum age restriction of 18, though golfers can apply for exemptions.

Alexa Pano hits on the fairway of the 7th hole during round one of the Gainbridge LPGA on February 25, 2021, in Orlando, Florida. (Photo: Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)

“I’m not sure if I can go to third stage because I won’t be 18,” Pano said. “I have petitioned the LPGA and I am waiting to hear back on that.”

Age has never been a factor for Pano. She was 8 when she appeared in the documentary “The Short Game” about top junior golfers. Pano was the youngest (11) to play in an LPGA of Japan Tour event in 2016, she was 13 when she played in an LPGA Tour event in 2018 and in 2019 she was the youngest (14) to play in the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur.

PGA Teaching Professional Jerry Tucker of Stuart, Florida, has worked with Pano on her short game for more than two years. He believes it’s a good idea for her to get an early look at Q-School.

“Ideally, you would go to Q-School one year before you have a legitimate chance,” Tucker said. “That’s not the case with Alexa — she has a legitimate chance. But it’s the nerves that are going to get you the first time at an event like Q-School.

“I don’t think it’s too early. Emotionally, she can handle it. She’s a tough cookie, emotionally.”

Pano’s decision to try Q-School early appears to close the door on her going to college. She sidestepped that question Tuesday by saying, “I’m still figuring things out, going with the flow.”

After the Girls Junior PGA Championship, Pano will play in the Junior Solheim Cup, but the Junior Ryder Cup was canceled because of COVID-19 issues.

Pano has come close to winning a USGA event several times, but she may earn her first junior major title from the PGA of America’s top event.

“It would be massive,” Pano said. “I want to win everything I play in. I haven’t had that chance this year, so to win this event would be really special.”

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Alexa Pano ‘motivated’ to make final round of Augusta National Women’s Amateur

Alexa Pano missed the playoff to qualify for the final round by a shot in 2019. It was one of her rare setbacks in golf.

Since she was a kid, Alexa Pano always dreamed of playing a tournament at Augusta National. She was bold enough to say it when the then-7 year-old was featured in the documentary movie, “The Short Game.”

Pano gets another opportunity to make that dream a reality on Wednesday when she plays in the first round of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. The first 36 holes are at Champions Retreat with the field cut from 72 to 30 for Saturday’s final round at Augusta National, site of next week’s Masters.

Pano came painfully close in 2019, missing a playoff to qualify for the final round by a shot. One of her rare setbacks in golf, she vows to make it to Augusta National this week for the final round.

“It was very disappointing and really hard to go out and watch my friends because I obviously wanted to be out there,” Pano said. “It definitely motivated me to get back into the tournament. I don’t want to just make the cut, but hopefully be playing near the end of Saturday.”

Pano is no longer a kid but at 16, she once again is the youngest player in the ANWA field. Imagine that.

It’s nothing new for the local prodigy. In 2016, Pano, then 11, was the youngest to play in an LPGA of Japan Tour event. She played in her first LPGA Tour event when she was 13. She was the youngest, at 14, to play in the 2019 U.S. Women’s Open.

Soon, she will no longer have that distinction. Time waits for no golfer.

“I was thinking about that today,” Pano said on Sunday night from Augusta about being the youngest. “I kind of feel a little older now even though I’m still really young.

“A lot of girls (in the field) are girls I grew up with and I’ve played against my whole life. Time flies. It’s surreal to think I’m going to be a senior next year.”

In high school, of course. Who knows what will happen after that? When asked about her college plans, she pointed out “we’re living in a crazy time” and she’s focused on “taking things day by day.”

It’s crazy to think it’s been more than a year since Pano won her last tournament. She started 2020 with a second at the Sally and a victory at the Doherty Amateur in Fort Lauderdale.

But after COVID-19 shut down amateur golf for more than three months, Pano wasn’t the same player afterward. She has had just one top-10 finish in her last 11 starts.

“Obviously, I struggled a bit coming off the break,” Pano said. “I’m the type of player who gets into a rhythm – it’s not much for me to play a ton of weeks in a row. The last year hasn’t been normal for me, not having events to play in. At least things are starting to get back to normal.”

To be fair, Pano also has played in her share of LPGA Tour and Symetra Tour events against seasoned pros. And she has been going through some swing changes with her instructor, Chris O’Connell. (She works on her short game with Stuart’s Jerry Tucker.)

“I made a lot of fundamental changes, and there’s going to be a learning curve,” Pano said. “I’ve changed a lot the way I play. Hopefully, it works out for the best.”

Pano has had success at Augusta National, winning a pair of national Drive, Chip and Putt titles in three appearances. Who knows how many more times she’ll get to compete in the ANWA?

The clock may finally be ticking on Pano for the first time in her career.

“It would mean the world to me to make it to Saturday,” she said.

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‘We both know what we want’: Super teens Alexa Pano, Paris Hilinski are on golf fast track

At this week’s 120th U.S. Women’s Amateur, Paris Hilinski and Alexa Pano are two of the youngest players in the field at Woodmont CC.

Alexa Pano and Paris Hilinksi are best friends with big dreams. As the youngest competitors in last year’s U.S. Women’s Open, it’s hard to pick who has the more remarkable story. Hilinski qualified to compete at the Country Club of Charleston after playing golf for only 2 ½ years.

By the time Hilinski took her first golf lesson at age 13, Pano had already starred in “The Short Game” documentary on Netflix, hoisted a trophy at Augusta National and made history as the youngest player to tee it up on the Japan LPGA.

She was so good so fast, it was somewhat surprising that it took her until age 14 to get to her first Women’s Open.

U.S. Women’s Amateur: Leaderboard | Tee times | Preview

Now the two fast-tracking friends are traveling the country together, trying to stay safe and keeping their circle tight during a global pandemic. At this week’s 120th U.S. Women’s Amateur, where their families are sharing a house, they’re once again two of the youngest players in the field at Woodmont Country Club.

Alexa Pano, 14, qualifies for her first U.S. Women’s Open.

Pano, 15, makes a stunning fifth Women’s Amateur appearance this week in what is her 10th USGA championship. She was runner-up to Yealimi Noh at the 2018 U.S. Girls’ Junior and lost to Andrea Lee in 23 holes in the Round of 16 at last year’s Women’s Amateur. Both Noh and Lee are now rookies on the LPGA.

“I felt like last year I put myself in a great position and I got beat,” said Pano. “This year I kind of want to avenge that, if anything.”

And should Pano and Hilinski meet in match play at this year’s contest?

“I think if we played against each other I would win, of course,” said Hilinski.

It’s that way with everything with these two. Even a card game, said Hilinski, can feel like the Super Bowl.

“Paris always wants to be taller,” said Pano. “I always want to be shorter. Everyone has to convince me that I’m 5’11.”

Hilinski, 16, hits it about 270 yards off the tee and says she checks in at 5 feet 10 inches (and a half). The gym is one area that Pano readily concedes to Hilinski. Both work in Jupiter, Florida, with Joey Diovisalvi, or “Joey D,” golf’s trainer to the stars (think Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson and Lexi Thompson), though Hilinski has been at it much longer. Hilinski’s background in basketball and soccer training also adds to her natural strength.

“I’m pushing myself to get to her level,” said Pano, “which I will.”

They’re both vegan and have taken online classes for years. During the first six weeks of the pandemic, Pano completed an entire semester’s worth of schoolwork. Both train and study year-round and are set to graduate in 2022.

When golf courses shut down in Palm Beach County, Pano and her father drove 90 minutes each way to Port St. Lucie just to find an open driving range.

Ask them for a summer highlight from 2020 and both will point to an 18-hour car ride home from Arkansas, where the two teens traveled with their dads to compete in a Women’s All-Pro Tour event. Pano finished second there to LPGA pro Maria Fassi, who jokingly told the new vegan where she could grab a good plate of ribs.

By all accounts, it was 18 hours of belly laughs all the way back to South Florida.

“I must have accidentally drunk a gallon of sugar,” said Hilinski.

Paris Hilinski (left) and Alexa Pano (courtesy of Paris Hilinski)

In the beginning of her playing career, Hilinski worked with Bryan Lebedevitch, Cristie Kerr’s longtime coach, at the PGA West Golf Academy in La Quinta, California. Now she’s with Claude Harmon III at the Floridian in Palm City. During the break from competition this spring, she spent time practicing with Koepka.

“Most of the stuff that I found really beneficial was how he mentally thinks about things,” said Hilinski, “how he thinks about bad shots when he doesn’t hit it great. Most of the time you’re not going to hit it perfect.”

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LPGA player Mel Reid is another pro who spends time with Hilinski in Florida.

“Her work ethic is pretty special,” said Reid. “There’s really no limit with her.”

The same has been said about Pano, whose middle name could’ve been prodigy. Both teens like to see how far they can push.

“We both know what we want,” said Hilinski. “Both of us, I think, will do anything to get there.”

120th U.S. Women’s Amateur

When	Aug. 3-9
Where	Woodmont Country Club, Rockville, Maryland
Format	Stroke play Monday and Tuesday, with the top 64 players advancing to match play Wednesday-Sunday
Defending champ	Gabriela Ruffels
How to watch	Golf Channel: Wednesday-Thursday, 4-7 p.m. ET Friday, 1-4 p.m. ET Saturday, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. ET Sunday, 1-4 p.m. ET

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North & South Women’s Amateur preview: Players to watch at Pinehurst

There will be no title defense this year without Gabriela Ruffels in the field, but here are a few players to watch instead.

Finding time to groove a swing change can be difficult as a top amateur. Emilia Migliaccio, at No. 5 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, has used this pandemic-forced break in competition to finally do that. Migliaccio, a rising Wake Forest senior, has worked hard with coach Kim Lewellen (also her college coach) to tighten things up in this unexpected off-season.

“Not big changes,” she said, “but they’ve been really good changes that I’ve never been able to implement because there’s never really been so much time to implement and have time to practice a swing change.”

Migliaccio lives just 65 miles up the road from Pinehurst Resort, site of this week’s North & South Women’s Amateur. The Cary, North Carolina, native advanced all the way to the semifinals at this event last year. She fell to eventual champion Gabriela Ruffels on the 18th hole of their match.

Migliaccio will debut her slightly revised swing this week as she makes her first real tournament start since winning the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate in March.

There will be no title defense this year without Ruffels in the field. The Australian went on to win the U.S. Women’s Amateur after last year’s North & South title. Besides Migliaccio, only Christine Wang, Kelly Sim and Allisen Corpuz return from last year’s quarterfinals.

Below are a few other names to keep an eye on as the tournament gets started on July 14. After two rounds of stroke-play qualifying, the field will be whittled to a 32-woman match-play bracket. The final match will be played July 18.

The veterans

Meghan Stasi, Ina Kim-Schaad, Ellen Port

These women own a collective 12 USGA titles, and all have won the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur. Kim-Schaad is the reigning champion, while Stasi and Port have each won four. All three have a killer instinct in match play. Port most recently made headlines when, at the age of 58, she advanced to the match-play bracket at the 2018 U.S. Women’s Amateur, losing to Dylan Kim in the first round.

The locals

Gina Kim, Nicole Adam

Nicole Adam, an 18-year-old coached by local Pinehurst legend Donna Andrews, took Ruffels all the way to the 17th hole in her first-round match against the eventual winner last year. It was a big confidence boost for Adam, whose game has been shaped greatly by growing up at Pinehurst.

As for Gina Kim, the Duke junior grew up in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, just 65 miles north of Pinehurst. Kim, runner-up at this summer’s Carolinas Amateur, played a vital role in Duke’s 2019 NCAA title run as a freshman and weeks later, finished 12th at the 2019 U.S. Women’s Open.

The juniors

Alexa Pano, Paris Hilinski

The two teenagers never slowed down their competition even as the opportunities dwindled in the spring. Both teed it up at the Women’s All-Pro Tour event in Arkansas, and Pano, 15, finished runner-up to winner Maria Fassi. Pano also won the Kathy Whitworth Junior Invitational in March while Hilinski, 16, scored a third-place finish at the Annika Invitational in January. Both had earned invitations to play the Augusta National Women’s Amateur in April.

The victors

Katherine Schuster, Amanda Sambach, Isabella Fierro

It takes a deft touch around the greens – and an ability to keep the ball in play – to succeed in Pinehurst. These three women have demonstrated that as past champions of the North & South Girls Junior. Amanda Sambach, a top-30 player in the world, is just five days removed from her title. Schuster, also the reining Women’s Dixie Amateur and Joanne Winter Silver Belle Amateur champion, won in 2019. Fierro burst onto the scene with her 2017 win and just completed her freshman year at Oklahoma State.

The state titleholders

Bentley Cotton, Megan Schofill, Erica Shepherd

Many amateurs have turned to their state amateurs for competitive reps, like these three women. Schofill, an Auburn sophomore, erased a 10-shot deficit to win the Florida Women’s Amateur on July 12 and Cotton, an incoming Texas freshman, is three days removed from a Texas Women’s Amateur win. Shepherd, a Duke sophomore, won the Indiana Women’s Amateur by four shots in June.

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Alexa Pano wins third Doherty Women’s Amateur Championship golf tournament

Alexa Pano, 15, won her second straight Amateur division title and her third in the last four years at the Doherty Women’s Amateur.

FORT LAUDERDALE – Alexa Pano said playing in the Ione D. Jones/Doherty Women’s Amateur Championship at Coral Ridge Country Club always has her in a good mood.

And it’s not just because she usually goes back to her Lake Worth home with a trophy.

Pano, 15, won her second straight Amateur division title and her third in the last four years, defeating Courtney McKim of Raleigh, N.C., 4 and 3, on a blustery, sometimes rainy Friday morning in the 88th edition of the prestigious tournament.

“It feels pretty good,” said Pano, who won the Amateur First Flight title when she was 9. “I always feel happy when I’m playing in this golf tournament. To start off the year with a win is a great start.

“It’s really nice to come back to defend. Every tournament, my goal is to win, so to repeat is really nice.”

In the Senior Championship division, top-seeded Judith Kyrinis of Thornhill, Ontario, defeated Corey Weworski of Carlsbad, California, on the first extra hole.

Down by three holes, Kyrinis won 13 and 15 with pars, and sent the match into overtime by sinking a 15-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole. She and Weworski returned to the first hole, where Kyrinis sank another 15-footer for birdie and the victory.

“I just made them at the right time. I’ve really been putting well all week,” said Kyrinis, a former U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur champion who birdied the final hole last year to win the Canadian Mid-Amateur and Senior Women’s Championship. “I knew anything could happen on some of those back-nine holes.”

In the Senior First Flight, Therese Quinn of Jacksonville defeated Natalie McNicholas of Naples, 2 up. In the Senior Second Flight title match, Mimi Hoffman of Springfield, Va., beat Mo Sheehan of Grayslake, Ill., 2 up.

McKim, 29, who runs the corporate real estate division of a medical company, went back and forth with Pano over the first seven holes. Pano sank an 8-foot par-saving putt to win the first hole, but McKim won the next two holes with pars to go 1 up.

“It was a bit of a struggle in the beginning figuring out the wind,” Pano said. “I kind of found a rhythm toward the middle of the round.”

Pano hit a lovely pitch to the par-5 fourth green and sank the birdie putt to square the match, and the players halved the next two holes with pars. McKim went ahead with a great birdie of her own after pitching her third shot to about five feet from the pin on the par-5 seventh hole.

McKim’s tee shot on the par-3 eighth landed in thick rough next to a bunker and the ball came out sideways and rolled to the bottom of the two-tiered green. McKim pitched the ball from there close to the hole, but Pano, whose tee shot landed on the top tier, two-putted for a par to pull even.

A turning point came on the long, par-4 ninth hole. Pano’s tee shot kicked into a bush and she had to take an unplayable and a one-shot penalty. She dropped the ball in the right rough, then hit a 3-wood 225 yards that ended up four feet from the flag. McKim, who also reached the green in three, missed her par putt and Pano made hers to take a 1-up lead.

“She played an unbelievable shot after taking an unplayable,” McKim said. “Hats off to her on that. That’s just crazy good.”

“Being able to save par definitely shifted the momentum my way and carried over to the back nine,” Pano said. “It was probably the best shot of the day and one I’ll never forget.”

McKim bogeyed the 10th after hitting into a fairway bunker – “I struggled with my driver all day,” she said – and coming up short of the green with her second shot to go 2 down. Pano then won her fourth straight hole, making birdie at the par-5 11th after her 70-yard pitch settled three feet from the hole.

Pano’s tee shot at the par-3 12th plugged in a bunker and McKim won the hole with a two-putt par. But Pano went back to 3 up with a 4-foot birdie putt on the par-5 13th, and her two-putt par on the 14th gave her a four-hole lead with four to play.

At the par-4 15th, McKim’s approach landed about 15 feet from the hole while Pano’s went over the green. But she chipped to within 18 inches, and after McKim missed her birdie try, Pano rolled in the short par putt to close out the match.

“I knew I had to get it tight. Especially with Courtney having a birdie putt,” said Pano, who had three birdies and three bogeys in 15 holes. “To be around even par for those holes, especially in that wind, was pretty good.”

And she’s got another trophy to prove it.

Know their names: These top players will drive amateur golf in 2020

The following names are likely to appear in amateur golf headlines in 2020. Their path to the top of amateur golf is worth following.

In most cases, players have a limited window in which to make waves in amateur golf. Juniors and college players generally use amateur events – from the Western Amateur to the Augusta National Women’s Amateur to the U.S. Amateur and U.S. Women’s Amateur – as a platform to launch them into long and successful professional careers.

Even if amateur golf is transient for the top players, there’s still time to develop a rooting interest for these men and women. The following names – some highlighted individually, and some highlighted in clusters – are likely to appear in headlines on the biggest stages in 2020. Their growth and their path to the top of amateur golf is worth following. Here’s the background.

Emilia Migliaccio, top-ranked U.S. female

Emilia Migliaccio during a Curtis Cup practice session in December. (Photo: USGA/Steven Gibbons)

Migliaccio’s last act before returning to Wake Forest for her junior season was to represent the U.S. at the Pan-American Games. The team won gold that week in Lima, Peru, and so did Migliaccio, which made her the first American, male or female, to win a gold medal in golf at either the Pan American Games or the Olympics since the event was reintroduced to the games in 2015.

It’s fitting that Migliaccio is the top-ranked American in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (at No. 7) entering 2020. It’s also fitting that it’s a Curtis Cup year. Someone like Migliaccio, who shines in a team setting, would be an excellent leader for a U.S. squad looking to win on foreign soil. Migliaccio stands to figure in to all conversations surrounding women’s golf in 2020, from college golf to the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.

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