ACWORTH, Ga. – With a final-round, 3-under-par 69, Brenda Pictor of Marietta cruised a 12-stroke victory in the 14th annual GSGA Senior Women’s Championship, which took place August 30-31 at Brookstone Golf and Country Club. Pictor finished at 1-over 145 for the Championship to secure her third-straight and record fourth overall title in this competition.
Jane Duggan of Atlanta and Cheryl Grigg of Sea Island tied for runner-up honors at 157. Grigg scored a 75 in the final round, while Duggan posted a 76. They were the only competitors, aside from Pictor, to post a score below 80 during the 36-hole tournament.
Deborah Agran of Greensboro, Mary Riley of Perry, and first-flight winner Debra Partridge of Roswell tied for fourth overall at 162. Riley was runner-up to Pictor in 2010, while Agran placed third last year.
Susan Rheney of Greensboro sat solo in seventh at 164, while third-flight winner Jill Reichelderfer of Lilburn placed eighth at 166. Past champion Rochelle Weaver of Resaca (2000) won the second flight and finished ninth overall at 167. Three players– Cynthia Norten of Dunwoody, Maria Johnson of Jesup and Helen Joyce of Cumming – tied for 10th at 168.
Pictor began the final round with a four-shot lead over Agran and Rheney. That lead was never in doubt as she posted five straight birdies on holes 2 through 6 to make the turn with a 5-under 31. Bogeys on holes 10 and 11 slowed her torrid pace, but she finished with seven straight pars for her 3-under 69. Her 12-shot margin of victory is believed to be the largest in the 14-year history of the Championship.
Pictor, who won her first GSGA Senior Women’s Championship in 2007, is the first to capture four titles in this event. She has been the GSGA Senior Women’s Player of the Year in each of the last four seasons, sharing title in 2007 with Darlene Werhnyak and winning the next three outright). She is also the current GSGA Tommy Barnes Award winner signifying the Association’s overall Player of the Year.
Other flight winners included Donnie Faucette of Big Canoe in the fourth (171), Hai-Ping Lee of Cumming in the fifth (166), and Julie Hebert of Marietta in the sixth (170), Brenda Evans of Fort Valley in the seventh (183), and Thelma Henry of Alpharetta in the eighth (192).
Brookstone Golf and Country Club played to 5,623 yards and a par 72 for the Championship through third flights, which were eligible for the overall title. The fourth through ninth flights played the course at 5,055 yards.