Interesting Player Storylines From The Women’s State Team Championship

Eight USGA Champions

There are eight USGA champions in the Women’s State Team field. They are:

Mary Budke of Eugene, Ore. –1972 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion

Carolyn Creekmore of Dallas, Texas – 2004 USGA Senior Women’s Amateur champion

Nancy Fitzgerald of Carmel, Ind. – 1997 USGA Senior Women’s Amateur champion

Kathy Hartwiger of Birmingham, Ala. – 2002 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion

Martha Lang of Mandeville, La. – 1988 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion

Jean Smith of Eagle, Idaho – 1995 USGA Senior Women’s Amateur champion

Carol Semple Thompson of Sewickely, Pa. – Seven-time USGA champion

Corey Weworski of Carlsbad, Calif. – 2004 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion

Past State Team Champion Members in the Field

1995 Pennsylvania – Liz Haines of Gladwyne and Carol Semple Thompson of Sewickley

1997 Alabama – Kathy Hartwiger of Birmingham

1999 Florida – Taffy Brower of Boyton Beach

2001 Minnesota – Leigh Klasse of St. Anthony and Claudia Pilot of Austin

2003 Ohio – Lynn Thompson of Cincinnati

Eight Who’ve Played Them All

These eight women have played in all of the State Team Championships since its beginning in 1995.  They are:

Karen Ferree of Hilton Head, S.C.

Marcia Fisher of Canby, Ore.

Joan Garety of Rockford, Mich.

Liz Haines of Gladwyne, Pa.

Andrea Kraus of Baltimore, Md.

Martha Lang of Mandeville, La.

Susan Machese of Omaha, Neb.

Carol Semple Thompson of Sewickley, Pa.

Hawaii’s Young Stars

Cyd Okino of Honolulu is the youngest player in the Women’s State Team field, at age 11. But even more interesting is that her teammates Erin Matsuoka of Honolulu, and Nicole Sakamoto of Honolulu, are just 17 and 15, respectively. In 2005, Okino became the youngest to win the Hawaii Women’s Match Play Championship.

Husband-Wife Qualifiers

Julie Jansa, 32, of Sioux Falls, S.D., doesn’t need to be away from her husband this week. Her husband, Ryan, 32, is playing for South Dakota in the Men’s State Team Championship here at Berkeley Hall. It’s fitting, since the two of them met on the golf course. Julie was runner-up at the 2005 State Women’s Amateur. She is the junior golf director for the South Dakota Golf Association.

Interesting Individual Storylines

Debbie Adams of Asheville, N.C., is a black belt in karate. She has lived in Pennsylvania and Florida, but now resides in North Carolina, where she has won the 2004 Carolinas Women’s Amateur and the 2004 N.C. Women’s Amateur.

Jamie Berge of Anchorage, Alaska, is among the few in the field who has never played in a previous USGA championship. A Hall of Fame basketball player at Lake Superior State University, she earned a spot on the team by finishing second in two state tournaments and winning the tournament at Moose Run.

Barbara Berkmeyer of St. Louis, Mo., is a retired teacher who has learned how to win in golf. She has won the State Women’s Amateur five times and the State Women’s Senior Amateur six times (2000-2005). She was runner-up in the USGA Senior Women’s Amateur in 2003.

Taffy Brower of Boyton Beach, Fla., is proud of her 13 grandchildren and three great grandchildren, but it doesn’t keep this 60-year-old at home. She has been a quarterfinalist in the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur and USGA Senior Women’s Amateur since 2000, and she was a member of the winning Florida team at this championship in 1999.

Laura Coble of Augusta, Ga., has nearly as many consecutive titles as the Atlanta Braves. She has won the State Women’s Amateur the last four years and the State Match Play Championship the last five years. She has been Player of the Year the last seven years (1998-2004).

Debbie Cyronak of Warwick, R.I., had a great year in 2002, when she won the State Stroke Play title and the Rhode Island Women’s Golf Association Championship to earn Rhode Island Co-Female Athlete of the Year. But she had even better years in 2000 and 2004 when she beat cancer.

Teresa Dottley of Madison, Miss., is somewhat of a pioneer. She played on the first women’s golf team at Mississippi State, in 1980.  A year earlier, she was a member of the first women’s softball team at the University.

Kim Eaton of Greeley, Colo., has spent the last 15 years as a police officer of the local Evans police department. She spent part of the summer of 1983 playing in the Women’s Open, where she tied for 60th.

Katie Falk of Milwaukee, Wis., is one of a handful of golfers who can say they beat Nancy Lopez when she was an amateur. Falk turned the trick in the semifinals of the 1973 Women’s Western Amateur and went on to win the title. She has also played in two Women’s Opens. She is a member of the Wisconsin Golf Hall of Fame.

Liz Haines of Gladwyne, Pa., recently won her 13th Club championship at Merion Golf Club, site of the 2005 U.S. Amateur. She was runner-up at the 2004 USGA Senior Women’s Amateur. She and fellow Pennsylvanian Carol Semple Thompson (of Sewickley) have played in all six State Team Championships.

Mina (Rodriguez) Hardin of Forth Worth, Texas, was born in Mexico City and was the first Mexican to play on the LPGA Tour. A reinstated amateur, Hardin is a past winner of the Texas Women’s Amateur and the Texas Women’s Open. She has been Club champion at Mira Vista Country Club in Fort Worth 10 times.

Felicia Johnston of Tigard, Ore.,. is proud of the fact that at age 31 she was the oldest to make the cut to match play at the 2005 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links – by eight years! She is the women’s golf coach at Portland State, where she was Coach of the Year in the Big Sky Conference each of the past three years.

Tara Joy-Connelly of Marshfield, Mass., won the 2003 State Women’s Amateur and then went on a diet where she has lost 110 pounds in the last 18 months.

Alicia Kaphein of Pennington, N.J., gets plenty of exercise off the golf course. She has run four marathons and claims to snowboard all winter long. She lost in the semifinals of the New Jersey Women’s State Amateur.

Kim Kaul of Colden, N.Y., began taking golf seriously about 13 years ago, after she retired from fast pitch softball, where she earned All-America status in 1992 from the Amateur Softball Association. She was a member of the USA softball team for the 1993 Olympic Festival.

Shelley Savage of Arlington, Va., is a retired U.S. Navy nurse who served onboard the USNS Comfort during Operation Desert Storm, a military action to drive Iraq forces from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in early 1991. She has enjoyed her best golf season, winning the Virginia Senior Women’s Amateur and Virginia Senior Women’s Match Play Championships.

Thuhashini Selvaratnam, 29, of Tempe, Ariz., was born in Sri Lanka, where she won the Sri Launka Open Amateur Championship at the age of 12. She reached the semifinals of the recent 2005 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur.

Melinda Bryant Stefanski of Palmer, Alaska, competes in Lumber Jack competitions when she is away from the golf course. Her Lumber Jack specialties are the axe throw and the cross cut saw event. Her husband, Joel, also competes in Lumber Jack competitions and together they have been featured on several television shoes. Her highlights in golf include winning four Alaska Women’s Amateurs. She has been runner-up for the state title six times. She plays golf right-handed, but putts left-handed.

Jamie Woolfolk, 26, of Brentwood, Tenn., is a fast learner in the sport of golf, since this is her first full season of competition. Before taking to golf, she was a member of the 2000 national champion women’s softball team at the University of Oklahoma. Her husband, Andre, was a member of the 2000 national champion Oklahoma football team.