SOUTH HADLEY, Massachusetts – Morgan Smith (Vesper Country Club) and Rebecca Skoler (Pine Brook Country Club) have each played 97 holes this week at The Orchards Golf Club to get to this point. And now the two young standouts are the two players left standing in the 119th Massachusetts Women’s Amateur Championship.
The two will square off in the 18-hole championship match at 7:30 Friday morning. Mass Golf will carry the match live on Instagram (@playmassgolf).
Both players cruised to victory in the quarterfinals Thursday morning. In the semifinals, Smith kept it rolling, as the 18-year-old Westford native knocked off defending champion Catie Schernecker (The Country Club), 3&2.
Meanwhile, Skoler played the closest contest of the day, as the 20-year-old Needham native and University of Virginia sophomore edged out 16-year-old Emma Abramson (The Ridge Club) from Sandwich in a 4-hour match that went the distance.
Smith reached the quarterfinals last year but said she felt disappointed with her play overall. But she’s taken her game to new heights this year, thanks in part to her offseason training.
“I started working out two hours a day, six days a week, all winter long,” Smith said after her semifinal victory. “Now I’m hitting it 240 [yards], I can hit some of the par-5s in two, and I feel a lot stronger on the golf course. When I won the New England Women’s Amateur by 12 [strokes], I said, ‘I can do this.'”
Making the final has also been several years in the making for Skoler, who won medalist last year and lost in the quarterfinals, but made the semifinals the year prior.
“Every day has been an improvement,” Skoler said. “I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing and enjoy making it to the finals for sure.”
Scroll down for the full match recaps.
ROAD TO THE FINAL
Stroke Play: 71-69–140 (1st place/medalist)
R32: Def. Amy Lyon, 5&3
R16: Def. Chelsea Curtis, 5&4
Quarterfinals: Def. Megan Buck, 3&2
Semifinals: Def. Catie Schernecker, 3&2
ROAD TO THE FINAL
Stroke Play: 74-71–145 (2nd place)
R32: Def. Rio Pearlstein, 5&4
R16: Def. Keira Joshi, 6&4
Quarterfinals: Def. Molly Smith, 4&3
Semifinals: Def. Emma Abramson, 1-up
1-Morgan Smith (Vesper Country Club) def. 4-Catie Schernecker (The Country Club), 3&2
Morgan Smith continued to pump drives in the fairways and roll the ball well with her long putter to knock off last year’s Mass Women’s Amateur champion.
After making a 10-footer for birdie on the 4th hole to go 3-up, Schernecker hooked her tee shot left on the par-3 5th. However, it stayed in play, and she was able to chip-in to bring it back to 2-up. Smith remained steady as she won the 10th and 12th holes to push it to 4-up through 12.
In a rare display of outward emotion, Smith pumped her right fist and fist-bumped her little sister and caddie Maddie, as her 20-foot, right-to-left birdie putt fell into the hole on the 14th. Needing to make her difficult downhill putt to extend the match, Catie Schernecker stepped up and hit it right at the hole, and it fell in to keep it going.
“There’s some putts that you see that you know you’re going to make, and that was one of those,” Smith said. “But it’s match play, I have to think she’s making it so I had to make that putt. It was a swinger, so those are definitely the harder putts to make, so I was just pumped.”
On the 15th, Smith hit her drive down the middle, but hit one club two much as it flew the green, leaving her a difficult chip back toward the hole. Schernecker was able to two-putt her way to win the hole, bringing the match to a 3-up dormie. On the par-5 16th, Smith laid up short in the fairway before the creek, and Schernecker topped a hybrid into the rough in front. Schernecker had a shot at birdie but it missed, giving the victory to Smith.
2-Rebecca Skoler (Pine Brook Country Club) vs. 6-Emma Abramson (The Ridge Club), 1-up
Every time Rebecca Skoler tried to pull away, Emma Abramson found a way to claw herself back in it. Skoler got up-and-down from the left rough for birdie to take a 1-up lead at the turn and then went up 2-up with another birdie on the 13th.
On the 14th, Abramson fought her way back with a pair of 10-foot birdie putts on the 14th and 15th to tie the match, bringing it down to a showdown over the final three holes. Despite finding the fescue on the 16th, Abramson had a nice punch out into the fairway and then stuck her approach to about 5 feet and made it for birdie. Skoler then got up-and-down from in front of the green to earn a birdie herself.
Both players erred on the par-3 17th, which was playing downwind. Abramson missed far left, and her chip rolled down to the far right side of the green. Skoler was directly behind the green, but she hit a beautiful flop shot to about a foot, which was conceded for a birdie.
“I’m super comfortable with that flop shot, and I felt really good over it,” Skoler said. “When the ball striking is a little all over place, it’s really nice to have so much trust in your short game and your putting, and just grinding there to save par, and maybe get some good kicks and a few birdies.”
Rebecca Skoler is into the Finals of the #MassWomensAm! This flop shot to the moon won her the 17th hole, setting up the victory on 18. #MassGolf pic.twitter.com/tiGtmrKOrB
— Mass Golf (@PlayMassGolf) August 18, 2022
The drama didn’t end there, as Skoler’s tee shot on the par-4 18th sailed into the penalty area on the right lined with bushes, while Abramson was in the left rough. Skoler took a drop, and pulled a 3-hybrid. Her ball hit in front of the two-tiered green, rolled up toward the top shelf where the flagstick was located, and it sat for about a second before rolling back to the lower tier. Abramson’s approach shot sailed far right, leaving her a difficult chip, which rolled down to the left side of the green. Skoler then clinched the match with a difficult uphill putt to about 2 feet, and Abramson missed her putt to end it.
“I didn’t want to hit a fairway wood out of the rough,” Skoler said. “I took the 3-hybrid and got lucky. I hit a really great shot, it bounced up, so that was really nice.”
1-Morgan Smith (Vesper Country Club) def. 8-Megan Buck (Thorny Lea GC), 3&2
A pair of early bogeys didn’t faze Morgan Smith as she dialed it in with birdies on the 3rd and 7th holes to move to 3-up at the turn and knock off the remaining mid-amateur player in the field. Despite missing the green on the 12th, Smith was able to save bogey and keep the lead at 2-up. An errant chip by Buck on the 15th helped put Smith 3-up, and she closed out the match by firing a dart into the 16th, and Buck missed the birdie putt to end it.
4-Catie Schernecker (The Country Club) def. 13-Piper Jordan (Boston Golf Club), 3&2
Despite losing the first two holes with bogies, Catie Schernecker rallied back to earn a return trip to the semifinals. Schernecker won the 4th and 5th holes and took the lead by winning the 8th. Piper Jordan, in her first quarterfinal appearance, tied the match with a clutch par on the 11th, but Schernecker birdied the 13th and won the 14th and closed the match out on the 16th.
2-Rebecca Skoler (Pine Brook Country Club) def. 7-Molly Smith (Vesper Country Club), 4&3
In a rematch of last year’s quarterfinal matchup, Rebecca Skoler came out on top this time by shooting 35 on the front nine, taking the lead with a par on the 8th and adding to it by winning the 10th and 11th with a clutch par putts. Molly Smith matched Skoler with birdies on the 12th and 13th, but Skoler closed it out by winning the 14th with a par.
6-Emma Abramson (The Ridge Club) def. 14-Tate Hadges (Thorny Lea Golf Club), 7&6
Emma Abramson led wire-to-wire, shooting an even-par 36 on the front nine that included a challenging made birdie putt on the 3rd and another from pin high on the 9th to put her 5-up at the turn. Tate Hadges, the Holy Cross rising senior, tied the 10th hole, but Abramson closed out the match by making par on the 11th and 12th.
This birdie on 9 moves Emma Abramson to 5-up in her quarterfinal match. #MassWomensAm
Live Scoring: https://t.co/GRO6QQiMY9 pic.twitter.com/roXIsxIrOq
— Mass Golf (@PlayMassGolf) August 18, 2022
Here are some other tidbits from Day 4 at the Massachusetts Women’s Amateur Championship.
Morgan moving on 👊#MassWomensAm | #MassGolf pic.twitter.com/sDGsA1yV7j
— Mass Golf (@PlayMassGolf) August 18, 2022
If you’re near South Hadley, come on down and watch some really phenomenal golf on a gorgeous day. I’m stoked to get to watch a defending champ fight for her title – Schernecker making it to the Final 4 is so exciting, and Smith has been playing GREAT all week long.
— Hannah Bevis (@Hannah_Bevis1) August 18, 2022
Some morning 📸 from the #MassWomensAm. pic.twitter.com/L26tGJ9kO9
— Mass Golf (@PlayMassGolf) August 18, 2022
