2011 Senior Women’s Championship

Brenda Pictor Cruises to Third-Straight Senior Women’s Championship
Reigning GSGA Player of the Year becomes first to win four titles in this event

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), 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.

 

The GSGA Senior Women’s Championship is conducted by the Georgia State Golf Association.  Entries were open to female amateur golfers at least 50 years old as of August 30, 2011, who belong to a GSGA Member Club.   The field of 101 was divided into nine flights based on USGA Handicap Indexes.

 

Founded in 1916, the Georgia State Golf Association (GSGA) received its official charter on June 24, 1924.  Since that date, the GSGA has grown to one of the largest state amateur golf associations in the country, with over 350 member clubs and 85,000 individual members.  With a mission to promote and preserve amateur golf in the state of Georgia, GSGA offers a computerized handicapping service, course rating and measuring, and annually conducts a full schedule of statewide competitions for men and women of all age groups.  Other services include a summer-long junior sectional program, award-winning Golf Georgia magazine, membership recognition and rewards programs, management of the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame and a charitable foundation administering two college scholarship programs.