Annika Clark
WACO, Texas — The Championship Match is set
for the 94th Women's
Texas State Amateur after University of Houston
sophomore Maddy
Rayner from Southlake and TCU freshman
Annika Clark from Highlands
won their Semifinals matches Thursday
afternoon at scenic Ridgewood
Country Club.
Rayner and Clark will square off Friday at 9:40
a.m. for the oldest and
most prestigious women’s amateur title in
Texas.
The fifth-seeded Rayner defeated University of
Mississippi senior Abby
Newton, the No. 8 seed from Katy, 3&2, in the
afternoon Semifinals.
Earlier in the day, Rayner in the Quarterfinals
defeated 20th-seeded
Megan Woods in 19 holes.
Clark, the 11th seed, defeated Rayner’s UH
teammate, second-seeded
Emily Gilbreth from Bellaire, 4&3. Prior to that
match, Clark held off
No. 14 seed Allie Andersen from The Woodlands,
3&2, in the
Quarterfinals.
Rayner has been honest all week about her
expectations. She’s working
through a swing change implemented a couple
months ago, and said
she just hoped to make it to the Championship
Flight and win a couple
matches. She added she felt some pressure to
keep up with two of her
UH teammates, Gilbreth and Megan Thothong,
the Qualifying Round
medalist and overall No. 1 seed who was upset
in the Round of 16 by
Ovilla’s Kirsten Pike.
Now she’s the last UH Cougar standing with a
chance to make history
Friday.
“I am a little surprised,” Rayner said of reaching
the finals. “I’m still
learning things about my swing, even in the
middle of matches. But I’m
really excited about playing tomorrow.”
Courtney Tibiletti, the fourth member of the UH
Women’s Golf team
who played this week at the 94th WTGA State
Amateur, said she’s not
surprised to see Rayner keep winning.
“She’s one of the scrappiest players on our
team,” said Tibiletti, who
lost in a Quarterfinals match in the First Flight.
Rayner will have to fight off one of the hottest
putters in the field to
win the state title.
Clark made almost 75 feet of birdie putts in her
first six holes against
Gilbreth on the way to an early 4-up lead. Clark
birdied four of her first
six, including a 40-foot bomb on the par-4 sixth
hole. She said she
recently worked on a putting drill with her
teacher Art Scarbrough of
Lakeside Country Club in Houston. After
practicing the drill with her
dad, it started to click for Clark.
“Usually I just try to get those long putts down
within a foot or two,”
said Clark, who turned 18 on Tuesday. “Today
they were dropping, so I
just kept trying to make them.”
Gilbreth battled back with a two-putt birdie on
the ninth hole, an
undulating par 5 that ultimately plays uphill into
a massive green. Clark
gave a hole back with a three-putt on the 12th
hole, but she pulled
away an won with a birdie on the par-5 15th.
“I really feel comfortable on this golf course,”
said Clark, who in 2013
finished fifth at Ridgewood CC at the Starburst
Junior Classic. “I usually
don’t like bentgrass greens, but I really like
these. I can see my lines
on them and I like the way they roll.”
A couple of underclassmen at their respective
schools, Rayner and
Clark are good examples of the type of young
talent coming into their
own on the college level. Both had decorated
junior careers. Clark won
three times on the Legends Junior Tour,
including the 2013 Texas State
Junior Championship, and won the LJT’s 2014
James A. Ragan
Sportsmanship Award. Rayner won five times as
a junior and in 2013
represented North Texas in the LJT’s Jackie
Burke Cup matches, a year-
end, Ryder Cup-style event for the top players in
the state.
Earlier in the day, Newton put a stop to Pike’s
impressive run with a 1-
up victory. Pike had defeated Arlington’s Camry
Tardy in the Round of
32 before bumping off Thothong. Pike had a 4-up
lead over Newton in
the Quarterfinals, but Newton battled back to
win.
“I just stayed calm and patient because that’s all
you can do,” said
Newton, who squared the match on No. 17 with
a par. She won the
match with an 8-foot birdie on the final hole.
Also in the Quarterfinals, Gilbreth defeated Julie
Houston from Allen,
3&2. Houston in February won the WTGA’s
Eclectic tournament at the
Clubs of Kingwood.
View results for Women's Texas Amateur
ABOUT THE Women's Texas Amateur
Eligibility: Entries are open to female amateur
golfers with a certified GHIN Handicap index.
Player Field: Lowest handicap indexes in multiples of
8 with a maximum of 88 players. In the event the
championship becomes over-subscribed, entries will
be accepted in order of handicap index.
Format: The starting field will consist of 88 total
players. The 32 players with the lowest qualifying
scores will fill the championship flight and contend
for the championship title. The qualifying round is
optional for all but the players with the 32 lowest
handicap indexes on the date the entries close. The
16 players eliminated in the first round of the
championship flight match play may participate in an
18-hole stroke play consolation round. The remaining
players will be flighted into seven flights of eight
based on handicap indexes. The four players
eliminated in the first round of flight matches will
proceed to a consolation match play bracket for each
flight.
View Complete Tournament Information