STEADY LAYTON HOLDS ON TO CLAIM SENIOR WOMEN'S AM TITLE

MANKATO -- Until this week, Ellie Layton had never won a state championship in golf.

She had been kind of sneaking up on one, however, and she got it Tuesday at Mankato Golf Club, where she built a four-stroke lead on the front nine and then hung on to win the Minnesota Senior Women's State Amateur.

Layton wound up with an 82 for her second round, which gave her a 36-hole total of 160 -- and a one-stroke victory.

Jo-Anne Lindsay, a two-time MGA Senior Women's Player of the Year who won this tournament in 1994, finished second at 161 (80-81), and the defending champion, Claudia Pilot, who has already secured this year's Senior Women's Player of the Year Award, was third with a 163 (81-82).

Three players from Hazeltine National were lined up behind them. Anne Zahn shot the low score of the day, an 80, and finished fourth at 165. Mary Flynn was fifth at 166 (80-86), and Julie Lenertz took sixth place with a 167 (83-82).

Layton, who plays out of Midland Hills, is 51 years old, which means that she could be thought of as a Title IX Bubble Girl. She was in high school when Title IX, which mandated equal athletic opportunities for both genders, went into effect and the proliferation of girls sports began. But the culture took a while to catch up with the legislation, and a lot of girls like Layton, who would have been interested in playing organized sports, were never made aware that such things were available to them, even when they were.

"I played golf when I was a kid (at Rochester Golf & Country Club)," she noted. "But we didn't have a high school team, and when I went to Carleton I had no idea that the college had a golf team."

She did continue to play golf in college, though, and some of those rounds were at Mankato.

"I remember that it was wide open then," she said. "But it isn't anymore. This course has really gotten a lot tighter. The trees have closed in."

Nowhere at Mankato GC is that more evident than on the fourth hole. It used to be the easiest par-5 on the course, but now it has the narrowest driving area of any of the par-5's, and there is a sizable lake guarding the green.

Nevertheless, Layton was able to birdie No. 4 on Tuesday. Having started the day with a two-stroke lead over Lindsay and Flynn, after an opening round of 78, she gained another two strokes on Lindsay by shooting 40 on the front nine of the second round, and three on Flynn.

Pilot, the pre-tournament favorite, opened with an 81, but Layton wasn't at all convinced that the three-stroke advantage that gave her over the six-time MGA Women's Player of the Year was enough of a head start.

"I was expecting that Claudia would do what she did in the State Am at Edina (where Pilot shot 84 in the first round and was tied for 39th place, then stormed back with 72-73 to wind up tied for second), and just blow past everyone in the round today," Layton admitted.

But that didn't happen. Instead, Pilot hit a couple of wayward drives into the trees early in her round Tuesday and continued to fight a balky putter while touring the front nine in 44 strokes.

"I hit two shots that went backwards, off the trees," she said. "But the big thing was thta I just never made a putt. I didn't make anything yesterday, and I didn't make anything today."

So with nine holes to go, Pilot found herself seven shots behind. 

Basically, Lindsay was just playing her game. She wasn't hitting all the greens in regulation, but she was keeping the ball in play, and when she did miss a green, it wasn't by much, and she was able to save several pars in the first 10 holes with putts in the 4- to 6-foot range.

She did make one major mistake, at No. 11, where she made a double bogey.

"That actually relaxed me a little bit," she said.

At the par-3 12th, she made another nice par save, from a bunker. Although she had lost two strokes from her lead over Lindsay at the 10th and 11th holes (where Lindsay went birdie-bogey), Layton got one back at the 12th, which Lindsay bogeyed. 

Pilot made a 3-footer for her only birdie of the day at No. 12, but she was still five back at that point.

Layton's lead over the 67-year-old Lindsay was two shots by the time the final foursome reached the 17th tee. Lindsay's drive there ran through the fairway and ended up under a pine tree. It was a chance for Layton to replenish her shrinking lead, but Lindsay managed to save a bogey, and when Layton three-putted the green, the spread remained at two.

The two leaders both drove into the right rough at the pat-5 18th, but they were able to put their second shots into the fairway and leave themselves relatively short third shots. Once again, Layton three-putted, and Lindsay had a chance to tie by making a birdie putt of 15 feet, but she missed.   

Pilot saved her best for the end. She had a 12-footer for birdie at the 17th and an 8-footer at the 18th -- and missed them both

"See what I mean?" she said as she walked off the green. "That's the way I've been putting for two days."

For Layton, the victory seemed to be the logical result in a progression that she's been working on for the past couple of years. 

"I've never really come that close to winning a state tournament," she said, then reconsidered. "Well, actually, I probably wasn't that far from it last year at the Senior Match Play (where she gave Lindsay, the eventual winner, her toughest match by far, losing in 23 holes). And then I was third in this tournament last year, and I was second in the Senior Match Play this year."

In the '08 Senior Match Play, she was tied with Deb Hayes after 16 holes, only to see Hayes birdie the 17th hole, which turned out to be the winning margin in a 1-up victory.

"I guess I have been getting closer and closer, haven't I?" Layton said. "It feels great to finally win one."  

The victory was worth 100 Player Points to Layton in the race for Senior Women's Player of the Year -- except that the race is already over. Pilot, who won the award last year in her first year as a senior, has lapped the field in '08, and the 70 points she got for her third place finish this week pushed her total to 587.5.

Layton has now moved into second place, however, with 203.75. 

Lindsay, who got 80 points for finishing second at Mankato, is third in the SWPOY standings with 145.   

Pilot could also collect her seventh regular Women's Player of the Year Award this year. She has 352.5 points in that race, and is in first place. Olivia Lansing is second with 330, but she's at Drake University now and  won't have a chance to pick up any more points this year.

Leigh Klasse, on the other hand, is at 310 points, in third place, and she could add to that. Both she and Pilot qualified last week for the U.S. Mid-Amateur (Barton Hills CC, Ann Arbor, Mich., beginning Sept. 6), and there will be a potential 300 points available there.

To overtake Pilot, Klasse, the 2007 Women's POY, would have to go two stages further than Pilot. In other words, if Pilot doesn't qualify for match play, then Klasse would need to qualify and win one match. If Pilot makes match play, then Klasse would have to win at least two matches. 

"We'll see how it goes," Pilot said.  "It would be a dream to win both of the Player of the Year awards."

33rd Minnesota Senior Women's State Amateur Championship

At Mankato Golf Club

Par 72

Final results

(For complete results in all flights, go to the Minnesota Women's Golf Association website at www.mwga-online.org, or simply Google "Minnesota Women's Golf Association."

Ellie Layton, Midland Hills CC 78-82 160

Jo-Ann Lindsay, Interlachen CC 80-81 161

Claudia Pilot, Austin CC 81-82 163

Anne Zahn, Hazeltine National GC 85-80 165

Mary Flynn, Hazeltine National GC 80-86 166

Julie Lenertz, Hazeltine Nat GC 85-82 167

Cherie Riesenberg, Minneapolis GC 85-88 173

Susan Allender, Minikahda Club 90-83 173

Mary Raymond, Wayzata CC 88-87 175

Ruth Thoemke, Keller GC 88-87 175

Marti Bronk, Minnesota Valley CC 85-90 175

Bernie Brown, Wapicada CC 87-89 176

Linda Smith, Interlachen CC 87-89 176

Ede Rice, Woodhill CC 87-91 178

Rose Hermodson, Brackett's Crossing 84-95 179

Diane Schultz, Hazeltine National GC 92-87 179

Sigrid Buck, Minnesota Valley CC 92-92 184

Ann Brilley, Baker National GC 93-96 189