2019 Yearbook.indd

32 | L eanne Smith won her first IGA Championship during the 2019 IGAWomen’sMatch Play. Coming in as the 7 seed after qualifying, she had to battle her way through four matches before being crowned the winner. After disspelling Nancy Lorenzini in the first round, Smith faced the number 2 seed, Amelia Mehmet-Grohn in the quarterfinals. A ‘streaky putter’, as it would later be described, helped propel Smith to a 1 up victory over the Iowa State senior-to-be. In her semifinal match, it again would be close, this time against another college senior-to-be, Paige Seiser of Illinois State. Smith held a one up lead heading into 18 but a par by Seiser would push the match into extra holes. One extra hole was all that was needed as Smith drained a birdie putt to propel her into the finals. Eventual runner-up Joy Chou, a rising junior at Iowa State, had a different route to the finals. After receiving a first-round bye, per the number 1 seed, Chou had played just 30 holes of golf in comparison to Smiths’ 52. She dispatched Jordan Amelon of Iowa City, 4 & 3 during the quarterfinals. Her semifinal match against Karli Kerrigan, of Ankeny, was neck and neck through 11 holes. Through those 11 holes, 1 up was the biggest lead either held. At that point, Chou took control. She reeled off four straight birdies to finish Kerrigan off 4 & 3, claiming her spot in the championship match. In the final match, Smith would ride her hot putter and jump out to 3 up lead at the turn, then increase that to 4 up through 10. Chou would go on to win holes 12 and 13 to shrink Smith's lead to 2 up before an errant tee shot on 15 lead to a double bogey. That left her 3 down with 3 to play. And she battled all the way back. Chou made par on holes 16, 17 & 18 which was good enough for the win each time. That meant, for the second time that day, Smith was taken to extra holes. And as Yogi Berra once said - it was deja vu all over again. After playing the par-5 1st hole beautifully, Smith once again had a 10-foot birdie putt to win the match. And once again, she drained it. This time it led directly to her first IGA Match Play Championship. IGA WOMEN’S MATCH PLAY TOURNAMENT CLUB OF IOWA, POLK CITY JUNE 24-27, 2019 Rol lercoaster r ide leads to Match Play t it le for Smith