Lindsey Lammers (Milan) had her first experience with match play this week at the 32nd GAM Girls Junior State Amateur at Burning Tree Golf & Country Club and emerged as the 2010 champion after defeating Kelly Hartigan (Clinton Twp.) 1 up.
“It was very close,” said Lammers. “The whole tournament was very close. I was always coming back or someone was putting it close on me.”
Lammers was 1 up after the first hole and was 3 up after the 10th hole. But Hartigan closed the gap on the back nine making for some exciting play on the final holes.
“It was a little nerve wracking,” admitted Lammers. “I just kept telling myself to play my own game and stay calm.”
Lammers had to go to a playoff with Rosalie Shyu (Rochester Hills) to determine the stroke play medalist. Both players had two-day totals of 148 and Lammers was the only player to shoot a round under par when she tallied a 71 on the second day of stroke play. Shyu won medalist honors but the sting of losing that playoff hole was eased when Lammers won the championship. Lammers’ semi-final match with Melissa Beurmann (Jackson) went to 19 holes and she defeated Gabrielle Yurik (Oakland) 1 up in the quarterfinal round.
“This was definitely a great learning experience for me,” said Lammers. “I had never played in a playoff before and I had never played in match play before. And I never walked 35 holes in a tournament before. This really taught me how to stay calm.”
Lammers is a graduate of Milan High School and will play for Detroit Mercy this fall.
