Whaley leads Pano by 1 after opening day at Dixie Women's Am
Kelly Whaley (UNC Athletics/Twitter photo)
TAMARAC, Fla. (Dec. 18, 2018) – The name Whaley is becoming rather recognizable in the golf world. In college- and amateur-golf circles, the younger Whaley is doing just as much to make it known as Whaley senior is doing on a national level.
After the first round of the Dixie Women’s Amateur,
Kelly Whaley leads by a shot with an opening 4-under 68 at Woodlands Country Club that didn’t include a single bogey. Whaley, of course, is the daughter of PGA of America president Suzy Whaley.
A senior at the University of North Carolina, Kelly Whaley has the distinction of having started in every tournament of her career. She has two victories in three and a half years. The thing that’s lacking on Whaley’s resume is a national amateur win.
A year ago at this event, Whaley, who hails from Farmington, Conn., scored a top-10. It put her in the conversation with All-Americans and Curtis Cuppers. This year, after 18 holes, Whaley is holding off an impressive collection of young talent.
Behind Whaley, 14-year-old
Alexa Pano fired a 3-under 69 to reach solo second. Pano was a junior Ryder Cupper who finished runner-up at the U.S. Girls’ Junior in July. Pano hails from Lake Worth, Fla., roughly 40 miles north of Tamarac.
Faith Choi and
Julia Matzat are tied for third at 2-under 70. A group of seven players are tied for fifth another shot back, including Clemson freshman
Alexandra Swayne and incoming Duke freshman
Megan Furtney.
ABOUT THE Dixie Women's Amateur
72-hole stroke invitational women's stroke play
championship. Field consists of
former Dixie
Amateur
Champions, and women from around the world
invited by the
Tournament Committee. (You may request an
invitation at
www.dixieamateur.com).
Tournament takes on extra
importance as one of the last major
international
amateur
events to be played
before the Augusta National Women's Amateur
(ANWA) determines their
ranking-based exemption list. The field limit will
be
108
players. Field
is cut after 54 holes to
the low 66 players and ties.
View Complete Tournament Information