Gophers' Free Keeps Rolling, Earns Spot in U.S. Women's Amateur

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By Nick Hunter
nick@mngolf.org
 
 
 WAYZATA, Minn. – Carrying momentum from her win Thursday at the Minnesota Golf Association Women’s Amateur Match Play Championship at Dellwood Country Club, University of Minnesota golfer Joanne Free carded a 1-under 71 Monday at Wayzata Country Club to earn one of four qualifying spots for the 2021 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship.
 
University of Arkansas golfer Julia Gregg posted a round of 3-under 69 to earn a share of medalist honors with Canadian Katie Cranston and an invitation to this year’s national championship, which will be played August 2-8 at Westchester Country Club in Rye, N.Y.
 
Free overcame a rocky start to finish in a three-way tie for third with Auburn University senior Mychael O’Berry and Gopher teammate Grace Curran, and would prevail with O’Berry on the first playoff hole to claim the final two qualifying spots.
 
“I started off with a double and I figured that was going to be my bad hole and got it out of the way,” said Free, who earned a trip to her first USGA championship Monday. “I don’t usually have that mentality, but I knocked the first [birdie] in and I felt good and then they just kept coming. I just let it happen, really.
 
“It was a grind out there at the end, even in the playoff. I was walking up that fairway at the end and I’m in shock—I’m speechless.”
 
Opening with a double-bogey at the first, Free would card a bogey at the sixth, but managed to limit the damage by sinking birdies at both the seventh and ninth holes. She took a step back with a bogey at the 10^th to slip to 2-over for the round, but countered by rolling in a 15-footer at the 12^th and added two more at 13 and 14 to move below par.
 
Solid down the final stretch Monday, Free got up-and-down to save par at the 16 and rolled in a couple of testers for par to finish in a three-way tie for third, where she would advance with a two-putt par.
 
“The happiest thing for me is that I’ve come off the golf course and I’ve not been tired and I’m not mentally drained,” Free said. “I go out there and I’m enjoying it and loving that I’m playing probably the best golf of my career. I’m enjoying every moment of it.”
 
Free, a 23-year-old from Gullane, Scotland, won four straight matches at last week’s MGA Women’s Amateur Match Play Championship before defeating Shelby Busker, 4 and 3, Thursday to earn her first win in the state.
 
Gregg, a native of Farmers Branch, Texas, who will begin her junior season at Arkansas this fall, began her round on the back nine Monday, playing her first seven holes in even par before rolling in a birdie at the par-3 17^th.
 
Back-to-back birdies at the second and third holes put Gregg at 3-under for the tournament, and she would card her third birdie of her back nine at the par-5 sixth hole. A bogey on her final hole of the afternoon would put Gregg into the early clubhouse lead at 3-under 69.
 
“I thought I played well—I didn’t have too many expectations because this is the first event I’ve played in since May,” said Gregg, who qualified for her third U.S. Women’s Amateur Monday. “I kept the ball in the fairway and gave myself a lot of birdie chances. I tried to leave the ball on the low side of the hole to give myself easier putts.
 
“I took advantage of the short par-5’s out here. I’ve been practicing my putting more than I ever have before and it showed. I made a lot of mid-range putts that I probably wouldn’t normally make.”
 
Cranston, a high school senior from Oakville, Ontario, rolled in three birdies against one bogey Monday to turn in 2-under before sinking a 15-footer for birdie at the par-5 12^th. Falling back to 2-under with a bogey at the 16^th, Cranston would finish strong by rolling in a downhill 12-foot putt for birdie to finish tied for the lead with a 69.
 
“I played really solid golf. My putting definitely saved me—I made quite a few clutch par putts out there today,” Cranston said. “I didn’t think my chances were very high to qualify, so my mindset was to go out and play good golf. I haven’t been playing that well recently, so this is big. I’m really excited.”
 
Cranston, who has committed to play collegiate golf at Auburn University in the fall of 2022, will make her first appearance at a USGA championship in August.
 
Curran, a soon-to-be junior for the Gophers, finished as the first alternate Monday, while Wisconsin’s Emily Lauterbach won a three-way playoff to finish as second alternate.
 
Westchester Country Club was designed by Walter Travis and opened in 1922, hosting its first major championship, the U.S. Women’s Amateur, the following year. Westchester Country Club was home to the PGA Tour’s Thunderbird Classic in 1963-65, then the PGA Tour’s Westchester Classic, Buick Classic, and finally the Barclays until 2007.
 
Most recently, the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship was contested at Westchester Country Club in 2015, won by Inbee Park.