Oregon Women's Amateur: Carlile Wins 6 & 5
Jillian Ferrante Carlile
2011 Oregon State Amateur Champion
PORTLAND, ORE (June 25, 2011) -- Ex-Oregon State golfer Jillian Ferrante Carlile took the title with a dominating 6 & 5 win over veteran Lara Tennant - a former women's golf coach at Oregon.
It was a shocker of sorts to many as Tennant has been a perennial all-star, having won numerous titles and being the oldsest player to advance to match play when the U.S. Women's Amateur was contested at Pumpkin Ridge in 2006. She was also the Oregon Amateur runner-up in 2007.
Carlile, on the other hand, stopped playing competitive golf after her eligibility at OSU ended in 2008. "For the first three years, I only played once, and that was in the family scramble," said Carlile, a graduate of Battle Ground High School in Southwest Washington.
As a Waverley member and clearly the home course favorite, many saw a title by Tennant as a fiting conclusion for the current course layout before the course begins a major renovation to return it to match its original Chandler Egan design from 100 years ago.
She beat two college and two high school standouts to reach the finals, and it all seemed within reach as it was close at the halfway point. Tennant was only 1-down and she got it to all-square on the first hole of the afternoon. But then, Carlile won four holes in a row to take a commanding lead all the while Tennant struggled to find fairways and greens, a necessity on the tricky Waverley setup.
Carlile then hit the 445-yard par-5 13th in two, while Tennant ended up in the greenside bunker. When Tennant failed in getting her birdie putt to fall, she threw up her hands and exclaimed, "This old lady's done!" to concede the match.