2008 Women’s Match Play Championship

Stackhouse Stays Steady and Takes Georgia Women's Match Play Championship

CARROLLTON, Ga. – Fourteen-year-old Mariah Stackhouse of Riverdale fell to a three-hole deficit within the first five holes but battled back to defeat Tyrone's Erin Packer, 3 and 2, and successfully defend her title at the Georgia Women's Match Play Championship, which took place April 16-18 at Sunset Hills Country Club. Stackhouse became the first player to capture consecutive victories in the championship since Augusta's Laura Coble tallied five-straight wins from 2001-2005.

 

Leading the match 2 up after 15 holes, Stackhouse connected on a 10-foot birdie putt at the 521-yard 16th hole to close the door on Packer and capture her second Georgia Women's Match Play Championship.

 

"It was so great to play with Erin [Packer] today," Stackhouse said at the match's conclusion. "She is such a great player and great competitor. It was such a good match."

 

Stackhouse's day began with trouble, as she pulled her opening drive left and out of bounds. Packer took advantage of her slow start, winning three of the first five holes and playing at an even-par clip. Stackhouse, however, would turn the corner at the No. 7, a 350-yard par-4. Landing her tee shot in the fairway, the defending champ hit her approach to six-feet and holed the birdie opportunity, her first of the day.

 

"That's when I straightened out my driver," Stackhouse said of her performance on the seventh hole. "I was not hitting it well at all up to that point but I kept telling my self that I wasn't going to give up on the club."

 

Stackhouse capitalized on Packer's misfortunes at numbers eight and nine as well and was able to bring the match back to all square at the turn. Taking to ten, the players exchanged pars. On eleven, though, Packer found the right-side fairway bunker and hit her second shot into the water hazard. Stackhouse's subsequent birdie yielded the teenager her first lead of the day.

 

At the next hole, the 323-yard 12th, Stackhouse missed a three-foot putt to put the match back to all square. A well placed tee shot and a long two-putt by Stackhouse at the 164-yard 13th hole reclaimed her lead and she never looked back. Packer pushed her tee shot at 15 into the water and Stackhouse's par took the hole. Stackhouse closed the door on the next hole with a birdie on the long par-5.

 

Packer, the fifth seed in the championship flight, made it to the finals by first defeating Mary Helen McElreath of Augusta, the eventual winner of the Championship flight's consolation bracket, 3 and 2. She then defeated the reigning GSGA Senior Women's Player of the Year, Brenda Pictor of Marietta in the quarterfinals, 5 and 4, and then topped the reigning GSGA Women's Player of the Year, Augusta's Laura Coble, 1 up, in the semifinals. Stackhouse, the 2007 Georgia Girls' Champion, opened the championship with a win over Claudeen Lindberg of Atlanta, 3 and 2, then defeated Canton's Tracy Marshall, 2 up, in the quarterfinals and fellow teenager Kendall Wright of Suwanee, 3 and 2, in the semifinals.

 

Other flight winners: Belinda Marsh of Alpharetta defeated Marietta's Marilyn Nolan-Johnson, 2 and 1, in the first; Dorothy Beckler of Mableton closed out Barbara Brown of Carrollton after 21 holes in the second flight; Carrollton's Joyce Doss topped Sherry Huchet of Pechtree City, 3 and 2, in the third flight; Sharon Thompson of Carrollton won, 3 and 2, over Bonnie Revoner of Atlanta in the fourth flight; Carrollton's Sharon Loftin won 3 and 2 over Clahoun's Betty Causey in the fifth; and Rose Mary Dixon of Bainbridge posted an 8 and 7 victory over Dalton's Jessica Doyle, in the sixth flight.

 

This was the 11th playing of the Georgia Women's Match Play Championship, which has been held at Sunset Hills Country Club each year. Entries were open to female amateur golfers who are Georgia residents and members of a GSGA member club. The field consisted of the low 64 entrants, who were divided into six flights and seeded by handicap index.

 

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 365 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 and a charitable foundation administering two college scholarship programs.

 

Final Results

 

Championship Flight
Mariah Stackhouse, Riverdale de.f Erin Packer, Tyrone, 3 and 2
Championship Flight Consolation
Mary Helen McElreath, Augusta def. Mary Riley, Perry, 4 and 3

 

First Flight
Belinda Marsh, Alpharetta def. Marilyn Nolan-Johnson, Marietta, 2 and 1
First Flight Consolation
Susan Tucker, Atlanta def. Ellen Connors, Newnan, 2 and 1

 

Second Flight
Dorothy Beckler, Mableton def. Barbara Brown, Carrollton, 21 holes
Second Flight Consolation
Jodie Shepard, Newnan def. Sissi Gann, Kathleen, 3 and 2

 

Third Flight
Joyce Doss, Carrollton def. Sherry Huchet, Peachtree City, 3 and 2
Third Flight Consolation
Olivia Flanagan, Albany def. Carolyn Swart, Marietta, 2 and 1

 

Fourth Flight
Sharon Thompson, Carrollton def. Bonnie Revoner, Atlanta, 3 and 2
Fourth Flight Consolation
Anne Railey, Lawrenceville def. Nancy Abraham, Albany, 2 up

 

Fifth Flight
Sharon Loftin, Carollton def. Betty Causey, Calhoun, 3 and 2
Fifth Flight Consolation
Sandra Hefner, Dalton def. Diane Rowe, Carrollton, 3 and 2

 

Sixth Flight
Rose Mary Dixon, Bainbridge def. Jessica Doyle, Dalton, 8 and 7
Sixth Flight Consolation
Dot Stowe, Trion def. Christina Stahl, Cartersville, by default