BATH ? Barb Schmid (Grand Rapids / Egypt Valley) was the Michigan Women?s Senior Amateur champion at Hawk Hollow Golf Course June 30. The 55-year old Schmid said the tournament has been elusive for her, which makes victory all the sweeter.
?I am thrilled to win this tournament,? said Schmid. ?I wanted to get my name on this trophy. I won the senior stroke play tournament in 2005 so since then, I really wanted to grab this one too.?
Schmid?s goal was to be seeded well for match play. She was the stroke play medalist, but her first match against Linda Brant proved tougher than she anticipated.
?She shot a 94 in the qualifier and then played out of her mind in our match,? said Schmid. ?I was two down at the turn but I managed to come back strong. I won?t say it was my toughest match because all of them were tough, but she played very, very well.?
Schmid won the match 2 up.
?Sue Campbell (Kalamazoo) was psychologically tough in the second round because she beat me the previous year in both stroke play and match play,? said Schmid. ??And then Claudia Cenko (Beverly Hills) played very well in the finals.?
Schmid defeated Campbell 3 & 2 and won the final match against Cenko 2 up.
Despite being extremely focused, Schmid said it helped her to think less about her golf game and just let her natural instincts as an athlete take over.
?Sometimes when you are not trying so hard to get the perfect swing you can actually play golf,? said Schmid.
