By Steve Derderian
sderderian@massgolf.org
CONCORD, Massachusetts (August 11, 2025) — One hundred twenty-five years ago, Grace B. Keyes of Concord Golf Club walked off the 14th green at Oakley Country Club with the first Massachusetts Women’s Amateur title in her pocket and a gold medal to show fit it. Back then, competitors played in long dresses, swung hickory shafts, and, despite the novelty of the championship, drew what newspapers called an “enthusiastic gathering.”
This year, that history comes full circle. The championship returns to Concord Country Club, a founding member of the Women’s Golf Association of Boston, for the sixth time, bringing with it a field that’s deeper, younger, and more competitive than ever. In fact, more than half the players in the field are 19 or younger.
Recent years have also shown a knack for patterns: in 2023, both the Mass Amateur and Women’s Amateur champions had been runners-up the year before; in 2024 and again this summer, both finals featured a Division I vs. Division III duel.
So… will Concord deliver another repeat storyline, or hint at a future champion?
Before all that is determined, there are 18 holes to play on Monday. Here are three things to watch:
If the 2022 Mass Amateur was any indication, going low might not be the ultimate goal; it’s just keeping it within reason. Three years ago, all five rounds under par happened during the opening 18 on the Donald Ross classic (playing to a 6,600-yard, par-70 at the time). With extremely windy conditions in Round 2, nobody was under par.
So put it this way: If you go under par at Concord, keep the card because it doesn’t happen often.
While being medalist is no guarantee of winning the title, whoever shoots low in stroke play will give us a good indication of who will lift the trophy at the end of the week. In 2014, the last time this event was held at Concord, Isabel Southard shot 67 in stroke play (when it was only 18 holes), five shots clear of the field, and won the title.
In seven of the past 10 years, at least one person who finished in the top two in stroke play made it to the final match. In 2022, Morgan Smith (2022, 2024) and Rebecca Skoler (2023), the most recent winners of this event, were among the two lowest scorers in stroke play and met in the final match. At Dedham in 2023, Molly Smith shot 2-under 68 for the lone sub-par round of stroke play en route to making the final.
A highlight on Monday’s tee sheet is the 9:39 a.m. pairing of Rebecca Skoler (Pine Brook CC), the 2023 champion and University of Virginia standout; Megan Buck (Thorny Lea GC), reigning Mass Golf Anne Marie Tobin Women’s Player of the Year and 2020 medalist; and Phoebe Brinker (George Wright GC), a former Duke All-American and ACC champion making her debut after moving to Boston last year. Skoler has long been a factor in this event, Buck has reached the quarterfinals three times since 2018, and Brinker enters as a proven national-caliber player.
Another strong trio features the 10:01 a.m. grouping of Shannon Johnson (Thorny Lea GC), the 2018 Mass Women’s Amateur and U.S. Women’s Mid-Am champion; Liz Gallinaro (Charles River CC), a former UConn hockey player, who continues to improve in the midst of her third year competing in this event; and Mekhala Costello (Blue Hill CC), last year’s medalist and semifinalist who has top-five finishes in both the Massachusetts Women’s Stroke Play and New England Women’s Amateur this year. Johnson and Gallinaro both share hockey backgrounds, with Johnson getting her start growing up in South Dakota. Costello, meanwhile, currently competes in soccer and golf at Amherst College. Overall, this is a group of capital-A athletes.
Playing right behind are two past champions: Claire Richardson (The Country Club), who has titles in 2007 and 2012, and Mary Chamberlain (Cummaquid Golf Club), the 2009 winner, who returned earlier this year after stepping away from the game for hip surgery. They’ll be teamed with Mackenzie Whitney (Oak Hill Country Club), the rising senior at Siena College, who has made match play each of the past four years and recently caddied for defending champion Morgan Smith in her victory in the Ouimet Memorial Tournament.
Concord Country Club has long ranked among Donald Ross’ more demanding designs. Founded in 1895 as Concord Golf Club at the foot of Nashawtuc Hill, it became one of four founding members of the Women’s Golf Association of Boston in 1900, the same year Concord’s Grace Keyes won the inaugural Massachusetts Women’s Amateur Championship. In 1913, after outgrowing its leased land, the club relocated to the former Brown Farm across town, hiring Ross to design the original nine holes, today’s 1st, 8th, 9th, and 13th–18th, which opened on July 4, 1914. Ross returned in 1928 to build a second nine on more rugged terrain, creating the 18-hole layout that opened in 1930 and remains largely intact today, defined by crowned greens and bunkering that demand precision.
The challenge arrives early. Holes 2–4 are all par 4s over 360 yards, each with its own mix of doglegs, elevation changes, and exacting approach shots. The 5th plays as a 445-yard par-5. The 440-yard 16th will also play as a par-5, bringing the par up to 72, unlike 70 for the 2022 Mass Amateur.
The par 3s are no relief: the downhill 6th has a ridge bisecting the green that can turn a birdie look into a three-putt, while the 147-yard 9th hides its bite behind a steep false front. On the back nine, the par-5 500-yard 17th is a brute, with a creek splitting the fairway before flowing into a pond that guards the green. That’ll set up the par-4 18th with a difficult green guarded by two large bunkers in the front.
A throwback to the 9th-hole feature from the 2022 Massachusetts Amateur:
The short par-3 9th at Concord CC has danger lurking at the front of the green. See what players will face on this featured hole throughout the week.#MassAm | #MassGolf pic.twitter.com/XhyErCW7bM
— Mass Golf (@PlayMassGolf) July 11, 2022
For complete coverage of the 122nd Massachusetts Women’s Amateur Championship, visit MassGolf.org or follow Mass Golf on Facebook, X, and Instagram at @PlayMassGolf and use the hashtag #MassWomensAm.
