Catching Up with 3-time US Women's Mid-Am Champ Meghan Stasi

Editor's Note: Amateurgolf.com staff member Lynne Cowan is playing in the U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur Championship. In between rounds and matches, she'll be filing reports from Bayville Golf Club in Virginia Beach, Virg.

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (Sept 16, 2011) – As the Women's Mid-Amateur celebrates it's silver anniversary, amateurgolf.com had a chance to meet with defending champion Meghan Stasi.

In 2010, Stasi won her third U.S. Women's Mid-Am at Wichita Country Club in Wichita, Kan., tying the record of most championships with Ellen Port and Sarah LeBrun Ingram. She won her first in 2006 at Old Waverly Golf Club in Mississippi and defended the following year at Desert Forest Golf Club in Carefree, Arizona.

After a series of missed cuts at the U.S. Amateur, Stasi broke through winning the first Mid-Am she played in. Stasi graduated from Tulane University and then became the youngest Division 1 college golf coach at the University of Mississippi at the age of 23, coaching the Bulldogs from 2000 to 2007.

When Stasi isn't busy competing in golf tournaments and traveling she helps out as a floor manager at her husband's restaurant, Shuck 'n Dive.

Given Stasi's success at the Mid-Am, it seems as though winning only becomes easier once a player has already achieved the feeling. But Stasi isn't taking anything for granted.

“They are all different, different courses, different areas," she said. "I go into them the same, with the same training and mental preparation.”

Her caddy, who just so happens to be her father, Mike, helps her keep things free and easy throughout competition. They don't overthink things and Stasi said it's very comfortable with him on the bag.

During Stasi's defending champion speech at the player's dinner this year, she mentioned that the USGA wanted a piece of memorabilia from her to put in the Golf House Museum. She brought out a bag and unveiled a box with a brand new pair of walking shoes for her dad because she needed to retire his shoes to the museum, as he had been with her every step of the way. He came to the podium and received his new new shoes, a touching father-daughter moment.

Besides mental preparation, she doesn't do anything unusual to prepare for big tournaments. She enjoys walking and pilates. She has always been athletic and comes from a family of athletes.

After Stasi's great play in 2006 and 2007, she earned a spot on the victorious 2008 Curtis Cup Team --- not bad for a 30-year old to make a team made up mostly of teenagers. Stasi's chance of making the team again in 2012 are pretty high. She's currently ranked in the top three in the amateurgolf.com U.S. Rankings.

Curtis Cup captain Pat Cornett is also playing in the Women' Mid-Am this week she will get a first hand look as Stasi's potential as a viable player for the team.