2020 City Women’s Championship
The Sacramento Golf Council proudly announces the results of the 85th Annual Sacramento City Women’s Golf Championship. The Council wishes to thank each and every player that participated in the event as well as all the staff and volunteers from the Council and from the Morton Golf Staff at Bing Maloney that helped make this another wonderful golf tournament. We had a lot of discussions about whether it would be appropriate to hold the tournament this year given the health concerns, but after meeting with Morton Golf and following County Health Guides, we feel confident in our new Covid Safety Protocols that minimize the number of contacts for the golfers and tournament staff.
We had an excellent turnout of 62 ladies teeing it up on the weekend with 45 playing at gross in the Championship Flight and 17 ladies playing in two handicap flights. The Championship Flight played from the gold tees at about 5900 yards at par 73 and the handicap flights played the red tees at about 5200 yards at Par 72.
Sean Wong, tournament director, would like to especially thank the players for their support, and special thanks to all the out of area players for making the long trip to Sacramento. Special thanks also to tournament co-directors Mike Fleming, Janice Luis, Larry Glasmire, Greg Bisi and Peggy Chan for their hard work, and to George Golden, the tournament director at Bing Maloney, and to Mike McGrath, Director of Golf at Bing, and his staff for getting the course into excellent shape for the tournament. We could not have held the tournament without their help.
As has been the case for the last several years, the quality of the field has been very strong, with 29 players under a 3.0 index, as well as diverse, with top high school players, college players, including our returning 2019 Champion Nicole Schroeder, from Oregon State, and some post-graduate players, including Karen Garcia, 2015 US Senior Women’s Amateur Champion.
It was a warm windy weekend that contributed to scores about 2 strokes higher than in previous years. On Saturday, only two players came in under par with tournament veteran, Clare Sorensen, former standout at the University of San Francisco, shooting a 2 under 71, highlighted with birdies at Holes 4, 7, 14 and 17. Annika Borelli, current Junior at USF was one back, shooting a one under par 72. 2018 Sac County Women’s Champion Lexi Perry of Rancho Murieta, a Senior at Boise State, led a group at even par that included Ellie Bushnell of Granite Bay, coming off a stellar Freshman Year at Granite Bay HS that included a NorCal High School Championship tournament record 67, and Kelly Wilson of El Dorado Hills, former professional tennis player and University of Texas at Austin All-American at Texas. 2019 County Champion Elizabeth Scholtes of Alameda, a Junior at Cal Poly SLO also put herself in contention with a one over 74. Defending Sac City Champion Nicole Schroeder, of Rocklin and graduating senior at Oregon State, struggled a bit with a two over 75.
On Sunday, also very windy at times, perhaps shaking off the rust from the pandemic, several scores came in under par. First to come in under par was Nicole Schroeder, who made a charge up the leaderboard with seven birdies at Holes 1, 2 5, 9, 14, 17 and 18. A double bogey on the difficult 12th Hole, however, proved too much to overcome as she came in with a 3 under 70, leader in the clubhouse at one under for the two days. Also in her group, Sienna Lyford of Roseville, a junior at UC Irvine, shot a solid one under par round of 71. The next group also had two players come in under par with Ellie Bushnell and Elizabeth Scholtes both coming in with five birdies each, but unfortunately Ellie was slowed by a bogey-double bogey start at Holes 1 and 2, and Elizabeth also unable to overcome a double bogey 6 on Hole 7. In the final group, Lexi Perry and Annika Borelli both played steady golf all day but never got it going with even par 73s to shoot even and one under for the weekend. Clare Sorensen, a local high school star at Christian Brothers HS prior to her collegiate career, was solid the whole day, holding onto the lead until she missed the green on 18 and made a costly bogey for a 74, joining Nicole, Ellie and Annika at one under par.
Kelly Wilson, who had not won the tournament despite playing in several final groups over the years, played stellar golf over the weekend with only two bogeys. On Sunday, she birdied Holes 7, 9 and 14 to go with a single bogey on Hole 10 to shoot a 2 under 71. On hole 18 tied with Clare Sorensen and one up on Annika Borelli, Ellie Bushnell and Nicole Schroeder, she made a testy four footer for par and the win to become the 2020 Sacramento City Women’s Champion. After the round, Kelly credited the support of her husband Bill for taking care of her two young boys during her 6:30am practice rounds, and her son Drake, for finding a lucky yellow tee in her practice round that she used for every drive during the weekend. The win also comes 25 years after she led the University of Texas to the 1995 NCAA Women’s Tennis Championship. Kelly also takes home a $300 Morton Golf Gift Card for the win. Congratulations Kelly!!!
Before Kelly’s exciting win in the afternoon, the Council also crowned new champions in the handicap divisions earlier in the day. In the President’s Flight, ladies with handicaps ranging from 6 to 13, Tyra Jarvis of Sacramento rebounded from a first round 75 to come from behind with a 5 under net 67 on Sunday to win by three strokes over Sacramento Golf Council’s own Charlotte Wells to win the $125 Morton Golf gift card. In the President’s Flight, ladies with handicaps 6 to 13, Marcia Whiting of Gold River, similarly overcame a first round net score of 76 to fire a 77 gross, net 69, on Sunday to claim a one shot victory over first round leader Vicki Philpott of Roseville to also win a $125 Morton Golf gift card.