Birdies help Stasi top Pano for Doherty championship

Schlesinger succeeds in defending Senior Championship title.

FORT LAUDERDALE — Meghan Stasi was on the practice green Friday morning at Coral Ridge Country Club when she figured out something she’d been told about her putting stroke.

That revelation could not have come at a better time, as Stasi sank five birdie putts, including a 33-footer on the final hole, to defeat Alexa Pano 5 and 4 for the Ama- teur division title in the 86th Ione D. Jones/Doherty Women’s Amateur Championship.

“Before I teed off, I had something click from about three years ago that John Skaf told me,” said Stasi of her remarkable putting display on greens where three- putts and four-putts were not unusual in the five-day tournament. “He’s a putting genius. I wish it would’ve clicked three years ago.”

Lisa Schlesinger of Fort Myers successfully defended her Senior Championship division title, beating Terrill Samuel of Toronto 2 and 1 in a rematch of last year’s final.

In the Senior First Flight final, Tama Caldabaugh of Ponte Vedra Beach defeated Jewell Malick of Heath, Texas, 3 and 2. The match was all square through 13 holes, then Caldabaugh won the next three holes.

For Stasi, 39, of Oakland Park, it was her second Doherty title. The four-time U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champ won her first Doherty in 2012.

Pano, 13, of Lake Worth, was the defending champ, and although she played well Friday, she never had a chance against the red-hot Stasi.

“She just played lights-out,” Pano said. “There’s nothing you can do about that.”

After they halved the first two holes, Stasi won the par-4 third with a par after she hit out of a greenside bunker to about 15 feet and made the putt. Pano, who had been in the same bunker, missed a slightly shorter putt.

Stasi then made a 10-footer for birdie on the par-5 fourth, a 5-footer on the par-3 fifth and a four-footer on the par-5 seventh to take a 4-up lead.

Bogeys by Stasi from a greenside bunker at the ninth and after hitting trees on her drive and approach shot at the 10th allowed Pano to cut her deficit to two down. But Stasi got back on track when she pitched her third shot on the par-5 11th to 6 feet and made the birdie putt to go three up.

“Nine and 10 got me, so I just wanted to make sure I didn’t do anything crazy on 11,” Stasi said.

Stasi won the 12th hole to go four up when she twoputted for par from the top level of the par-3 green and Pano three-putted from the bottom of the steeply sloped green.

After both players twoputted for par on the par-5 13th, Pano was facing a mustmake par putt on the 14th after hitting out of a greenside bunker, but Stasi ended the match with her long birdie putt.

“I knew she had a good chance of making par there,” Stasi said. “All I really wanted to do was two-putt, and I made a good stroke.

“It’s a good win. A very good win.”