Goldenstein claims 2nd Missouri Women's Am title of career

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (July 18, 2018) – Emily Goldenstein capped the Missouri Women’s Amateur with a birdie at St. Joseph Country Club. It’s not like she was desperate – Goldenstein was three shots ahead of the closest chaser despite making three consecutive bogeys at Nos. 15-17 – but it ended the championship on a high note.

Goldenstein recently completed a four-year run on the University of Memphis women’s golf team during which she played 108 competitive rounds. She teed it up in 39 events, missing just one event in her entire college career. This state amateur title puts a fitting cap on the experience. Goldenstein also won this event in 2016.

Goldenstein, of Chesterfield, Mo., put together rounds of 72-74-70 to finish 54 holes at 3-over 216. She was four shots ahead of runner-up Kelly Osborne of Ballwin, Mo. Osborne, played college golf for the University of Missouri from 2010-11 after starting her career at Penn State.

The leaderboard was tighter after the top two players. Kayla Eckelkamp was third at 9-over 222. Eckelkamp, who works as a nurse in Washington, Mo., won this year’s Missouri Women’s Mid-Amateur. She was the 2015 Missouri Women’s Player of the Year after winning the Women’s Mid-Amateur that season, too. She also qualified for the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur in 2015, and advanced to the first round of stroke play before falling to eventual champion Julia Potter. Eckelkamp has played in the U.S. Women’s Mid-Am each year since.

Missouri women’s golf legend Ellen Port, who has won this event nine times (including in 2001, when it was also played at St. Joseph Country Club), was not in the field after competing in the U.S. Senior Women’s Open last week (she finished T-33). A former player of hers was, however. Logan Otter, who played for Port at John Burroughs High School and now plays for Michigan State, tied for ninth at 15 over.

Defending champion Jess Meek, who hails from Carnoustie, Scotland and is a former member of the University of Missouri women’s golf team, was also on that number.