U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur: Inside the Field

September 8, 2023 | by United States Golf Association

Aliea Clark (USGA Photo)

The 36th U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur will take place at Stonewall Links North Course in Elverson, Pa., from September 9-14.

WHO’S HERE – Among the 132 golfers in the 2023 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur field, there are:

Oldest Competitors: Annette Gaiotti (70, born 4/10/1953), Carol Davies (68, born 9/29/1954), Danielle Lee (64, born 2/23/1959), Maggie Leef (63, born 8/8/1960), Martha Leach (61, born 12/21/1961)

Youngest Competitors: Jessica Mangrobang (25, born 6/8/1998), Mollie Wallis (25, born 6/2/1998), Catherine McEvoy (25, born 4/27/1998), Sabrina Coffman (25, born 3/22/1998), Courtney Dow (25, born 3/18/1998)

Average Age of Field: 35.7

Field breakdown by age:
Age 25-29: 49 competitors
Age 30-39: 47 competitors
Age 40-49: 15 competitors
Age 50-59: 15 competitors
Age 60-70: 6 competitors

U.S. States Represented – There are 31 states represented in the 2023 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur:

California (12), North Carolina (11), Pennsylvania (11), Texas (9), New York (7), Florida (6), Massachusetts (5), Michigan (5), Oregon (4), Virginia (4), Colorado (3), Georgia (3), Iowa (3), Kentucky (3), Minnesota (3), Ohio (3), Alabama (2), Maryland (2), South Carolina (2), Tennessee (2), Utah (2), Wisconsin (2), Arizona (1), Connecticut (1), Delaware (1), Indiana (1), Kansas (1), Nevada (1), New Jersey (1), Vermont (1), Washington (1)

International – There are 12 countries represented in the 2023 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur: United States (113), Canada (5), Australia (3), Mexico (3), Belgium (1), Czech Republic (1), France (1), Germany (1), India (1), Northern Ireland (1), Republic of Ireland (1), Vietnam (1)

USGA Champions (13): Blakesly Brock (2021 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur), Kelsey Chugg (2017 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur), Lauren Greenlief (2015 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur), Kathy Hartwiger (2002 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur), Sarah LeBrun Ingram (1991, 1993, 1994 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur), Shannon Johnson (2018 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur), Ina Kim-Schaad (2019 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur), Judith Kyrinis (2017 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur), Martha Leach (2009 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur), Julia Potter-Bobb (2013, 2016 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur), Meghan Stasi (2006, 2007, 2010, 2012 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur), Shelly Stouffer (2022 U.S. Women’s Senior Amateur), Lara Tennant (2018, 2019, 2021 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur)

USGA Runners-up (10): Talia Campbell (2019 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur), Kelsey Chugg (2018 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur), Aliea Clark (2021 & 2022 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur), Sarah LeBrun Ingram (1993 U.S. Women’s Amateur), Shannon Johnson (2016 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur), Martha Leach (2011 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur), Ina Kim-Schaad (2000 U.S. Girls’ Junior), Judith Kyrinis (2014 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur), Julia Potter-Bobb (2014 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur), Sue Wooster (2018, 2019 & 2022 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur)

Curtis Cup Team Members (3): Sarah LeBrun Ingram (USA: 1992, 1994, 1996; Captain: 2021, 2022); Brenda Corrie Kuehn (USA, 1996, 1998), Meghan Stasi (USA, 2008; Captain: 2024)

Most U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur Appearances (2023 Included): Martha Leach (34), Tara Joy-Connelly (18), Brenda Corrie Kuehn (17), Meghan Stasi (17), Kathy Hartwiger (16), Maggie Leef (14), Annette Gaiotti (13)

Players from Pennsylvania (11): Isabella DiLisio (Hatfield), Catherine Elliott (Philadelphia), Kate Evanko (West Chester), Erica Herr (New Hope), Katie Miller (Oakmont), Kristina Ortiz (Morrisville), Jackie Rogowicz (Yardley), Kate Scarpetta (Crystal Lake), Libbie Warner (Haverford), Allison Wix (Harrisburg), Katrin Wolfe (Johnstown)

Played in the 2023 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball (9): Kelsey Chugg (MC), Clare Connolly (MC), Isabella DiLisio (MC), Amanda Jacobs (MC), Gretchen Johnson (MC), Julia Potter-Bobb (MC), Jackie Ragowicz (MC), Jessica Spicer (R32), Meghan Stasi (MC)

Played in the 2023 U.S. Women’s Amateur (8): Blakesly Brock (MC), Aliea Clark (R64), Emma Groom (MC), Jackie Rogowicz (R64), Jessica Spicer (MC), Shelly Stouffer (MC), Lara Tennant (MC), Sue Wooster (MC)

Played in the 2023 U.S. Senior Women’s Open (12): Sarah Gallagher (MC), Kathy Hartwiger (37), Tara Joy-Connelly (MC), Brenda Corrie Kuehn (MC), Judith Kyrinis (T6, low amateur), Maggie Leef (MC), Martha Leach (T18), Martha Linscott (MC), Andrea Miller (50), Shelly Stouffer (MC), Lara Tennant (MC), Sue Wooster (T29)

PLAYER NOTES:

Blakesly Brock, 27, of Chattanooga, Tenn., captured the 2021 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur at Berkeley Hall Club in Bluffton, S.C., in her first championship appearance. The former University of Tennessee golfer defeated Aliea Clark, 5 and 4, to become the third-youngest champion in U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur history. Brock won the 2021 Tennessee Women’s Mid-Amateur and is a two-time winner of the Tennessee Girls’ Junior Amateur. She played high school golf at the same school (Baylor School) that counts Harris English, Keith Mitchell and Luke List as alumni.

Aliea Clark, 27, of New York, N.Y., is a two-time U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur finalist in 2021 and 2022. She reached match play in the last two U.S. Women’s Amateurs, most recently at Bel-Air Country Club, the home course of the UCLA golf team, where she played collegiately. Clark, a Southern California native, completed a three-year double master’s program at New York University this May and is now working as an associate for a global management consulting firm in Atlanta. She finished tied for sixth in the 2023 Ladies European Mid-Amateur in Italy.

Clare Connolly, 30, of Chevy Chase, Md., is the business development manager for a Rockville, Md.-based construction company and works as a volunteer with the First Tee of Washington D.C. She is competing in her ninth USGA championship and fifth U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur after reaching the Round of 32 last year at Fiddlesticks. Connolly is a member at Chevy Chase Club, the site of the first Curtis Cup played on U.S. soil in 1934. In 2021, she was the oldest player (28) to reach match play in the U.S. Women’s Amateur at Westchester Country Club in Rye, N.Y.

Isabella DiLisio, 26, of Hatfield, Pa., reached the semifinals in the 2022 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur at Fiddlesticks Country Club. She won the 2014 Pennsylvania Women’s Amateur and finished runner-up in 2021. DiLisio is a three-time club champion at Philadelphia Cricket Club and won the 2022 Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Farnum Cup held there. She was a four-year letter-winner at the University of Notre Dame, capping her career with the ninth-best stroke average in program history. Her great-grandfather, Nick Ciocca, caddied for Ben Hogan in the 1950 U.S. Open at Merion.

Kate Evanko, 25, of West Chester, Pa., is competing in her third USGA championship after playing in both the U.S. Women’s Amateur and U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball in 2016. Since graduating from Georgetown University in 2020, Evanko has taken a break from competitive golf while working as an investment banking analyst and associate in New York City. While moving jobs this summer, she got her game back to a competitive level and now works as a private equity associate. Evanko is currently training for the Chicago Marathon with the goal of qualifying for the Boston Marathon.

Lauren Fournier, 36, of Pawleys Island, S.C., qualified for her first USGA championship since 2007. After competing in six USGA championships in the 2000’s, including two U.S. Women’s Amateurs, Fournier stepped away from competition to start a family and career as a realtor. In 2016, she was diagnosed with Cushing's disease which led to a tumor in her pituitary gland that was removed through brain surgery in 2017. She played collegiately at the University of North Carolina and won the 2005 Carolinas Women’s Amateur.

Jamie Freedman, 27, of Aventura, Fla., had scoliosis surgery when she was 13 years old and was told she would never be able to play golf again. After having two rods and 20 screws placed in her back, she has been playing pain-free ever since. Freedman, an attorney for a law firm in Plantation, Fla., is competing in her fifth USGA championship and her third consecutive U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur. She reached the Round of 32 in 2022. As a senior at Nova Southeastern University, she was the lone Division III selection to the 2018 Arnold Palmer Cup Team.

Melanie Furuta, 42, of Long Beach, Calif., is the membership director at Virginia Country Club. Furuta is a former assistant director of rules and competitions for the Southern California Golf Association and U.S. Girls’ Junior committee member. Furuta, who has three children between the ages of 3 and 9, took 13 years off from golf and began competing again last December. Prior to this year, her last golf event was the 2009 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur. Furuta, who played collegiately at Long Beach State, is playing in her fourth USGA championship.

Annette Gaiotti, 70, of Park City, Utah, is the oldest player in the field and is competing in her 30th USGA championship. In 2022, she won the Utah Golf Association’s Senior Women’s Player of the Year award for the fourth consecutive year, headlined by her Utah Senior Women’s Amateur victory. It was her seventh time receiving the honor since the category was created in 2012. Gaiotti was a semifinalist in the 2005 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur.

Lauren Greenlief, 33, of Ashburn, Va., won the 2015 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur at Squire Creek Country Club in Choudrant, La., and holds the record for the youngest winner in championship history (25 years and 25 days). This May, she defended her title at the Amateur Golf Alliance Women’s Amateur, winning the event for the third time in four years. Greenlief, a management consultant, is a five-time Virginia State Golf Association (VSGA) Women’s Golfer of the Year and a two-time VSGA Women’s Amateur champion. In 2018, she became the first mid-amateur in 12 years to reach the quarterfinals of the U.S. Women’s Amateur.

Sarah LeBrun Ingram, 57, of Nashville, Tenn., captained the USA Curtis Cup Teams to victory in 2021 in Wales and in 2022 at Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pa. She competed in five U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateurs in the 1990s and won three of them. This will be her first U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur start since 1996. The Tennessee Sports Hall of Famer also competed in three Curtis Cup Matches in the 1990s. She began playing competitively again in 2019 and won the 2020 Tennessee Women’s Senior Amateur and the inaugural LNGA Senior Amateur title in 2022. She reached the Round of 32 in last year’s U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur.

Jessica Mangrobang, 25, of Portland, Ore., is a hydronic sales engineer for an HVAC equipment company after graduating from Gonzaga University with a degree in engineering management with a concentration in mechanical engineering. She played five years on the women’s golf team at Gonzaga and helped the Bulldogs capture their first-ever West Coast Conference title in 2021. Mangrobang, who is the youngest player in this year’s field, is competing in her third USGA championship after playing in both the U.S. Girls’ Junior and the U.S. Women’s Amateur in 2015. She reached the semifinals of the 2023 Oregon Women’s Amateur.

Katie Miller, 38, of Oakmont, Pa., is competing in her 18th USGA championship and eighth U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur. She has reached match play in all eight of her championship starts, including two quarterfinal runs in 2016 and 2019. Miller, the head coach of the Hempfield Area High School girls golf team, is married to Oakmont Country Club head professional Devin Gee.

Catherine McEvoy, 25, of Greenwich, Conn., won the women’s open division of the 2023 PGA National Club Championship at Sea Island (Ga.) Resort in February. McEvoy, who played collegiately at Michigan State University, is a two-time Connecticut State Women’s Amateur champion. Last fall, she was the inaugural women’s champion of The Farrell, a new Metropolitan Golf Association event co-hosted by The Stanwich Club in Greenwich, Conn.

Jennifer Peng, 27, of San Diego, Calif., was the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur medalist the last two years and reached the semifinals in 2022. She holds the championship records for lowest 18-hole and 36-hole stroke-play scores. Peng played collegiate golf at Yale University where she was the Ivy League Rookie of the Year in 2015 and the conference’s Player of the Year in 2017. After graduating from Yale, Peng worked as an analyst for an investment bank in New York City before moving home to San Diego where she is now the finance manager of a mental health support company.

Julia Potter-Bobb, 35, of Indianapolis, Ind., is a two-time U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion. She won in 2013 and again in 2016 at The Kahkwa Club, in Erie, the last time the championship was held in Pennsylvania. Potter-Bobb, a University of Missouri graduate, is a five-time Indiana Women’s Amateur champion and winner of the 2016 Indiana Women’s Open. She serves as the director of business operations and membership for the Indiana Golf Office and was a 2008 P.J. Boatwright Jr. intern for the Missouri Golf Association. She and her husband welcomed their first child in 2021. This will be her 10th U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur start.

Kate Scarpetta, 34, of Crystal Lake, Pa., is competing in her second U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur after reaching the quarterfinals last year. The former captain of the Princeton University women’s golf team competed on the Epson, Canadian and Australia women’s tours as a professional before regaining her amateur status in 2019. She was the tournament director of the 2017 Pennsylvania Women’s Open. Scarpetta, an account executive for a financial services company, has also worked as a screenwriter and has had 12 works of short fiction published. She won the 2006 Pennsylvania Girls’ Junior.

Sarah Staggs, 34, of Carlsbad, Calif., qualified for her first USGA championship since the 2008 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links at Erin Hills. She was runner-up in the 2023 SCGA Women’s Four-Ball with partner Corey Weworski. Staggs, a mother of two, is a business data analyst for TaylorMade Golf Inc. Her husband, Blaine, competed in the 2016 U.S. Mid-Amateur at Stonewall.

Courtney Stiles, 41, of Pinehurst, N.C., is the executive director of The First Tee of the Sandhills. Stiles played collegiately at North Carolina State University and spent two years on the Futures Tour before regaining her amateur status in 2009. She is competing in her 11th USGA championship and sixth U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur.

Shelly Stouffer, 53, of Canada, won last year’s U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur at Anchorage (Alaska) Golf Club, the USGA’s first championship in Alaska. She became the eighth Canadian to win a USGA championship and joined Marlene Stewart Streit (1985, 1994, 2003), Gayle Borthwick (1996, 1998) and Judith Kyrinis (2017) as Canadian winners of the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur. Stouffer will be making her eighth USGA championship start. She finished T-29 in the 2022 U.S. Senior Women’s Open.

Kristina (Engström) Tucker, 43, of Waxhaw, N.C., finished in the top 20 in the 2006 U.S. Women’s Open at Newport (R.I.) Country Club. She was a participant on Golf Channel’s Big Break V and played professionally on the Duramed Futures Tour, now known as the Epson Tour, for six years. She won the 2008 El Paso Golf Classic and finished in the top 15 of the tour’s order of merit that year. Tucker, who was born in Sweden, was a member of Duke University’s 2002 national championship team and earned three individual wins in her four years with the Blue Devils. After taking time away from golf to have children, Tucker’s son Adam has inspired her to compete again. She regained her amateur status in 2017. Her husband and caddie, Paul, has played in four USGA championships including the 2011 and 2013 U.S. Mid-Amateurs.

Haley Whitbeck, 28, of Monterey, Calif., is the senior manager of junior golf for the Northern California Golf Association. Whitbeck played four years at Sonoma State University before taking a P.J. Boatwright Internship with the NCGA and has been with the organization for six years. She has worked on her Rules certification with the USGA and has worked three USGA championships as part of the Rules Committee, including last year’s U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur in Alaska and this year’s U.S. Women’s Amateur at Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles, Calif. This is her first USGA championship.

Aideen Walsh, 25, of the Republic of Ireland, is a primary school teacher in County Clare who spent the last year working with students from Ukraine who have moved to Ireland. Walsh competed in last week’s KPMG Irish Women’s Open and represented Ireland in last year’s European Ladies Cup Trophy. She won the ISPS Handa Ulster Women’s Stroke Play Championship at Royal County Down in Northern Ireland back-to-back years in 2021 and 2022. Walsh is a member at both Lahinch and Woodstock golf clubs and plays often with fellow amateur Aine Donegan, who made headlines in July after shooting a 3-under-par 69 in the opening round of the 78th U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach. Walsh is competing in her first USGA championship.

Results: U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur

Place	Player	Location	Pts
Win	Kimberly Dinh	Midland, MI	700
Runner-up	Kelsey Chugg	Salt Lake City, UT	500
Semifinals	Jackie Rogowicz	Yardley, PA	400
Semifinals	Gretchen Johnson	Portland, OR	400
Quarterfinals	Alexandra Austin	Burke, VA	300

View full results for U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur

About the U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur

U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur: Inside the Field

The U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur originated in 1987 to provide a national competitive arena for amateurs 25 and older. Besides the age restriction, the event is open to those with a USGA Handicap Index of 9.4 or lower. It is one of 14 national championsh...