Garvin moves to head of class
Holds off Walsh to cap run of success
WESTON — Angela Garvin starts a new chapter of her life as a collegian at the University of Maryland next Thursday. She will be bringing a ton of confidence with her down to College Park as she claimed the 116th Massachusetts Women’s Amateur at Weston Golf Club with a 4 and 3 victory yesterday over Anne Walsh.
MASS. WOMEN’S AMATEUR
It was the culmination of a solid two-week run for Garvin, who was the Girls Junior champion last week and also was the stroke-play medalist for the Amateur with a two-day total of 1-under-par 145. Since the advent of the Girls Junior in 1930, she is the fourth player to win both events in the same year — joining Joanne Goodwin in 1954, Loren Milhench in 1985 and Chelsea Curtis in 2005.
“I don’t think I could ask for any better way to end off the season before starting school,” Garvin said. “It’s helped my confidence and I think I proved to myself how I can play, how I should be able to play and I just hope I can carry this momentum into the fall at Maryland.”
The 18-year-old was steady as she could be throughout the week and that continued into the final match against the 17-yearold Walsh. Garvin hit 10-of12 fairways and 11-of-15 greens, putting pressure on her opponent throughout the match.
Continuing to apply pressure was something she learned following her loss in the final two years ago to Hannah Ghelfi.
“It was really tough to lose that day, but I learned that and I used that today because I did have a lead on the front and it helped me stay focused,” said Garvin, who was 3 up through eight holes in 2017 only to lose the match 2-up. “Even two years ago, losing that tournament gave me that much more motivation to come back and maybe win it.”
It was a big week for the long-hitting Walsh, who had never reached the quarterfinals before this year.
“I learned a lot about what needs to improve and also what I’m doing well,” said Walsh, who heads back to Florida today to start her senior year at IMG Academy and already has given a verbal commitment to Columbia. “I’m really happy with how I played for the majority of the week, and even though it didn’t end how I wanted, I think in the final round, to be in that group and to be in the pressure situations definitely (was) a good experience and something that I can prepare for next time.”
Garvin took advantage of a pair of unforced errors from Walsh at Nos. 2 and 3 to take a 1-up lead. Her lead was 2-up after the seventh as Walsh knocked her second shot into the penalty area on the left side.
Walsh did get one back at the ninth when Garvin’s second shot clipped an overhanging tree. It could have been a stretch where Walsh reclaimed the lead as she was in better position than Garvin, only to miss birdie attempts between 8 and 10 feet at Nos. 8 and 10. Meanwhile Garvin parred each with a solid 2-putt from 40 feet at the uphill par-4 eighth and got up and down from behind the green at the par-3 10th.
Garvin won three straight holes from 11-13 to go 4 up with five holes remaining. She rolled in a 22-footer at No. 12 and followed it up with a nice approach into 13 that left 4 feet for another birdie.
Walsh managed a birdie at the par-5 14th with a solid shot from the right greenside bunker to about 4 feet, but Garvin clinched the win a hole later as Walsh 3-putted.
In the morning semifinals, Garvin knocked out twotime champion Pam Kuong 2 and 1. There was a winner on seven of the first nine holes with Garvin taking a 1-up lead to the back side. The matched stayed that way until the par-4 16th when Garvin made a par to win the hole and earned her second trip to the final tying the par-3 17th with par.
Walsh edged Rebecca Skoler 1 up. Walsh stuck her third shot at the par-5 18th from 109 yards to inside of 2 feet for a conceded birdie, forcing Skoler to make a 20footer from above the hole to send the match to extra holes, only to have it slide past.