Ledwein, Herrick Earn Qualifying Spots into U.S. Women’s Mid-Am

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WAYZATA, Minn - Taylor Ledwein fired an ever-par 71 at Woodhill Country Club to earn medalist honors and a spot into the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur, September 9-14, at Stonewall (North Course) in Elverson, Pa.

Ledwein played a steady round with three birdies against three bogeys. She has previously qualified for six USGA events, but this will be her first Mid-Amateur appearance. She made it to the Round of 32 in the 2022 U.S. Women’s Amateur and she can draw off that experience.

“Last year making it to the Round of 32 is really going to help me, knowing that I can do that and playing at a high level like that will be give me confidence and allow me to believe in myself,” Ledwein said following the round.

Ledwein started the round consistently, going two-under-par over her first 12 holes, carding birdies at the third and eleventh holes. She would then stumble with bogeys at three of her next five holes (13, 15 and 16) to fall back to one-over par for the day.

She would bounce back with a birdie at the par-4 17th hole and would finish with a par on the 18th to finish at even-par for the day and earn the medalist spot by 5 shots.

“I hit my driver really well and had great speed on my putts. I hit it to about 3-feet on 17 and made the birdie which gave me the confidence to finish the round. Finishing tournaments has not been my strong suit in the past so putting two really good holes together at the end felt nice.”

Olivia Herrick earned the second and final qualifying spot with a five-over-par 76 to finish one shot ahead of Paige Mccullough. Herrick has qualified for over 20 USGA events in her career including eight times in nine years prior to this year.

Herrick would card seven bogeys against two birdies to claim the final qualifying spot. She would make two clutch pars on her last two holes to stay in that spot. 

Having two kids in the past couple of years has not allowed her to play as much golf, so it means that much more to make it back to yet another USGA event.

“Have two young kids and balancing that with work, I have not got to practice as much as I would like. I came into the round with a level of perspective which was key for me, it brought me level-headedness that I could take anything that was handed to me today,” Herrick said following the round.

Entering her ninth U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur in her career she is excited to get back and will use prior experiences to be successful.

“It means to much to qualify again, it is the pinnacle of events once you hit the Mid-Am age. It is like the national championship and it means a lot to me. It means I definitely need to carve some time out to practice moving into the event.”

Paige Mccullough fired a six-over-par 77 to earn the first alternate spot while Christine Dean fired a nine-over-par 80 to earn the second alternate spot.