Three-time Georgia Women’s Open champion Margaret Shirley reached the finals of the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship, losing on the 19th hole in the title match.
Shirley, a Cobb County native who is the Manager of Rules and Competition for Atlanta Junior Golf, led 1-up after 16 holes, but three-putted the 17th for bogey against Julia Potter, the medalist in stroke play qualifying.
Potter had to save par on the 18th to extend the match, with Shirley just missing a birdie opportunity that would have given her the victory. The playoff lasted only one hole, as Shirley hit her approach shot into a creek fronting the green.
Shirley barely survived her semifinal match, winning the last two holes after being 2-down after 16. She won on the first extra hole when Megan Stassi, the defending champion and four-time winner of the championship, hit her approach into the same creek that Shirley found the next day.
Shirley, who played in college at Auburn and served as an assistant coach for both Georgia and Auburn before joining the AJG staff, was 3rd in stroke play qualifying. She won three of her first four matches by scores of 5&3, 4&3 and 5&4, needing 19 holes in the 3rd round to get past an opponent competing in her hometown.
The tournament was played at Biltmore Forest CC in Asheville, N.C.
Augusta’s Laura Coble reached the quarterfinals in the championship, losing to Stasi on the 19th hole. After a 4&3 win in the first round, Coble won her second match on the 19th hole and reached the quarters with a 1-up victory. Had she won, she would have played Shirley in the semifinals.