Tag: Ellen Hume

Sally Amateur: Ellen Hume finishes eagle-birdie to secure a five-shot victory

Ole Miss transfer Ellen Hume made a big statement to start the year by winning the Sally Amateur.

ORMOND BEACH, Fla. — A two-shot lead with several holes to play at Oceanside Country Club isn’t exactly a comfortable cushion. Along with the normal challenges, there’s a lot of water over the final mile or so to the safety of the clubhouse.

Ellen Hume kept dry and kept the chasers at arm’s length with a few par saves, then closed things out dramatically with an eagle on the par-5 17th, a birdie on the par-4 18th, and in the end, a five-shot win in her first attempt at the Sally Amateur.

“It’s definitely a tough course, so I’m very happy,” said Hume, an England native and junior at Ole Miss. “The Sally is a massive tournament and I’m really glad to win it.”

Scores: Sally Amateur

Hume’s 72-hole total of 5-under-par 283 was five clear of 15-year-old Bailey Shoemaker, who shot 72 on Saturday and had several birdie putts tickle the edge of the cup over the closing stretch of holes. Xin “Cindy” Kou, a future USC Trojan, was alone in third at 1 over after a closing 72.

Hume began the day with a two-shot lead and saw it sliced immediately with a bogey on the first. She had two more bogeys and a pair of birdies to make the nine-hole turn in 1-over 37 before stringing together a birdie and six pars on the back ahead of her eagle-birdie finish.

“It wasn’t easy to start with, but I managed to hang in there and got it going a little bit on the back,” she said.

Hume did it all in cool temps and a steady breeze, both of which are always accentuated on the wide-open beachside layout. That, according to the London native, might’ve played to her advantage.

“It does remind me of home,” she said. “The wind and the cold, it’s definitely English.”

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Ole Miss will get its match-play day at the East Lake Cup after claiming No. 1 seed

Ole Miss players brought the firepower in stroke-play qualifying at the East Lake Cup. Now they’ll try to ride the No. 1 seed to a title.

When the 2019-20 college golf season was canceled, Ole Miss’ women had just bagged a fourth team title for the season. The Rebels were ranked No. 13 in Golfweek’s rankings. They were a good bet for the NCAA match-play bracket.

The premature end of the spring season burned on many levels, and a missed opportunity for an Ole Miss team that was looking to defend its SEC title and make the bracket at the 2019 NCAA Women’s Championship is high on the list of COVID disappointments.

Instead, they’ll get their day on TV this week at the East Lake Cup. The four-team televised match normally is a fall perk for the semifinalists from the previous season’s NCAA Championship. This year, the field was built based on the final spring Golfstat ranking, with teams not playing because of COVID weeded out.

Leaderboard: East Lake Cup

Ole Miss, with an 18-hole score of 5-under 283 at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, topped a field that also included South Carolina, Florida and Texas.

In addition to the No. 1 seed, two Ole Miss players also shared the individual title. Fifth-year senior Kennedy Swann and junior Ellen Hume, a transfer from Charleston Southern and the 2019 English Women’s Amateur champ, each got a share of it.

Hume did it on the strength of big closing birdies at Nos. 14, 15 and 17.

“There were definitely chances out there,” Hume told Golf Channel after the round. “Fourteen is a good par 5 that we can attack. Then we had a couple wedges going into 16, 17 and 18. So they were good chances for birdie. I think my up-and-down on 14 definitely gave me some momentum.”

Swann said she had visions of Rory McIlroy coming down the stretch at East Lake. She had to hole a putt for birdie at the last hole to catch her teammate for co-medalist honors.

“I really just tried to take the result out of it,” Swann said. “A lot of times I tend to put way too much pressure on myself in those situations. It definitely helped knowing that a teammate already had the title and that if I did miss it, Ole Miss was still going to hold it.”

Ole Miss head coach Kory Henkes spent the day walking with Hume while assistant coach Zack Byrd walked with Swann. Byrd told Swann she was a shot back coming down the stretch, but he didn’t tell her who she was chasing.

“Everyone on this team really pulls for each other so I know Ellen was just as excited for Kennedy as Kennedy was for her so just an all-around great day for our program,” Henkes said.

The highlights were plentiful for the Rebels. Four players landed inside the top eight. Julia Johnson dropped her approach on the front of the green at the par-4 17th and watched it roll in for eagle, the only one of those on the board for the day.

You never know what kind of firepower you might get out of Ole Miss, a team that claimed the 2019 SEC title in a big-energy match against South Carolina.

Ole Miss faces Texas in the first round of East Lake Cup match play while South Carolina, which just won The Ally last week, will play Florida. The two teams could meet again in Wednesday’s final.